UGC's Solutions
- Joint committee should be set up, comprising faculty and students, to examine the social atmosphere
- Both policy and mechanisms must be developed to foster social harmony
- A special office called 'equal opportunity office' should be set up to implement remedial coaching programs for SC/ST students.
- Social justice ministry must closely monitor reservation implementation
- SC/ST students should get adequate representation in various college committees and cultural programmes
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There are no happy endings in this tale, only tragedy. A series of heartrending stories have shone the spotlight on the plight of Dalit students in some of India's premium educational institutions. According to a recent report prepared by Insight Foundation, around 18 students belonging to the scheduled caste scheduled tribe (SC/ST) and other backward classes (OBCs) have committed suicide in institutes of higher learning across the country in the past four years. Senthil Kumar's parents are agricultural labourers and constantly on the move, managing to barely eke out a semi-decent living. Theirs was a life grounded in hope. Hope that their son will do them proud by becoming the first person from their village to obtain a PhD after completing his doctoral dissertation in physics from Hyderabad Central University. But even that flicker of a hope was abruptly extinguished when Senthil took his own life in 2008—unable, allegedly, to bear the discrimination that was meted out to him at the university.
Faculty members, students and members of the Dalit Solidarity group—S. Anand, Ravi Kumar and Suneetha Achyut—brought the matter to the attention of the authorities. Subsequently, a fact-finding committee was formed to conduct an inquiry. Its findings pointed to a lack of sensitivity on part of the institute. The inquiry's report states: "Inconsistency and subjectivity in the standards applied for coursework and for allocation of supervisors in the 2006 batch led to an understandable perception that has gained among the SC/ST students in the school of physics, that they are being discriminated against on the basis of their caste."
Suneetha, who was actively involved in mobilising the students to attract the attention of the authorities, doesn't mince words: "The fact-finding committee clearly mentioned in its report that inconsistency and subjectivity in the standards led to an understandable perception among the Dalit students that they are being discriminated against. Now, we believe the hint alone is enough, but if they're bent on overlooking it, then no one can actually be of any help."
Suneetha says Senthil's parents are still in a state of shock. They have received some compensation from the university—after the intervention of the activists. In that, they're one of the lucky ones. The larger point that the activists are looking to make is that there are cases where the parents have no idea that they can do something to get justice if their ward meets with a similar fate. "The bigger issue is that the authorities responsible are yet to even acknowledge that there is a problem. Looking for solutions comes after," says Suneetha.
Professor Vinod Parvala of Hyderabad Central University chaired the inquiry into Senthil's death. Speaking to Outlook, he says: "There is a need for social sensitivity, for sure. Even in our fact-finding report, we have pointed out some issues. The university's faculty is a class apart as far as their respective subjects are concerned, but they have no idea about the changes that've taken place in society. So they need to be sensitised." He adds that while some steps have been taken, there's more that needs doing. "The university has already issued some guidelines, but the age-old divides will only truly disappear once the thought process has been changed."
Seeking Answers Manish Kumar's parents want to know why. (Photograph by Nirala Tripathi)
In a more recent case, Manish Kumar, a student of IIT-Roorkee, reportedly faced a similar situation. The third-year student allegedly could not cope with being the butt of both the faculty's and the students' constant taunts and belittlement. He committed suicide in February 2011. "From day one, they made him feel inferior and attempted to convince him that he was unfit to be a student at such a premier institute. The students used to tell him that he should leave the institute and go somewhere else because he had a lower IQ," says Rajendra Kumar, Manish's father.
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And then there's the story of Bal Mukund, a third-year All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) student from the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, who committed suicide in March 2010 after allegedly being a constant victim of the biases of the AIIMS faculty. He told his parents about the alleged discrimination and filed a complaint with the authorities in Delhi—there's no record of such a complaint. His father had sold his ancestral land to finance his son's studies. After Bal Mukund's death, his family has been left devastated and debt-ridden.
"The authorities claimed he was depressed. I want to know why (they made this contention). He wanted to study medicine and had gotten admitted into AIIMS. He was extremely happy and had been doing well in his initial years. What had happened to him, all of a sudden, that he felt he had to take this extreme step? We are shattered. I want the CBI to investigate the matter," says Gulab Chand Ahirwal, Bal Mukund's father.
Tragedies like these spurred a group of Dalit professionals and students to help create awareness. The group also aims to set up a round-the-clock helpline to foster awareness among the students that suicide is never an option—not even as a last resort. Anoop Kumar, an advocate and activist who leads the group, is meeting with the parents of the students who committed suicide. He explains, "We are not doing this to get compensation. This is an awareness campaign that will help people deal with the situation. Parents can come and use this platform to talk to various authorities and check on the situation before it gets worse."
