The Information and Broadcasting ministry has not yet responded on the demand of the Film and Television Institute of India students to remove television actor and Bharatiya Janata Party member Gajendra Chauhan from the post of chairman of its governing council even as their strike entered the fourth day on Monday.
A three-member team of I&B ministry officials is expected to visit the crisis-hit FTII soon to find a solution to the 70-day-old strike by the students
I&B ministry refuses to respond to striking FTII students, who insist that Gajendra Chauhan has to go.
Agitating students of Film and Television Institute of India-Pune on Friday.
The agitating FTII students on Sunday called off their 18-day-old "hunger strike" in response to the government's communication inviting them for a dialogue.
One of the three Film and Television Institute of India students on indefinite hunger strike has been hospitalised after his blood sugar levels dropped.
In a midnight crackdown at the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune, five students were arrested by the police after the institute's director, Prashant Pathrabe lodged a complaint against them for detaining him on campus on Monday.
When contacted, Pathrabe had told PTI earlier in the evening that he had been gheraoed by the students, but was "safe".
Deadlock over the appointment of TV actor and Bharatiya Janata Party member Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India's governing council entered the sixteenth day on Saturday
TV actor Gajendra Chauhan is expected to take charge as FTII chairman on Thursday after an unprecedented and unsuccessful 193-day strike by the students opposing his appointment.
The meeting will take place at the office of the Films Division in Mumbai at 11 am on Tuesday, Vikas Urs, spokesman of the FTII Students' Association, told PTI.
A three-member delegation of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is at the FTII campus in Pune to hold discussions with the faculty, director and agitating students to find a solution to the crisis triggered by the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan at its chairman.
Striking Film and Television Institute of India students called for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in resolving the 71-day-old crisis in the premier institute over the appointment of TV actor and Bharatiya Janata Party member Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman.
They accused the government of resorting to all kinds of measures, including character assassination.
The ongoing strike of Film and Television Institute of India students to protest the government's appointment of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as chairman of its governing council entered its 12th day Tuesday with no immediate solution in sight.
They also approached Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Janata Dal-United leader K C Tyagi.
Unfazed by warning of disciplinary action and rustication, the striking students of Film and Television Institute of India on Thursday said the protest, now on for 35 days, will continue till the government responds to their demands, including removal of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman.
A second round of talks in Mumbai on Thursday between the striking FTII students and I&B Ministry officials failed to break the deadlock.
Meanwhile, the three-member committee constituted by the information and broadcasting ministry to examine the "ground situation" at Film and Television Institute of India submitted its report.
After going on a flash strike, students of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India on Saturday decided to continue their protests against the appointment of Bharatiya Janata Party member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the new chairman of its governing council.
On the warpath over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairman, students of the premier institute on Monday threatened to launch a hunger strike for his ouster as the fast by a faculty member for "immediate resolution" of the crisis entered its third day on Monday.
The Information and broadcasting ministry, which has constituted a three-member committee to study the ground situation, meanwhile maintained that though it was willing to discuss and resolve issues the students were being inflexible.
This is Gajendra Chauhan's resume: ...an actor who is best known for his portrayal of the eldest Pandava 'Yudhishthira' in the Mahabharat (TV series). He has worked in around 150 movies and over 600 TV serials
Amid dramatic scenes and vociferous demonstrations by the Film and Television Institute of India students, television actor and Bharatiya Janata Party member Gajendra Chauhan on Thursday took charge as chairman of the premiere institute in Pune, even as police detained nearly 40 protesters who were calling him a "political appointee".
'The government says it is trying to improve the institute, but its latest appointments say otherwise.'
An FTII students' body representative said they will not sacrifice academics anymore for a government that is "deaf and a bully".
10 frontline filmmakers announced their decision to return the prestigious National Awards over the government's "apathy" in addressing the students issues and the environment of intolerance.
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