Student unions/organisations at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) entered the third phase of their Period Leave Campaign. In support of this initiative, numerous letters from menstruating students have been submitted, urging the adoption of period leaves. The movement gained traction following developments at Cochin and 15 other universities last year, where menstrual benefits, including a two per cent condonation of the mandatory 75 per cent attendance policy for female students, were granted in response to a request from a student union.

In TISS Mumbai, student unions are advocating for the establishment of an expert committee comprising students and faculty representatives to assess the situation on the Mumbai campus and implement similar benefits as deemed appropriate. Fathima Sulthana, general secretary of Progressive Students Forum (PSF), a student’s collective in TISS, said, “Like Cochin has brought down the mandatory attendance to 73 per cent from the previous 75 per cent, we want the administration here to consider something in these terms here too. However, we are demanding the administration set up an expert committee, analyse and verify the situation and need here and implement period leave. We have also demanded that this committee should have representatives from students and faculty too.”