The authorities, too, have taken some interest. Both the home ministry and the ministry of social justice and empowerment have given verbal assurances that they will look into the matter and say an inquiry may be ordered soon—though nothing has happened as yet. The director of the Indian Institute of Dalit studies, Rajendra P. Mamgain, says, "The long history of such incidents have shown that this is a very real problem. Sensitivity is required at every level and students need to be included in the activities of the institutes they are associated with. Their confidence goes down when they are being left out. The 'mainstream' students have to understand that their attitude can contribute to bettering the social fabric. We all have to work towards fostering a positive attitude among Dalit students."
Narendra Jhadav, a member of the planning commission and an activist who has long been working towards bringing the OBCs into—and feel like they are a part of—the mainstream, says, "Integration is required and institutes have to, through their governing bodies, create social environments in which the students don't feel left out. This is needed at each step. The situation needs to be looked into and addressed." By spotlighting such incidents, some of which are in court, the activists hope to douse the fires of prejudice raging on Indian campuses. If the list of Dalit student suicides is to stop growing, admitting the problem is the first step to solving it.
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JUN 22, 2011 04:49 PM 18 | Sunil Are you trying to compare apples to oranges or trying to divert the issue cleaverly to some vague statistic? Dalit student suicide rate relates to caste humiliation, harrassment and discrimination. Non-dalit may not have such factors affecting them. Why can't we accept the fact that there is caste barrier in our society/culture that has brought endless sufferring to millions? What a shame a country that turns blind eye when ever caste discrimination and oppression are brought to light. It is time to criminalise caste discrimination and take stern action aganist such practices. |
JUN 22, 2011 04:26 AM 17 | Three anecdotes do not evidence make... What is the rate of suicide among Dalit students across the country? How does it compare with suicide rate among non-Dalit students? How does it compare with suicide rate among non-student Dalit population? What ever the driver for this article - it seems that sensationaling the loss of some families seems to be a critical element of the motivation. Another observation, these Dalit's do not seem to be typical dalit families, rural, landless or urban menial labour that makes for a huge percentage of dalit population. Rather these seem to be urban middle class savarna wannabes rather than long suffering dalits. Have these families usurped the benefits of reservation for their children generation after generation (third gen now)? |
JUN 21, 2011 10:34 PM 16 | Caste and outcasts are an invention of those invaders who came to India and imposed that system on the local people. No leaders, swamis or social activists have denounced this fascist aspect of Indian social structure. There should be a national campaign to sensitize and educate the so-called 'Untouchables' who are, in fact, the indigenous people of India to reject the status that has been imposed on them and to make the world know about their plight. |
JUN 21, 2011 08:00 PM 15 | I deem it appropriate to highlight what exactly Churchil had placed on record his thoughts on Indian sociial life and the leaders of Indian public opinion. In 1932, as an MP of the Conservative Party Churchil also said, "Gandhi stands for the substitution of Brahmin domination for British rule in India............... "While any community, social or religious, endorses such practices and asserts itself resolved to keep sixty millions of fellow countrymen perpetually and eternally in a state of sub-human bondage, we cannot recognise their claim to the title-deeds of democracy. Still less can we hand over to their unfettered sway those helpless millions they despise........... "Let me just direct your attention once more upon these untouchables, fifty or sixty millions of them, that is to say more than the whole population of the British Isles; all living their lives in acceptance of the validity of the awful curse pronounced upon them by the Brahmins. A multitude as big as a nation, men, women and children deprived of hope and of the status of humanity. Their plight is worse than that of slaves, because they have been taught to consent not only to a physical but to a psychic servitude and prostration........... "Nepotism, back-scratching, graft and corruption in every form will be the handmaidens of a Brahmin domination. Far rather would I see every Englishman quit the country, every soldier, every civil servant embark at Bombay, than that we should remain clutching on to the control of foreign relations and begging for trading facilities, while all the time we were the mere cloak of dishonour and oppression." Now look at what democracy meant to the class Churchil castigated. "Nepotism, back-scratching, graft and corruption in every form will be the handmaidens of a Brahmin domination." Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had 16 Brahman ministers in a Cabinet of 33 Ministers. They accounted for 48% though the sacred caste was/is 3.5% of West Bengal population. Only democracy can give such huge room in the name of merit to the ruler's caste. Mamata Banerjee too has started following the footprints of her communist predecessor. Various offices are being packed with her caste men. Churchil is still relevant. And this is why the Indian in general and Bengalis hate the British Premier. |
JUN 21, 2011 08:16 AM 14 | O. P. Suman You deserve thanks for highlighting what British Prime Minister Lord Winston Churchil had said about the Brahmins. This is why Churchil has been portrayed as worst imperialist and enemy of Indian political interests. See how a word against Brahmans, though totally correct and substantiated, is propagated by Indian press as against India and its millions of people. But the fact is that any service to the untouchables is viewed with strong disapproval as it goes against the Brahminical scriptures! All those who are criticised by Indian intelligentsia, we must bear in mind, have advocated the cause of the deprived millions of untouchables and tribal communities. Of hand, I can cite another instance: Katherine Mayo. |
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