Retain mess subsidy, say protesting IISc. students

April 11, 2014 12:30 am | Updated May 21, 2016 10:20 am IST - Bangalore:

Students of IISc. were attacked by bees during the protest in Bangalore on Thursday.— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Students of IISc. were attacked by bees during the protest in Bangalore on Thursday.— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

A proposal to scrap institutional subsidy to canteens and messes at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) has students worried that this would severely effect their limited scholarships and stipends. Hundreds of students protested at the campus on Thursday.

In a memorandum submitted to the IISc director, students said: “On an average, 20 to 60 per cent of the students’ stipend (depending on the courses they are enrolled in) is used up to meet the monthly mess bill alone. It will reach 25 to 80 per cent, if the mess subsidy is scrapped.”

By revoking IISc’s financial assistance to the mess, which includes payment of daily wages to mess workers, the responsibility (of around Rs. 16 lakhs) will fall on the student community, a student from the ecological sciences department told The Hindu . Students can not afford any increase in mess expenses with their current stipends and scholarships which range from Rs. 5,000 (for an undergraduate student) to Rs. 8000 (for a Master’s student) and 16000 (for a PhD), the student added.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.