23-05-2025
Rijiju seeks report from I&B Ministry on Arunachal film institute strike
GUWAHATI: Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has sought a report from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on the circumstances forcing the students of the Film and Television Institute, Arunachal Pradesh (FTI-AP), to go on an indefinite academic strike on May 15.
The FTI-AP, currently managed by the Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute,
is at Jote in the Frontier State's Papum Pare district. The area, 24 km from the State's capital, Itanagar, is under the Arunachal West Lok Sabha constituency that Mr. Rijiju represents.
He said that the Joint Secretary of the I&B Ministry was asked to proceed to Jote on Friday (May 23, 2025) after he sought a report on the goings-on in the FTI-AP.
'I have received a preliminary report in this regard. The students have raised genuine issues, and they should be addressed. I have been informed that a meeting between FTI-AP officials and the local administration is being planned. I hope the concerns raised by the students are addressed soon,' Mr. Rijiju told Itanagar-based journalists.
State government officials said the meeting of all the stakeholders, including senior officials from the Department of Information and Public Relations and the Deputy Commissioner of Papum Pare, would be held soon.
Mr. Rijiju had initiated the FTI-AP almost a decade ago when he was the Minister of State for Home at the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone eight years ago.
Classes for two-year postgraduate diploma courses in acting, screenwriting, and documentary cinema started in March this year, five months after the three-stage admission process for the first batch was completed. The institute took 14 faculty members on board, but the classes did not commence.
