To,
Shri. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore,
Hon. Minister of State, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
Government of India
Sir,
Date - 28/10/2015
Over the course of the past 139 days, the students of the Film and Television Institute of India have been on strike over the contentious and opaque appointments in the FTII Society that brought to light the fundamental and systemic issues that had been plaguing over the institute for several years.
We tried our best to communicate and explain our concerns to you, repeatedly, always displaying we sincerely believe a remarkable grace and integrity even in the face of vile and hurtful accusations towards our sincerity and work ethic from various quarters and periodic and acute pressures from the administration and the ministry to disrupt our strike. In the process we sacrificed a major chunk of our lives and our existence as learning professionals, all in the hope that our concerns will be speedily addressed and future students of this institute will not have to suffer the colossal issues that we have had to face. Unfortunately, the incumbent government and the ministry's attitude towards this crisis has not been holistic and futuristic enough, but has always focused on either trying to break the strike or deflect the students and innumerable citizens of this nations voices. The students' demands have never been demands as such, and even if they are to be interpreted with that terminology, must be looked at as carefully deliberated conclusions from our side with the help of experienced and distinguished alumni for the future of this institute. It must be mentioned that the pro-activeness of the ministry has been stunningly disappointing, especially with the time period that has elapsed since the strike began.
Here it must also be mentioned that the constant efforts by the ministry to segregate the current appointments to the current administrative and infrastructural health of the institute have been amusing to watch, and even if one were to hypothetically assume they are not related (which is myopic and illogical but for arguments sake) solving the systemic and infrastructural issues is the ministry's obligation as per the existence of this institute and should never have required a 100 day strike from the students in the first place.
It's not that the students don't appreciate the recent sincerity the ministry is now showing towards our hardware and infrastructure, and the understanding they have now in these recent meetings shown towards the systemic flaws and drawbacks of the institute that have acutely disrupted the lives of the next generation of filmmakers, but for the ministry to absolve themselves of mentioning the neglect of the institute for years and suddenly wanting to take credit for now attempting to correct these issues and being 'liberal' to the students as you sir, Honourable Minister of Information and Broadcasting repeatedly mention, is thoroughly amusing. These sirs are your responsibilities.
Advertisement
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting must take immense pride in having the Film and Television Institute of India under its wing and must constantly strive to make sure that students from different socio-economic backgrounds throughout the nation can converge here to celebrate the vibrant and secular cultural ethos of their nation and have the opportunity to chase their dreams, unfortunately though this attitude has not been there.
Instead we have been told from various sources and murmurings in the media and elsewhere that we cannot ask for the ouster of certain newly appointed members because it would 'hurt the image' of the government. This has been immensely difficult to hear for us time and again, and we've had to believe it, as we could never even in this staggering amount of time that have been on strike, see any reason for the current society to not be put in abeyance, if the capabilities and credibility of the current appointments be put in objective contrast with their predecessors or even with what the real
and immediate requirements of our ailing institute have been. This is what throws further light on the ministry's proactiveness on resolving the deep lying issues at the institute. The fact that about 200 national award winning filmmakers wrote to the president and prime minister as well stressing that the current appointments simply must be put in abeyance was also ignored. Protest marches and events in numerous metro cities and even smaller towns, support from distinguished individuals from across all walks of life has all gone unnoticed or hasn't been acted upon. For what?
Any sort of Governance can't swirl around egos; we are all imperfect individuals looking to build a better society and education for our youth, our children, the next generation of this beautiful nation. Even if the opinions of the entirety of the students of the FTII were to be not taken seriously, (that in itself would be disturbingly fascist but for arguments sake), the kind of evidence and logic put forth by the distinguished and experienced professionals that has been discarded has shaken us to our very core. How seriously has an external party coming in to evaluate the current crisis even been in this case? The Khan Committee recited a certain script when they were here and having told us that they would submit their report in 3 days, took more than 3 weeks. Is there no value of 3 weeks of time of the students of the FTII, when they have undertaken a strike, each day sacrificing their education and delaying their professional existence? With families to feed, dreams to chase, their own living to be made and spaces to be carved out in a ruthless sometimes materialistic driven world where has the sensitivity from the powers that be, been? The objectivity of that report is also in question for a multitude of reasons.
