Students of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) held a protest against alleged discrepancies in the merit list and non-implementation of reservation rules in the admission process, on Friday. After the institution published its final merit list for the academic year 2021 on July 26, the FTII Students Association (FTIISA) issued a press statement stating that the “the authorities have made a gross mockery of the provisions of reservation by which these admissions are to take place. Many seats, as well as waitlist positions in the Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) categories, have not been filled, citing reasons of ineligibility. “This is something that has been happening in our institution for a while now. There are cases where OBC, ST and SC seats are not filled, not because of a lack of aspirants but because they were held to be ineligible. One cannot even question the method of the cut-off percentage which by itself is discriminatory. The admissions happen through a written test, an orientation and an interview, where the latter two subjective components make up for 80 per cent of the weightage,” said a member of the FTTISA, on the condition of anonymity. The FTTISA member also pointed out that orientation and interview process were conducted online, highlighting further inequalities among aspirants. “We agitated to have our voices heard before the admission processes officially begin on campus. We had a meeting scheduled with the director, the dean and the academic coordinator but it did not take place,” added the FTTISA member. When questioned, the authorities said that many candidates did not pass the cut-off percentages (45 per cent for OBC (non-creamy layer) and General EWS [Economically Weaker Sections], 40 per cent for SC and ST and General Persons with Disabilities, and 50 per cent for General), according to the official statement. “As a consequence of this arbitrary rule, every year, authorities can claim that they did not find suitable candidates in these categories and fill in the reserved seats with students from General category. It is also highly questionable why only candidates from privileged, upper castes aspiring for the General seats are able to clear the cut-off while those belonging to OBC, SC and ST categories aren’t. By this process, the seats supposed to be left open for all in the General category also remain closed for those from other categories,” said the FTIISA member.
