Pune: The budding doctorate students of Maharashtra staged a protest on Monday over the non-implementation of various fellowship programmes run by Maharashtra state-run institutes at Kalakar Katta on FC Road. The protest entered its fourth week. Earlier in the day, the students marched from Savitribai Phule Pune University campus via Agricultural College and COEP College to Good Luck Café.
Watch Videos:
For the past several years, the Maharashtra government has been announcing schemes for research students but has failed to implement them. The protest was organised by research students who have been beneficiaries of the BARTI, SARTHI, TRTI, and MAHAJYOTI fellowship schemes run by the Maharashtra government.
The government provides financial assistance to research fellows through state-run institutes like Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI), Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Research, Training and Human Development Institute (SARTHI), Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Research and Training Institute (MAHAJYOTI), and Tribal Research and Training Institute (TRTI) to support research scholars pursuing doctoral degrees. The students are protesting delays in the disbursal of financial assistance since 2022.
Bharat Pawar, a BARTI fellowship scholar, told FPJ, “This is the 22nd day of our protest, which was followed by a chain hunger strike organised by students at the SARTHI office on Agarkar Road from August 25.” He added, “For more than three years, the government has been sitting on the demands to provide financial assistance to research fellows. Multiple requests to the government have fallen on deaf ears. The government has forced students to hit the streets because of its indifferent attitude.”
Asha Deshmane, an agriculture research fellow from Rahuri, Pune, told FPJ, “I am currently in the second year of my research. Due to delayed disbursal of funds by the government, I have to abandon my research for one year.” She added that many students like her have been forced to abandon research due to financial constraints. Many have had to take up jobs to survive, which has caused disruption in research work.
Deshmane also complained about inappropriate behaviour meted out to the protestors by SARTHI officials during their protest. The officials did not allow the students to use washroom facilities at the centre, even after knowing that females were also among the protestors.
The students who avail of these fellowships come from very humble backgrounds. These are meritorious students who need assistance from the government to conduct research. Students from marginalised communities are being denied the right to education. “The equipment required for research costs lakhs, and the fellowship we get is around ₹37,000 to ₹42,000 per month, which is vital for our research,” Pawar added. Deshmane said, “If the government can spend lakhs and crores on advertisement, what stops them from supporting the students?”
There are approximately 1,000–1,200 research students across Maharashtra who are in need of financial assistance from the government. Pawar and Deshmane echoed the concerns of the protesting students and demanded that the BARTI and SARTHI institutes release separate notifications for 2023 and 2024, announce all pending fellowships immediately, and clear all pending fellowship dues within a month. “Till our demands are addressed in the form of an official notification from the government, we will not move from here,” Deshmane added.
