IITBHF and IITBAA (http://www.iitbombay.org)

InsIghT is the monthly campus newspaper of IIT Bombay which was founded in 1998, with the idea of being the "voice of the students." The vision of the editors of InsIghT is to create "a playground of ideas" which is "our voice, our medium, our unifying principle". Y-Point is the IIT Alumni webzine which was founded back in Winter 1997 and has been published sporadically since then. The two publications have joined forces to create InsIghT-Y-Point, a webzine, as a joint venture between IIT Bombay alumni and current students, to create a shared platform for all IITB-ians.

Within twenty four hours of the meeting of the Institute General Secretaries with the Deputy Director on March 25, the whole student body decided to resign and the highly contentious decision of suspending PAFs was taken, as a mark of protest against the authorities. At the face of it, the student protest was more successful than imagined, but did it achieve what it set out to achieve? Anshuk Gandhi, Premal Shah, Sachin Sancheti and Prateek Singh present an account of what present an account of what happened, why it happened and what finally came through.

Long before Iraq got its share, IIT Bombay had its very own shock and awe show on the 26th of March 2003. Merely for the sake of formality and records, do we need to state what happened on 26th of March 2003 - The 4 Institute G.Secs (GSAA, GSHA, GS Cult, GS Sports) and their secretaries and nominees, councils of all student hostels, all Department G.Secs and their councils, teams of the independent bodies like Mood Indigo & Techfest, summarily representatives from all walks of student life (other than the e-Cell and InsIghT – who held back only because of commitments and responsibilities that could not be compromised) decided to tender their resignations. All student activities, be it sports, cult or tech came to a grinding halt. The biggest casualty were the PAFs, which were half way through with 2 hostel pairs already having performed, and the 3rd one was due in less than 3 days. What could have prompted such a drastic step? Although, it would probably only be this particular day that might be remembered in the future as the day, the seeds of what happened then were sown days and perhaps even months before. We trace the events beginning the start of Spring Semester.

Prof. C. Amarnath took office as the Dean of Student Affairs (DoSA) in July 2002 amidst high expectations from the students. In his interview to InsIghT, he expressed his concerns for declining enthusiasm of students in academics and portrays his vision for the Institute. He says, “Let us all remember that our IIT is a paradise, let us preserve it that way, an academic paradise; and ensure that IIT is also a positive personality building paradise in parallel.” A request by student representatives at the HCC meeting to reconsider the 7:30 rule 1 was summarily rejected by the authorities. It was told that the rule is on experimental basis and should be “given a fair chance” until the following semester.

Flashback to the "Strike of 1980"

http://www.iitbombay.org/info/ypoint/InsIghTvol5iss2.pdf

"At ten o’clock that night, the Director issued a circular ordering the Institute be closed indefinitely. Moreover, all students were ordered to leave the campus by the night of Monday, March 10 and hand over the possession of empty rooms to the Wardens. Failure to comply would lead to dire consequences." For the benefit of those, who don't know about it, these were the words published in Pragati, a student yearbook. The Institute involved, as you must have suspected by now, was our own IIT Bombay. Today, when one looks back at what happened back in those days in 1980, the events seem almost unbelievable, but they did happen and left indelible black spots in the annals of IIT Bombay.

What exactly led to the first and only student agitation of this scale in IIT Bombay? Why was IIT Bombay in the newspapers for reasons other than a technological breakthrough, a laudatory appraisal, a generous alumnus donation, or even the panther menace? Why did the then director, Prof. A. K. De, (who was into the 6th year of his first term as Director, IIT Bombay. He again became the Director in December 1981) choose to take such extreme steps as above? As they often say one thing led to another and, it was ultimately the whole chain of events, the classical struggle for power between the authorities and the students, that eventually snow-balled into a complete breakdown of the administrative machinery here in IIT Bombay.