Opinion Dalit student’s death at IIT Bombay: Caste should not matter on campus — it does

Darshan, who was from Ahmedabad, was a first-year BTech (Chemical) student. He had enrolled at IIT Mumbai three months earlier. When he went home the month before his death, he reportedly told his family members that he faced hostility from his classmates because he belongs to a Scheduled Caste community. He said that after finding out his caste, his friends’ behaviour changed, and they became “envious” of him because he was studying for free. Taralikaben Solanki, his mother, alleged, “He was in trouble, and he was being harassed.”

In the last seven years, 122 students have died by suicide in higher education institutions across the country. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan shared this figure in Parliament in December 2021. Most of the students who commit suicide are Dalits, tribals, or from backward or Muslim communities and most of the deaths have been committed by students at IITs, IIMs, and medical institutes. Of the 122 students, three were from tribal communities, 24 were Dalit, 41 were OBCs and three belonged to religious minorities. Government data shows that of the students who died by suicide, 34 were from IITs and five from IIMs. Thirty students died by suicide on various National Institute of Technology campuses throughout these seven years and 37 students died by suicide at different central universities.

On January 17, 2016, Rohith Vemula, a PhD candidate at Hyderabad Central University, died by suicide after raising numerous complaints against the institution’s administration. In 2019, Payal Tadvi, a medical student at the Topiwala National Medical College and BYL Nair Hospital, died by suicide alleging discrimination by upper caste students. Both Tadvi and Vemula were from the Dalit community. It was believed that after the storm that followed their deaths, things would get better, but according to data made public by the government, the government’s higher educational institutions remain hostile spaces for Dalits and backward and tribal people. According to the report of the parliamentary committee on AIIMS Delhi, SC and ST students are regularly failing their exams due to the discrimination they face. The SC-ST Welfare Committee, led by BJP leader Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, also mentioned in its report that people from Dalit and tribal communities face discrimination even when applying for academic positions.

According to 2016 data from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the ratio of Dalits enrolled in classes 1 to 12 was higher than the national average in 2014-15. Yet, Dalit students trail behind the national average in higher education. The national average for students pursuing higher education is 24.3, whereas Dalits have a lower average of 19.1. According to the 71st round study of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the national literacy rate for people aged 7 years and above is 75.8 per cent, while the literacy rate for Dalit children in the same age range is 68.8 per cent.

In response to a question in the Lok Sabha, the Union Ministry of Education said only one vice-chancellor from a Scheduled Caste or Tribe works across 45 central universities. Also, of the 8,668 people who applied for the position of assistant professor, 5,247 were from the general category, 1,042 were from the SCs, 490 were from the STs, and 1,567 were from the OBCs.

In central educational institutions, 7.5 per cent of seats have been set aside for STs, 15 per cent for SCs, 27 per cent for OBCs, and 10 per cent for EWS. Based on this formula, at least 75 of the 1,005 professors at the 45 central universities should be from Scheduled Tribes, but there are only 15. There should be at least 151 professors from Scheduled Castes, but there are only 69.

The issue of caste discrimination on campus is not restricted to IITs and IIMs, students from these communities face caste discrimination in other areas as well. In 1942, B R Ambedkar spoke at a conference organised by the Indian section of the Institute of Pacific Relations in Canada. He talked about the problems of Dalits in India, mentioning two things in particular. The first is that casteism is more dangerous than imperialism and that India can’t have peace until casteism is fixed. Second, he said that if anyone in the Indian freedom struggle wants freedom, it is people from the Dalit class.

Because the rate of literacy among Dalits is increasing rapidly in comparison to other marginalised communities, they are challenging traditions. They are gaining access to government jobs as well as starting small businesses and running startups. Dalit students cannot be deprived of such opportunities due to incidents of caste discrimination in educational institutions for much longer as more Dalits will get an education and break the hegemony of knowledge.

Tyagi is a former Rajya Sabha MP and Chaurasia is Research Fellow at Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia University