FTII delegation in Delhi on July 3

PUNE: A 10-member delegation of students and alumni of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) will meet information and broadcasting ministry (I&B) officials in New Delhi on July 3. The meeting follows students' strike against the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as the chairperson of the FTII society.
"On the eighteenth day of strike, the students have received an official communication from the I&B ministry.We have been told to come for a meeting on July 3 in New Delhi," a statement issued by the FTII students' association said on Monday.
The delegation, which comprises three students and seven alumni of the institute, may include filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli and Academy Award-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty.
The students have demanded a rollback on Chauhan's appointment while seeking a transparent process to select the chairperson of the FTII's governing council based on credentials. Students have also raised concerns about the selection of Anagha Ghaisas, an RSS sympathizer, Narendra Pathak, an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activist, actor Rahul Solapurkar, who has worked for the RSS-linked Sanskar Bharati, Shailesh Gupta, a propaganda filmmaker, in the FTII society.
Students are also planning to hold a rally in the city on July 1 to press for their demands. Protest rallies have also been planned on July 2 in various cities, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, New Delhi and Kerala. Individuals and students organizations from these cities will participate in the rallies to lend their support to the FTII students.
Students have also urged the ministry to grant them the status of the Centre for National Excellence which has been pending for the last 15 years despite repeated promises from the government.