FTII Protest: Dibakar Banerjee & nine others return National Award - Page 4

Following reports that claimed that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) spends Rs 12 lakh per year for every student studying filmmaking at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), records obtained under RTI by the students show that the expenditure is split between academics, facilities given to students, depreciation of old buildings, ongoing constructions of new ones, money spent on pension for retired staffers and even contribution to Prime Minister Relief Fund.

There have also been comparisons of this spending with the money spent by the government on other national institutions. It was said that the amount was three times the money spent on students at IIT and double the money spent on medical students.

The students claim they were shocked by this "revelation" and hence filed a query under RTI to find out "where and how this humongous amount was being spent on them".

The response provided by the accounts department of the institute shows that the total expenditure on students for the financial year 2014-15 was Rs 37.91 crore. Distributing this sum equally for 342 students studying in various film and television throws up the figure of Rs 11.08 lakh per student, which, it seems, was later rounded up to 12 lakh.

One important head under which Rs 4.55 crore were shown spent is the depreciation of office buildings, hostels and other buildings, construction of new buildings like studios and auditoriums and refurbishment of existing ones.

The records also show that money was spent on National Students Film Awards (Rs 94.72 lakh) organised by the I&B Ministry with the aim of "recognising the talent in film schools across the country" where FTII is one of the participants.

Administrative expenditure also includes events such as Film Appreciation Course organised by FTII in collaboration with National Film Archive, which is, however, held for outsiders and not FTII students, and setting up of radio station, among other things. The funds spent on students also include money donated to Pradhanmantri Relief Fund (Rs 59,336).

There are other heads such as institute's contribution to CPF of employees (Rs 25.87 lakh), new pension scheme, Indian Panorama Festival among other things.
The institute insiders concede that it's difficult to calculate the money spent per student and disagree with the way the institute has done it.
However, U A Dhekne, Chief Accounts Officer at the FTII, backed the Rs 12 lakh per student theory. "FTII is a fully granted institute and every expenditure incurred on the campus is paid for by the Ministry. All the expenditures mentioned are for running the institute and every activity in the institute is ultimately for the benefit of students. Hence, the expenditure, although a rough estimate, is not incorrect."

Students, on the other hand, claim the data obtained under RTI busts the Rs 12 lakh theory.

Ashwani Sharma, a final-year sound recording student who accessed the information, said, "The claim that the ministry was spending Rs 12 lakh every year on each students had shocked most of us, including the staffers. The account information shows how the method used by them is faulty. The only aim of the mischief, is seems, was to portray students as freeloaders' and give a bad name to the ongoing agitation."

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/citing-rti-reply-ftii-students-junk-rs-12-lakh-per-student-annual-expenditure-theory/#sthash.wFLbNOFs.dpuf

Edited by ~*sindhu*~ - 8 years ago

Originally posted by: Kaapi

As if the Government has opened tons of universities for education? They are already a handful of government institutions in this country and now you want them to scrap even them? They offer few seats here and there and students have to score 100 per cent to grab those few handful of seats. So yes..I think government needs to open even more universities and offer even more courses to the students. 

Tax payers ignore hundreds of loots that happen everyday in our daily life. Nobody raises a voice or protests against them, so I certainly can't take this outrage on wasting taxpayers money on a film institute stuff seriously. Every year, government spends a lot of money on a medical student studying in a government instituion ( tax payer's money in your words) and when it comes to availing health benefits in our own country, poor tax payer has no where to go..so Govt should scrap all the government medical institutes as well because the tax payer is not really 'benefitting' from it as such? 'coz even to avail he health benefits he needs to face a huge struggle. 

Originally posted by: -Vaishvi-

Oh yeah...Beef is hot now 😆

It has become a nightmare to criticize anyone even remotely related to Modi 😆

Good. Serves these uncles right. F**cking freeloaders. Wasting tax payers money.Why should an institute run on taxpayer's money when the same tax payer's money (92 lakhs) can be used to purchase Yoga mats for a one day event?Or probably used for the PM's visit to Varanasi (17 Cr.) that eventually gets cancelled? Why Govt of India? Why are you giving them subsidized food just like you give in the Parliament's canteen?Why are you wasting our money on this institute when you can ask Tulsi Virani to spend it on many more IIT's and IIM's so that students after getting their degree can go overseas and earn money? What is the use of spending money on these commies whose work has time and again floored people in international film festivals?

