In April this year during lockdown few students faced problem in feeding dogs of their campus as the college authorities were denying them permission to enter the campus. Similarly few years back a petition on change.org was started by a student of IIT Roorkee as the management was relocating the dogs of the campus. For more details kindly go on the link below:
In the year 2018, IIT ( Indian Institute of Technology), Madras campus had issued a circular that any student found feeding dogs and cats in the campus shall be expelled and fined with up to Rs. 10,000.
The Indian Institute of Technology is one of the premier institutes of engineering in India. It has several campuses spread across India and Madras (Chennai) is one of them.
After two years again the IIT Madras management have started playing mischief. Wasn't two years enough for them to control the dog population? Why did they allow the stray dog population to grow in the first place?
Why were they so dependent on the municipality for getting the dogs sterilised? Why couldn't they tie up with NGOs to get the campus dogs sterilised? If they can hire NGOs to get them thrown out of campus then why didn't they hire NGOs for getting the dogs sterilised and immunised. All this only speaks about their negative and sick attitude towards dogs.
They have again started penalising the students for feeding the dogs in the campus. Right from fining them to throwing them out if hostel. How unacademic of them. What kind of example are they setting up?
They have designated areas for feeding and anyone found feeding outside the designated areas shall be fined and severely punished.
Do these bright people even know that dog is a territorial animal who cannot be flocked together at one place to be fed. By setting up feeding places (pic in the post) they are denying many weak dogs of food and water. They should understand that the students don't like to break the law but for them the priority is to feed and and they just cannot do it by being confined to designated feeding areas.
Will the management take responsibility for death of dogs due to starvation? This unscientific rule is not only inhuman but also cruel. Also they seem to have hired an NGO to remove the dogs from the campus. This is against dog rules 2001. In fact it should be the management which should be penalised and legally punished for breaking the law.
For the Draconian law imposed in the campus of IIT Madras kindly go on the link below:
The bitter reality of India is that most of the heads of the educational institutions have never themselves fed a stray dog nor have they kept a pet dog at home. In their minds dog is an animal who only bites and all stray dogs are rabid.
Most of the professors, deans, vice chancellors, teachers and Principals have never interacted with a dog. Nor they have ever been taught in schools and colleges about dog behaviour. But still they can now learn from their own students.
The unfortunate part is that the management of IIT Madras has neither learned anything from their own students nor they have learned anything from other premier educational institutions of India.
They need to do a tour and see with their eyes how IIT Delhi and it's students are taking care of the dogs in their campus.
They should go to JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) campus and see with their own eyes how well kept the dogs are of these campuses. How the management and teachers support the students in feeding the dogs and taking care of them.
Many of the University of Delhi colleges are taking care of the dogs residing in the campus. Just to name a few are Hansraj College, Sri Venkateshwara College, Sriram College of Commerce, Motilal Nehru College, Ramjas, ARSD College, Ram Lal Anand College, Arya Bhatta College, Bharati College, Kamla Nehru College, Zakir Hussain College, Lady Shriram College, St. Stephens College and the list goes on.
Either it is the staff of the college who is taking care of the dogs, or the students or at some places both are together taking care of dogs.
The road for all these people has not been easy as they all had to initially face opposition from their management but sooner or later their management realized the importance of their work.
During covid times when most of the students have gone to their homes the management of both JNU and IIT Delhi have made special arrangements for feeding the dogs in the campus. Kindly go on the following link to read about their wonderful initiative:
It's time IIT Madras learnt few lessons from their peers. If they can't make special arrangement for feeding the dogs the least they can do is to stop creating hurdles for their own students for feeding the dogs of the campus.
Also the Education Ministry should come out with a guideline for dog management in educational campuses. Any further delay will lead to many more dog deaths and cruelty on college campuses. Many dogs are being thrown out of campuses almost daily and they are all going unreported. This needs to stop. Also school curriculum and college curriculum should mention about dog rules 2001. Relocation of dogs and any form of cruelty against dogs is a punishable offence. If only the Deans, Professors and Vice Chancellors had read this in their schools and colleges then probably today they would not penalising their own students.
India can never become Atmanirbhar (self reliant) if colleges and schools can't take care of a handful of dogs residing in their campus.
If every college and school starts taking care of the dogs in their campus then very soon we won't find a single stray dog in India.
The good part is that this time the AWBI has not turned a blind eye but has taken positive measures to stop the management of IIT Madras from doing this most illegal and inhuman act.