Now, NEIAH students on hunger strike over unpaid stipends, affiliation delay

SHILLONG, Nov 28: A second central government institution in Meghalaya is in turmoil after the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
The post-graduate students of the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda & Homoeopathy (NEIAH) at Mawdiangdiang have been on an indefinite hunger strike to protest the failure of the administration to address their grievances.
Their protest began on November 26, six days after their NEHU counterparts suspended their indefinite fast to press for the removal of controversial Vice Chancellor Prabha Shankar Shukla.
The first batch of MD (Homoeopathy) students at NEIAH have three grievances – non-disbursement of stipends for the past year, non-affiliation of their three-year PG courses with NEHU, and failure to provide them with a guide in accordance with the norms of the National Commission for Homeopathy (NCH).
The eight students on hunger strike said they would continue with their protest until the institute’s authorities gave a written assurance that their stipends would be released and the NEHU affiliation would be obtained.
One of the agitating students said on Thursday that they have not received their stipends despite working in the hospital for the past year.
Informing reporters that they had been raising these demands with the administration since April, she said the director in charge assured in September that their stipends would be released in two weeks and the affiliation would be done in two months. “The administration’s inaction forced us to resume our agitation,” she said.
She also said the first batch of MD (Homoeopathy) students are unsure about their future as the institute has not initiated the admission for the second batch.
Saurabh Singh, a fourth-year student of BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery), said the administration should resolve the grievances of the MD (Homeopathy) students at the earliest.
“Both the director in charge and the deputy director are in Delhi when the institute is in a crisis. We haven’t had a full-fledged director since August when the former director retired,” he said, adding their hunger strike for three days has not moved the authorities yet.
Singh said the MD (Homoeopathy) classes started in December 2023 and, according to the NCH, the PG courses needed to be affiliated with the NEHU within three months.
“It is also mandatory for the institute to provide a guide for the PG students within six months after the commencement of classes. This has not been done and the students are suffering due to the mistake of the administration,” he said.
The BAMS and Bachelor of Homoeopathy Medicine and Surgery students are holding a sit-in demonstration in support of the MD (Homoeopathy) students.