Ftii Row Gajendra Chauhan

Gajendra Chauhan, whose appointment by the government as the chief of film training institute FTII ignited massive protests last year, visited the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS today.

After his visit to Nagpur, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar will next week meet the students of FTII here who had protested against Gajendra Chauhan's appointment as the chairman of the institute.

Disgruntled BJP lawmaker Shatrughan Sinha has said that he had been willing to accept the post of 'interim chairman' of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) here and that he had also requested the current chairman Gajendra Chauhan to step down to end the stalemate with protesting students.

Amid reports of a likely protest by Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) venue, the government today said that they were hopeful that the students would not do anything that will hurt the country's image at a global platform.

"Looking at the ministry's unrelenting approach and the amount of our valuable time spent, we have decided to end the strike and resume classes. However, our voices will not shut, but grow louder. The protests shall continue democratically and in the peaceful manner as they have," she an FTII student

Agitating students of FTII today held one more round of talks with the government but there were no indications of an immediate end to the four-month-old deadlock over appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as its Chairman.

A key meeting will be held today between the government and the agitating FTII students in a fresh bid to end the four-month-long strike at the Pune-based institute.

The Bombay High Court today issued notice to the Union I&B and Home ministries, the Maharashtra government and student leader of FTII on a PIL seeking to put an end to the ongoing strike at the Pune-based film institute.

The agitating students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) are not averse to the Information and Broadcasting secretary assuming the post of chairman till a transparent mechanism to select the institute's governing body is evolved, sources on the campus have said.

"I can see there is huge dissatisfaction with liberal space shrinking at the moment and people are very much upset about it. We have a government which on one hand talks about very liberal things and on the other hand, does absolutely nothing to denounce those who are making retrograde remarks," said Shabana Azmi

The third round of meeting to break the deadlock between agitating FTII students and Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials, which was supposed to be held in New Delhi on October 6. The last meeting held in Mumbai on October 1, remained "inconclusive" with both the parties failing to resolve the row

The third round of meeting to break the deadlock between agitating FTII students and Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials, which was supposed to be held in New Delhi on October 6, will now be held in Mumbai on the next day (October 7).

With FTII students sticking to their demand for removal of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the institute's chairman, a second round of talks in Mumbai today between the striking students and I & B Ministry officials failed to break the deadlock but the two sides agreed to meet again in New Delhi on October 6.

"The ministry (representatives) will come back on Thursday to further discuss on this issue. The government has given no assurance and neither have the students done so. The talks are still on. The strike is still on," FTII Students' Association president informed the media

The students are also demanding that the FTII society be dissolved and search committees be set up with a transparent process in place to look into the appointments of the chairperson. In the past Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Mahesh Bhatt and Girish Karnad have served as chairperson of the institute

Gajendra Chauhan, whose appointment by the government as the chief of film training institute FTII ignited massive protests last year, visited the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS today.

After his visit to Nagpur, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar will next week meet the students of FTII here who had protested against Gajendra Chauhan's appointment as the chairman of the institute.

Disgruntled BJP lawmaker Shatrughan Sinha has said that he had been willing to accept the post of 'interim chairman' of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) here and that he had also requested the current chairman Gajendra Chauhan to step down to end the stalemate with protesting students.

Amid reports of a likely protest by Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) venue, the government today said that they were hopeful that the students would not do anything that will hurt the country's image at a global platform.

"Looking at the ministry's unrelenting approach and the amount of our valuable time spent, we have decided to end the strike and resume classes. However, our voices will not shut, but grow louder. The protests shall continue democratically and in the peaceful manner as they have," she an FTII student

Agitating students of FTII today held one more round of talks with the government but there were no indications of an immediate end to the four-month-old deadlock over appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as its Chairman.

A key meeting will be held today between the government and the agitating FTII students in a fresh bid to end the four-month-long strike at the Pune-based institute.

The Bombay High Court today issued notice to the Union I&B and Home ministries, the Maharashtra government and student leader of FTII on a PIL seeking to put an end to the ongoing strike at the Pune-based film institute.

The agitating students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) are not averse to the Information and Broadcasting secretary assuming the post of chairman till a transparent mechanism to select the institute's governing body is evolved, sources on the campus have said.

"I can see there is huge dissatisfaction with liberal space shrinking at the moment and people are very much upset about it. We have a government which on one hand talks about very liberal things and on the other hand, does absolutely nothing to denounce those who are making retrograde remarks," said Shabana Azmi

The third round of meeting to break the deadlock between agitating FTII students and Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials, which was supposed to be held in New Delhi on October 6. The last meeting held in Mumbai on October 1, remained "inconclusive" with both the parties failing to resolve the row

The third round of meeting to break the deadlock between agitating FTII students and Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials, which was supposed to be held in New Delhi on October 6, will now be held in Mumbai on the next day (October 7).

With FTII students sticking to their demand for removal of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the institute's chairman, a second round of talks in Mumbai today between the striking students and I & B Ministry officials failed to break the deadlock but the two sides agreed to meet again in New Delhi on October 6.

"The ministry (representatives) will come back on Thursday to further discuss on this issue. The government has given no assurance and neither have the students done so. The talks are still on. The strike is still on," FTII Students' Association president informed the media

The students are also demanding that the FTII society be dissolved and search committees be set up with a transparent process in place to look into the appointments of the chairperson. In the past Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Mahesh Bhatt and Girish Karnad have served as chairperson of the institute