Draft ISI Bill ‘undermines autonomy, accessibility’; students, faculty, staff announce protest

Disappointed over the proposed changes to the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), its students, faculty members, and workers have announced a protest on November 28 against the draft ISI Bill 2025. In a mass petition to the Ministry of Statistics, signed by ex-directors too, the ISI society has also sought withdrawal of the bill that ‘undermines autonomy, accessibility, and public-funded research’.

During the protest, ISI students, professors, and staff will form a human chain around the institute’s campus, carry out a procession from ISI to Dunlop crossing, and hold a street corner meeting, all between 4:30 pm and 7 pm.

The ISI student and faculty body argued that the review committee did not mention anything about the repealing of the existing ISI Act 1959 and only felt the need of one or two amendments. “The draft ISI Bill gives a very raw deal to the students and workers of ISI”, the organisation said.

The draft ISI Bill not only changes the institute from a society to a statutory body corporate but also prohibits it from offering free-of-cost undergraduate and postgraduate courses and stipends that help meritorious economically disadvantaged students to complete their studies. The draft law replaces the representative council with a centrally-appointed Board of Governors (BoG), moving the Academic Council out of the picture, the group claimed. Further, there is no update on the headquarters in the current bill whereas the existing act clearly mentions Kolkata.

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Recalling how the institute has its roots in Bengal renaissance as famous personalities such Rabindranath Tagore, Brajendranath Seal, Satyendranath Bose were involved with ISI, the society lamented that the draft bill was floated without even consulting with the research scholars.

ISI Bill 2025 ‘commercialises’ autonomous institute

Through the draft, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is trying to transform the institute’s “very nature” and “governance”, the ISI society remarked. Even the opinions on such a significant matter have been sought in a hasty and inadequate manner, it said.

The students and teachers of ISI feel that through the new legislation, the centre is trying to “commercialise” and “centralise” the autonomous institute. “It is a legislative takeover of ISI, converting it from an autonomous society registered under the West Bengal Government to a 'statutory body corporate' under complete Union Government control - a move that erodes the federal balance enshrined in our Constitution,” the society members said.

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The draft bill dismantles the academic and administrative autonomy of ISI by revising the composition and powers of its councils, placing authority in the hands of the central government and its nominees. It shifts the institute's focus from research to commercialisation, thereby undermining its foundational vision and long-standing public character.

Public-funded research, elections at risk

“ISI is a democratic institution where elections take place once in two years for the council. The draft bill proposes to do away with the elections. The most tragic part is that this act will be placed in the Parliament that is formed on the basis of elections,” the society observed.

Pointing to the zero tuition fee being the distinct feature of the institution, which allows research without financial burden, ISI society said that knocking down the structure would make ISI highly inaccessible to the larger student community and discourage bright minds from pursuing their research in India.

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ISI offers an inclusive, publicly-funded education that fulfills the constitutional promise of equality and ironically the bill threatens the very principle. “Protecting ISI is not only about saving one institution; it is about preserving the ideals of accessible education, federal balance, and scientific integrity that have defined India's journey since Independence,” said the students, faculty, scholars, and workers unanimously.