Kanpur IIT faculty step into quota protest

Six teachers of IIT Kanpur today voiced their support for students protesting the proposed quota for OBCs, pointing out that the Centre had chosen not to respond to the letter from 125 faculty members regarding the policy to be implemented from June 2007.

Six teachers of IIT Kanpur today voiced their support for students protesting the proposed quota for OBCs, pointing out that the Centre had chosen not to respond to the letter from 125 faculty members regarding the policy to be implemented from June 2007.

Faculty member Vinayak Eswaran, who was at the forefront of the letter campaign, was present this evening at the hunger-strike by IIT students under the banner of the Forum of Indians against Reservation. Eswaran, however, said nothing could be said of faculty support for the agitation as IIT Kanpur director Sanjay G Dhande had not been consulted on the issue.

Kaushal Mishra, an AIIMS doctor, said the protesters had held 11 meetings with government agencies — three of these were with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — but there were no results yet. He said Youth for Equality had made it clear that they would not meet government representatives until their demands were accepted. He said the government had ‘‘planted’’ a case in Supreme Court over losses suffered by patients which led to the court asking doctors to call off their strike. ‘‘This does not mean that the strike has been called off, it has been temporarily suspended,’’ Mishra added.

Chandrashekhar Sharma, another IITian, said a national conference had been planned in Bangalore on June 18 which would be attended by around 75 representatives from all institutes and organisations which would be affected by the reservation.