Our freedom fighters did not sacrifice their lives and their energies for an India that relentlessly stifles the voices of its citizens and youth, or even for a governance that consider themselves lenient or doing a service in listening out the citizens of our nation, and/or in our case the students of the FTII. When the entire student body of an institute stress about something that is concerning them, as well as other stakeholders and alumni of their institute it is but the duty of the I & B Ministry to objectively hear them out without delay and try and understand how much genuine validity they have. For this an understanding of the institute, it's past and ethos is necessary or the humility to have a minimum faith in the current students.
We have always been naïve students standing in front of their government, in what has always been a very unequal power balance, asking the government officials to listen to them, to understand them and a stand they have taken not for their own selfish interests but to put the institute in a position to impart excellence to the incoming generations of filmmakers of our country.
We must mention that until today, no tangible solution to resolve the crisis has really been given to us. Even when our representatives were whisked away to the national capital and made certain assurances by the honourable Mr Jaitley and Mr Rathore themselves, our attempts to understand certain incongruities in the FTII constitution as per your assurances were ignored and from then on we were given either cryptic responses or signals or even more amusingly told that our 'politicization' had led to the withdrawal of any such solutions.
It makes us shudder with terror as well as sheer confusion when individuals in such privileged and powerful positions can cater to such perspectives. It is best that each individual really introspects and attempts to arrive at an understanding of what 'politicization' really is and what a 'democracy' really stands for. How a democracy can function without the contribution and perspectives of its citizens being respected is the question here really, and the individuals in all government roles best remember that they are there because they work for the people. It also amuses us when we watch Mr. Jaitley in the media advocate for a transparent process to appoint credible people in the judiciary through NJAC which his ministry completely shies away from in our case. Both the honourable ministers' social media accounts are abuzz with activity projecting them as fair, intelligent and inclusive people, but the reality is that the way they have sidelined us has been remarkably disturbing.
The students association of the FTII has always been mindful of the interests of its own immediate stakeholders, the current students and in the face of the monstrous academic loss they have incurred now come to the realization that we cannot compromise on our academics any longer and will now resume their classes. We've reached this decision after internal deliberations because the causalities of the strike have hindered our dedication to our own work and the sacrifices made by us of our own interests have been more than we could ever have imagined them to be.
Having been assured repeatedly that the quashing of the FIR's and the resumption of classes from where we left off were two simple demands that we had that would fall into place once the strike finished, we do hope that they are executed without delay.
We sincerely feel that every individual involved in this crisis over the past 135 days in any shape or form finds the time to introspect on what it means to be a part of this beautiful and inclusive nation and how we interpret our own responsibilities in making sure human development and equality goes
hand in hand with growing economically, especially those in key administrative and governance offices. It is no secret that the students of the FTII have been left disappointed, angered, frustrated, incensed, heartbroken, disillusioned and cornered over the events that have transpired over the past 135 days and how the ministry has chosen to deal/not deal with this crisis, but the opportunity for change is still there.
The students do feel that this is simply the expiration of one mechanism that they had available to them to register their discontent and even after giving their hearts and souls to try to get their ministry to hear them out and understand them are still as dedicated and clear as we were when we began this strike. We will continue to protest and resist the current appointments in whatever peaceful and non-violent form we are able to, whilst looking curiously at the measures taken by the ministry to begin to fix the systemic issues of this institute and also how they deal with the well-established concerns brought to light by the students and the nation over the contentious members appointed in the FTII society and the process or lack of one with which they were brought in.
We shall still wait for a day that the ministry can really shirk off all politicians' preconditions and have the 'mandate' to both understand and holistically act upon the issues of this institute and put it onto the path to greater excellence. Until that day arrives, each individual here and the innumerable and distinguished supporters of our movement shall continue to rack their brains and come up with new and innovative peaceful and democratic ways to try and make you understand what this institute, education on a larger level, and the tenets of freedom and expression and equality of this country mean to us.
Until that day, we really hope you take out the time to introspect on the course of these last 139 days as well as the tangible work that your office has done to really solve this crisis. We will return to our coursework and academics with our held high over all that we have collectively accomplished over these days, but our heads, hearts and souls still vigilant on monitoring the way our institute is run and striving to make sure our institute is in a position to deliver excellence to future batches of students.
Warm Regards,
The Students' Association, FTII
CC: Secretary, Ministry of I&B, Government of India
Joint Secretary, Ministry of I&B, Government of India
