A delegation of Indian Statistical Institute students and research scholars met Rahul Gandhi on Thursday at his office on the Parliament premises, urging him to oppose the revised ISI Bill, 2025, which they say would curb the institute’s autonomy.
The students requested the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha that, if the bill is tabled during the ongoing winter session, the Opposition ensure it is referred to the standing committee for deliberation.
“We have requested him to see to it that the bill, if placed, is referred to the standing committee for discussion,” said Udvas Das, a research scholar who was part of the delegation.
The delegation explained to Rahul that the bill proposes to make the academic council — currently composed of elected teacher representatives — subservient to a Board of Governors, whose members would be nominated by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation. They said that this could centralise control and undermine the institute’s democratic governance.
On Friday evening, the ISI delegation is scheduled to meet Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, chairman of the standing committee on education, to present their concerns.
The ministry had uploaded the revised bill on November 28 and invited public comments until December 15.
Students, researchers, and teachers fear that the Central government could table the bill in the winter session, which runs until December 19.
Of the six members in the delegation, five were from ISI, Calcutta, and one from the ISI centre in Bangalore.
A student said they informed Rahul that the revised bill, though amended following earlier protests, failed to address the core issues.
“The main objection is that the ministry is proposing an overarching board of governors with final authority over all aspects of the institute. This board would overshadow both the ISI council and academic council, which currently hold final administrative and academic powers,” the student said.
“By vesting power in a nominated board, the ministry is attempting to impose bureaucratic control and crush the autonomous and democratic setup that has defined the institute since its founding by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in 1931,” he added.
Metro reported on Thursday that ISI, Calcutta, teachers and staff fear the proposed bill could also allow the “abolition” of hundreds of teaching and non-teaching posts. The draft bill states that the board of governors could alter employment contracts.
Professor Arijit Bishnu of ISI, Calcutta, said faculty and students were striving to prevent the bill’s implementation.
“The Trinamool MP from Dum Dum, Saugata Roy, who attended our protest outside the Baranagar campus on November 28, had written to the ministry on October 27 demanding that the bill be withdrawn. We hope a sustained protest will yield results,” Bishnu said.