New Delhi: In yet another attempt to break the 110-day-long deadlock at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Information and Broadcast Ministry officials and students of the prestigious institute agitating for the removal of actor and BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as its Chairman will hold talks in Mumbai today.
The talks is taking place even as the students said several leading academicians and professionals from Silicon Valley, visited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his current US tour, have expressed solidarity with them.
Officials of the I&B Ministry will be holding talks with the students of the Pune based institution who called off their relay hunger strike after the government agreed to come to the negotiating table.
Also Read: FTII students claim support of US scholars a day before talks with govt
The meeting will take place at the office of the Films Division in Mumbai, Vikas Urs, spokesman of the FTII Students' Association, said.
Asked if FTII students had a specific agenda for the meeting, Urs said, "There is no agenda. We want the issue to be resolved and all our concerns addressed."
The students have two main demands: to dissolve the present FTII society and simultaneously set up a new search committee, through a transparent process in place to look into appointments of chairperson, members and other staff.
They also want FTII to be given the status of a premier national institute like the IITs and the IIMs, so that no bureaucrat is appointed as FTII's director.
