India, Aug. 1 -- The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has postponed its convocation ceremony just 48 hours before it was to be held on August 2. The chief guest at the function was to be Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, whose reference to unemployed young Indians as "cockroaches" is linked to the recent mass student protests across the country.

Graduating students at TISS were informed of the last-minute change of plans via an email they received on Thursday night, which cited "unforeseen circumstances". However, campus sources say that although a convocation is not a public event, the TISS administration decided to postpone it over security concerns, fearing protests or other disruptive activities during the function....