After Srinagar campus row, HRD alerts all NITs

NEW DELHI: While its team is camping at NIT Srinagar to calm frayed tempers and keep a watch over the heavily-guarded campus, the Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry is also reaching out to all NIT Directors across the country to be alert to similar situations and react to them with sensitivity.


The NIT Srinagar row has led to fears being expressed on either side of the divide with one group of students saying they may not be fairly treated by the institute’s faculty following these clashes and a larger fear being expressed that Kashmiri students across various campuses in the country may be targeted in retaliation.

The situation at the NIT Srinagar campus has been tense after clashes erupted following India’s defeat to the West Indies in the World T20 Cup match last week. Protests continue at the campus with some students even leaving and going home. Now, the HRD ministry is learnt to have informally advised almost all NIT Directors to guard against any similar situation and to handle it with ‘sensitivity’.

“Following the NIT Srinagar incident, it was felt that we must also ask the heads of these institutes to be aware of the situation on campus, be sensitive to it and counsel students and faculty as well”, a HRD ministry official confirmed to ET. The entire thrust of the HRD ministry effort so far is to normalize the situation at the campus through confidence building measures. The ministry is keeping a close watch on the situation at the NIT campus and is also counselling the faculty at the NIT to be extra cautious and sensitive to the situation, the ministry officials added.

The NIT Srinagar Board will also be meeting next week to take stock of the situation. Senior HRD ministry officials are expected to attend the meeting.

Protests continue at the NIT with students holding a dharna on the institute’s ground. Only 900 of the total 2300 students are said to be back to class. Besides clashes with the J&K police earlier this week that further aggravated the situation, the students and some parents have also expressed fears that the faculty may be biased against them in examinations.