PhD student at IIT-Kanpur hangs herself in hostel room
Kanpur (UP), Jan 18: A 29-year-old PhD student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, allegedly ended her life by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her room here on Thursday, police said.
This was the third case of suicide at the IIT-Kanpur campus in a month.
A native of Jharkhand's Dumka, Priyanka Jaiswal, who was pursuing a PhD in Chemical engineering, got admission to the institute on December 29 last year.
Talking to PTI over the phone, Additional DCP (West) Akash Patel said they received information about the suicide around 1 pm. Upon reaching the spot, they found the door of Jaiswal's room was locked from inside and broke it open to find her body hanging from the ceiling fan.
A forensic team has been called to the spot, Patel said. Jaiswal's hostel mates had informed IIT-Kanpur authorities who later called the police.
Possible reasons behind Jaiswal's suicide will only be revealed after a preliminary probe and completing other formalities, the DCP said.
In a statement, IIT-Kanpur said, "With profound grief, IIT Kanpur mourns the untimely and unfortunate demise of a PhD student Priyanka Jaiswal, who joined the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Institute last month (December 2023). She was found dead in her hostel room this afternoon."
"A police forensic team visited the campus to review the reason for the death. The Institute is awaiting the police investigation to determine the likely cause of the death. With Ms. Priyanka's passing away, the Institute lost a bright and promising young student," it said.
On January 11, Vikas Kumar Meena (31), a second-year M.Tech student of the institute, allegedly hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his hostel room, reportedly after being "temporarily" barred from continuing with his course.
On December 19, postdoctoral researcher Pallavi Chilka (34) hanged herself from the ceiling fan of her second-floor hostel room on the campus.
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Nirmala Sitharaman to break Morarji Desai’s record for most budget presentations
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to make history on Tuesday by presenting her seventh Union Budget in Parliament, surpassing former Finance Minister Morarji Desai’s record of six. Desai served as Finance Minister under Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi before becoming Prime Minister in 1977.
The first budget of independent India was presented by Finance Minister RK Shanmugam Chetty on November 26, 1947, amounting to ₹197.1 crore. This has grown significantly, with the budget for the last financial year reaching ₹47.65 lakh crore.
Historically, the budget presentation time was 5 PM until Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha moved it to 11 AM in 1999, a practice that continues today.
Data from the Lok Sabha Secretariat reveals that there have been instances when the Prime Minister, rather than the Finance Minister, presented the general budget. For instance, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru presented the budget for the financial year 1958-59 while temporarily handling the finance portfolio. Similarly, Indira Gandhi presented the Budget for FY1969-70 after Morarji Desai’s resignation.
In 2019, due to the ill health of then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the budget was presented by his colleague, Minister Piyush Goyal.
It is notable that the Railways ministry, which previously had a separate budget, merged with the general budget in 2017.
After presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister also tables the budget papers in the Rajya Sabha. However, the Upper House does not have jurisdiction to approve or disapprove the Budget.
The Budget discussions include debates on ministry-specific allocations or Demands for Grants. These demands are then collectively passed through a process known as Guillotine.
While the Rajya Sabha can debate the budget, it lacks the power to alter or reject it. Following the debate, the Rajya Sabha refers the budget back to the Lok Sabha.
