A day after a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) attempted suicide by slitting his wrist, students of the varsity staged a protest.
Students demanded that that the administration set up a committee to look into the incident.
Moses Abraham, who is originally from Machilipatnam in Andhra, was pursuing his PhD at the Advanced Centre for Research of High Materials (ACHREM), where he was reportedly working on 'Condense Theory Solid State Physics' for his thesis.
The student alleged that his guide, G S Vaitheeswaran, had asked him to change his research area and supervisor, despite having already published two research papers.
Reportedly troubled with the idea of starting his work from scratch, the scholar slit his wrist in the guide's room.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, students alleged that Moses was not alone in facing these problems.
“The issues we face are too many to list. At the department, we face problems in getting a well-monitored stipend amount issued to us for our respective fellowships. If it is not a student who is pursuing PhD after clearing competitive exams, the monthly stipend is about Rs 8,000 in such cases. The publishing of our fellowship is delayed at the whims and fancies of our respective research supervisors. If your topic is not according to (the liking of) your research guide, there’s a chance that he might ask you to change it even after three years of research,” a student representative from the department told TNIE.
Incidentally, M Venkatesh, a Dalit PhD scholar who had killed himself due to the 'systemic failure' of the university in 2013, was also from the same department.
Pro-VC Vipin Srivastava said that a decision on the committee would be taken up after Monday.
The university campus witnessed large scale protests earlier this year, after PhD scholar Rohith Vemula killed himself by hanging himself from the ceiling of a hostel room on January 17, 2016.