Indian Students Evacuated From Ukraine Go on Hunger Strike in New Delhi - Reports

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) - Indian medical students evacuated from Ukraine are holding a five-day hunger strike in New Delhi, demanding admission to medical universities at home to continue their education, Indian media reported on Monday.

The students and their parents are holding the protest at Ramlila ground in the Indian capital on July 23-27, the NDTV broadcaster said.

"I request the government to accommodate us in India. The government should help us. We have high hopes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi," one of the students was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.

Citing depression, anxiety and other mental issues, the students requested Modi to step in to save their future.

According to NDTV, students are demanding a place in Indian universities for themselves and 12,000 of their comrades evacuated from Ukraine. In total, more than 18,000 Indian medical students were taken home, but a significant part of them are last-year students who have almost completed their studies, and cannot count on redoing their entire curriculum in India.

The Chief Minister of India's Tamil Nadu, famous regional politician Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, also appealed to the prime minister for help, as there is a "sense of disappointment" among students that concrete steps have not been taken by the government with regard to continuance of their studies.

"I would therefore request you to direct the NMC [National Medical Commission] and the Union Ministries concerned to initiate steps to bring in necessary amendments in the relevant Central Acts, to enable these students to continue their studies in medical colleges in India," the official was quoted as saying by NDTV.

On Friday, Indian Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said, as quoted by The Indian Express, that the National Medical Council did not give permission to transfer or accommodate any foreign medical students in any Indian medical institute or university, explaining that there were no provisions to admit students from Ukraine in the Indian Medical Council Act 1956 and the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, as well as regulations to accommodate or transfer medical students from any foreign medical institutes to those in India.