Students` stirs worry Bengal rights panel chief

Kolkata: In the wake of a spurt in student agitations in West Bengal, the state human rights panel chief Wednesday called for curbing the "anarchy" in the education system. West Bengal Human Rights Commission Chairman Asok Kumar Ganguly said: "It is necessary to terminate this anarchy in the education system." "In some cases, it is seen that there is support for these kind of things. They should understand we must not go in the direction of lawlessness and destruction," he said in a remark that came clsoe to an agitation by students of a Kolkata university locking in officials in their office.

"This is due to the social system. We must be aware about this and stand against this," said Ganguly, a retired Supreme Court judge. Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee questioned the inaction on the part of the government to curb extreme student agitations. "Why will teachers be beaten up? Why will there be instances of ransacking? Most importantly what is the state government doing?" aske Chatterjee. The remarks come a day after heads of the two universities, that witnessed intense student agitations including lock-ins of the officials, met Governor M.K. Narayanan apprising him of the situation and urging him to take firm action. At the meeting, Jadavpur University Vice Chancellor Souvik Bhattacharya, Pro-Vice Chancellor Siddhartha Datta and Calcutta University`s Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das along with several other staff members discussed the recent incidents of lock-ins at the two university campuses. Hundreds of students of Jadavpur University laid a siege to its administrative office, forcing top functionaries, including the vice chancellor, to stay put in their offices for 51 hours, after two students were suspended for allegedly ragging juniors. Later, they started an indefinite relay hunger-strike demanding reconsideration of the suspension of the two engineering students. The agitating students alleged lack of transparency in the probe held earlier against the two suspended students. In the Rajabazar campus of Calcutta University, students locked-in the varsity`s pro vice chancellor, the secretary of the university college and its faculty Monday afternoon to demand proper placement opportunities. Around 100 B.Tech students participated in the protest that ended after 16 hours. IANS