No return on investment, they don't make 200 Cr movies so they are not good film makers so how dare you give the same uncles and commie FTII alumni 8 national awards last year? Why has the national awards become a 'beautiful yearly national ritual' at FTII like it's former director says? Why do you conduct the IFFI at Goa and bring in famous national and international film personalities in the festival when film making and film studies is useless in India to the point that people feel film institutes should be scrapped from the country? Why do you charge entertainment tax from films? It's #digitalIndia !Use that money to employ more fanatics on twitter naa so that they can spread false rumours of students studying in FTII for '15 years' and not passing out when the oldest batch is of 2008 and that too a handful of students?Employ more fanatics who doesn't even have the common sense that there is no age limit in FTII and anyone at any point of their life after graduation can study there so if a 40 yr old guy studies there, he will look old and not a chokra jawaan?

Cancel all plans of making the institute , a centre of National importance as proposed by your Govt. Why make so much effort in giving these commies so much limelight? Instead use that to appoint more such appropriate people in different Govt owned institutions just like you did with a small time actor appointed as chairman of a film institute, a shooter as MOS of I&B ministry and India's most loved bahu as the HRD minister.

Stop thinking about film. Film is not important at all.That's what great dictators use for propaganda and greact actors like Charlie Chaplin use for protests.

Chalo bachcho,bahut huya study break.Jaake padhna shuru kar do. Engineer cum Doctor banna hai ki nahin jald se jald?😃
Edited by KochurShaakBata - 8 years ago

Originally posted by: ibnbatuta

So the idea of meritocracy and all is frivolous to you? Efficient use of resources is also a frivolous idea to you which can't possibly be taken seriously. I hope someone in your family is paying taxes. So as a taxpayer why don't you protest against the loots that happen everyday? How're you going to go about it, if you have a family to raise. A candlelight vigil perhaps? Would anyone care for the lone ranger vigilante? If the media wouldn't pick up your case, what hope do you have?

How many taxpayers are protesting this? People are only commenting on social media because unlike these freeloaders, they need to work to raise their family. No free lunches and all. 

If people take 15 years to complete a course which would take 3-5 yrs normally, how many valuable humanities/arts students are losing out  then? 

There's a lot wrong at FTII, if these 15 yr diploma students are not being booted out. I suppose till now, the chairmen were chosen by the students. Well., obviously they didn't do a very good job at it. 

Originally posted by: Kaapi

[but if the person who is asked to manage turns out to be a walking joke, then it certainly is a cause to worry and the students who have put so much hard work to get into that reputed institutions have the right to protest against it.

*Cinema Man.

Originally posted by: MoStLyHaRmLeSs.

It has become a nightmare to criticize anyone even remotely related to Modi 😆

Who knows in few years,people will be put into jail for criticizing Lalit Modi because of the same surname.

Good as of late Dibaker is showing he never deserved such awards to begin with

Originally posted by: Kaapi

Naah, nobody in my family pays taxes.  And I most certainly do not care about efficient use of my resources. Neither do I show any outrage or file any complaints, except for online platforms like these where I express my grief. Goes to explain the state of my country. 😆

See..coming to students taking 15 years or whatever to complete their diploma..I'm not asking to let them be. But I certainly do not agree with the idea saying..'Oh let's scrap this institution altogether'. Putting all the snark aside, A taxpayers concerns should never ever be ignored. But I personally, do not endorse the notion of scrapping any kind of educational institute due to its internal problems. As a taxpayer, I would be more irritated and disgusted with my hard-owned money landing in the pockets of useless politicians than it being spend on n institute that educates students. And again, just because my priorities are different doesn't mean others concerns are useless, if you read my reply, accompanied with the bolded statement is an essay that majorly disagrees with the suggestion of scrapping an institute or say suggesting to start many more institutes with your own money. I don't necessarily agree with it. The solutions to these problems aren't forming more private institutions or letting Government to break ties with these institutions. IF anything, I strongly believe that more of tax-payers money should be spent on education. Ofcourse, managing them is an important part too, but if the person who is asked to manage turns out to be a walking joke, then it certainly is a cause to worry and the students who have put so much hard work to get into that reputed institutions have the right to protest against it. Let's not assume that every single student at FTII is an ' useless uncle' or whatever. I hope I made my point clear. 

Anyway, I said whatever I had to. Don't have anything much to say any more.