The Kerala University Research Students’ Union has said that it will be forced to resort to agitations if the university does not act on its demands, which include doing away with delays in provision of UGC-Junior Research fellowships and a statutory tribunal to look into exploitation and mental torture faced by researchers.
In a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the university and the research sub-committee of the Syndicate, the union said that because of the delay in fellowship payment, many students were being forced to drop their research work. The union, citing the suicide of a research student, also said there were problems with student-guide relationship, which was often less democratic. At times, even the life of the student was at stake.
There was also a lack of infrastructure facilities, the union said.
Its demands included, among others, provision of infrastructure including computers with Internet connection and libraries.