Archive · 14 Aug 2026
Student leader Neha Bora backs ISI autonomy fight against Bill
A big rule called the ISI Bill, 2026 was proposed by the Indian government.
It would change how the Indian Statistical Institute, a famous school for numbers and research, is run.
Many teachers and staff at the institute are worried about this rule.
They say it would let the government make all the big decisions.
That would make it harder for them to do their own research freely.
A student leader named Neha Bora came to the campus to support them.
She said that every young person should have the right to education.
She said schools should be allowed to decide for themselves what to teach.
The bill was not passed yet, so the institute got a little break.
Now the teachers and students will keep working together to protect their school.
Neha Bora, president of the All India Students' Association, visited the Indian Statistical Institute campus on Wednesday to show solidarity with teachers and staff resisting the Centre's proposed ISI Bill, 2026.
The ISI Bill, 2026, introduced in the Lok Sabha last week by the Union statistics and programme implementation ministry, remains pending after the monsoon session of Parliament concluded on Thursday.
ISI professors fear the Bill would install a Union government-dominated board of governors as the principal decision-making body, limiting their ability to oversee research by bodies such as the NSSO.
Bora said the erosion of autonomy is affecting public-funded institutions across the country, arguing that this government does not believe the right to education is a fundamental right.
Trinamool MP Saugata Roy said the Centre 'did not dare to pass the Bill in the monsoon session because of the overwhelming resistance' it faced.
- Who
- Student leader Neha Bora, ISI teachers and staff, and Trinamool MP Saugata Roy
- What
- A solidarity visit and resistance against the proposed ISI Bill, 2026, which critics say threatens the institute's autonomy
- When
- Wednesday (the visit); the Bill was introduced last week and the monsoon session of Parliament concluded on Thursday
- Where
- Indian Statistical Institute campus in Calcutta
- Why
- Opponents argue the Bill would put research and governance under direct government control, undermining ISI's autonomy
- Bill
- ISI Bill, 2026
- Introduced in
- Lok Sabha
- Introduced by
- Union statistics and programme implementation ministry
- Status
- Pending after the monsoon session concluded on Thursday
- Event
- 'From Jantar Mantar to ISI' programme
- Key speaker
- Neha Bora, AISA president and JNU PhD scholar
- Related protest
- Jantar Mantar protest that led to the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan
- Constituency MP
- Saugata Roy (Trinamool), Dum Dum constituency