MUMBAI: The ongoing student protest at IIT Bombay has revealed a clear split in the positions of two student collectives active on the campus.
The collective describes itself as a secular, liberal and progressive student group. Over the years, its members have raised issues including the need for a gender cell, dedicated spaces for students and the proper functioning of the SC/ST cell at the institute.
“This study circle is a student collective which responds to issues impacting students within and outside IIT Bombay,” said a former member of the collective.
Many such student collectives became less active or stopped functioning after the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) was started at IIT Bombay in 2015, in the aftermath of the suicide of a student, Aniket Ambhore, at the institute in 2014. The collective was further energised after Rohith Vemula’s suicide in 2016, especially when the APPSC unit at IIT Madras came to the forefront alongside students from other elite institutes across the country who launched protests and solidarity movements.
and is also seeking the resignation of the institute director, Shireesh Kedare, another group has come out in support of Doolla and called for a fair investigation and due process While one group of students is demanding the suspension of Professor Suryanarayana Doolla from his position as faculty member in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering until the investigation into the suicide of a second year BTech student is completed. IIT Bombay does not have a formally registered student organisation representing all students. However, several student collectives have been active on campus at different times, addressing student issues and, in some cases, social and political issues. These collectives lack a formal membership registration system, making it difficult to establish the exact number of associated students. However, the collectives maintain a presence on social media where they raise student-related issues. Their activities sometimes attract students who are not regular members, particularly when issues such as fee hikes, hostel problems or other campus-related matters arise. At present, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) and IIT B for Bharat are among the active groups on the campus.
