Sravasti Dasgupta 
New Delhi: Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Sunday (June 30) released a statement saying the termination letter sent to over 100 staffers across its campuses has been withdrawn after it received assurance from the Tata Education Trust that it would provide the funds necessary to resolve this issue.
TISS had terminated the contracts of approximately 108 teaching and non-teaching staff on Friday (June 28), without notice, across its four campuses, following non-approval for grants from the Tata Education Trust.
“It is crucial to clarify that these individuals were engaged under programs funded by the Tata Education Trust (TET) on a contractual basis for specific program durations. While it was unavoidable to issue discontinuation letters due to this contractual arrangement, there has been a positive development regarding the release of funds from TET.
Ongoing discussions with the Tata Education Trust have provided assurance that resources will be made available to TISS to resolve this issue. TET has committed to releasing funds for the salaries of TET project/programme faculty and non-teaching staff,” the statement read.
While the exact number of those who has initially been laid off is not known, those whose contracts had been terminated included approximately 52 faculty members – 18 in Mumbai, 15 in Hyderabad, 13 in Guwahati and 6 in Tuljapur. Additionally, at least 56 non-teaching staffers were laid off – 17 in Guwahati, 11 in Hyderabad, 13 in Mumbai and 15 in Tuljapur.
A copy of the termination notices sent out to faculty members from officiating registrar Anil Sutar was accessed by The Wire. It referred to a letter sent out on May 31 stating that while the institute tried its best to pursue the release of grants from the Tata Education Fund for the payment of salaries, it has not received any decision from the Trust yet.
“The Institute tried [its] best to pursue for the release of grant from Tata Education Trust for the purpose of salary. The Institute made several attempts for the release of grant through official correspondence and personal meetings with the Tata Education Trust and the decision regarding further extension of grant period has not yet been received from Tata Education Trust,” the letter states.
“In view of above, it is extremely painful to inform you that your services at the Institute will come to an end w.e.f. June 30, 2024 (A.N), in the event of non-receipt of approval/grant from Tata Education Trust. Further updates, if any, regarding extension/continuation of your services at the Institute will be intimated to you once the approval/grant received from Tata Education Trust.”
Faculty members who have been laid off said to The Wire that an email had been sent on May 30, when their contracts technically came to an end, informing them that the institute is trying to ensure that the grants are approved.
“We never thought that this is a kind of a job where people can be sacked any time. People left when they got jobs, but there was no job insecurity as such. Our contracts came to an end on May 30. Every year this happens. Then our contracts get renewed and appraisals come. It was just a formality. But this time the Institute wrote that we are trying for your grants,” said a faculty member whose contract has been terminated and who did not wish to be named.
“We worked for one more month and at 7:59 pm on a Friday night they told us that your position has come to an end as of June 30. Saturday is generally not a working day and Sunday is a holiday. So in a sense it was an immediate termination technically,” they added.
Those affected by the layoffs said that the Institute could have informed them at least a few months in advance. “Basically May 30 the contract ends. They could have told us a couple of months beforehand. There was restructuring of courses that happened for which we have relentlessly worked and designed the curriculum, faculty members worked on students’ dissertations, field work, among others. It looks like they required our services for one more month and that’s why they did not tell us. We did it because it was our service to the community,” the faculty member said.
The Wire has written to Deepshikha Surendran, head of communications, Tata Education Trust. This report will be updated when a response is received.
Failure of TISS leadership, silencing critical thought
Established in 1936 as the Sir Dorabji Tata Graduate School of Social Work, it was renamed In 1944, as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. In 1964, it was declared Deemed to be a University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act (UGC), 1956.
Last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government gave itself the power to appoint key functionaries in TISS and four other privately-managed deemed universities. The Union ministry of education announced that it will appoint the chancellor and vice chancellor who, until then, were appointed by the Trusts of these universities. The government’s move was for deemed universities that received government funds exceeding their own annual earnings, according to the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, notified in June 2023 by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
The Progressive Students’ Union has condemned the layoffs at TISS. The move is “completely a failure of the current leadership of TISS administration in running the institute and apathy of the BJP-led union government,” it said in a statement.
“After repeatedly targeting its students and curbing the campus democracy, the present TISS administration, under the BJP-led union government, has unleashed an attack on its employees as well. Recently, it has been learnt that on 28th June 2024 TISS administration sent termination letters to nearly 100 teaching and non-teaching staff at the Institute, informing them that their contracts will not be renewed and service ends on 30th June 2024. Even though the exact numbers are not clear, this shocking news comes just 48 hours before nearly a 100 institute staff members which were previously funded by the Tata Education Trust will become unemployed after years of service at TISS. It is completely a failure of the current leadership of TISS administration in running the institute and apathy of the BJP-led union government,” the statement said.
Speaking to The Wire another member of the teaching faculty whose services have been terminated, said that the mass dismissal is a “continuation of the onslaught on higher education, in general, and social science education, in particular, over the last 10 years.”
“During the periods of the previous two BJP-led governments, TISS itself had seen a series of rollbacks of support for marginalised students, steep fee hikes etc. The latest moves come as a culmination of this process. I also think that this mass dismissal is of a piece with the authoritarian muzzling of dissenting and critical voices which the Union government has consistently and vengefully been carrying out,” the faculty member said.
“TISS has always been known for independent thought and critical scrutiny of power. I see the mass sacking as a part of the current regime’s overall enterprise of silencing, censoring, dismantling, or capturing institutions which nurture independence of thought and expression,” they added.