A deeper look into the departments these students belonged shows that there was no faculty who belonged to these communities present there. RTI data collected by the APPSC (Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle) IIT Bombay clearly shows that there was no faculty in the mathematics department of IIT Delhi who belonged to SC/ST community. The same is true for department of chemical engineering of IIT Bombay which Darshan Solanki belonged to. RTI Data collected by APPSC also shows that reservation is violated in faculty composition of all IITs. In IIT Delhi, only 2% of faculty are SC, 1% ST, and 7% OBC. The remaining 90% positions are filled by savarnas. Same is the case for IIT Bombay where 94% are savarnas, with just 2% OBC, 3% SC, and 1% ST. With these institutions blatantly violating constitutional provisions and neither the government nor the courts are holding them accountable, how can we ensure safe, diverse, and inclusive spaces for our students?

On July 10, 2023, the honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu stated that students’ suicides are a matter of concern and educational institutions should make it their priority to protect and support students against stress, humiliation, or neglect in their campuses. On February 25, the honourable Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud also lamented the lack of recognition of discrimination and harassment present in these institutions by the administration and pointed to their lack of empathy.

We cannot expect “empathy” for marginalised students in these institutions where even faculty from these communities are not allowed to work without hindrance, in peace. Professor Vipin Veetil who belongs to OBC community was humiliated and had to resign because he raised his voice against the administration of IIT Madras dominated by savarnas for their discriminatory attitudes and continuing elevation of only savarnas to administrative positions such as deans and heads of department. Despite calls by the government to fill the backlog vacancies for SC/ST/OBC faculties in all IITs, in “mission mode recruitment”, none of these institutes have filled these vacancies despite getting more than 100 applicants for each post.

Most IITs demand post-doctoral (Post-Doc) research experience as a necessary qualification for faculty recruitment. But none of the IITs implement reservation in Post-Doc appointments. In an RTI response to APPSC, IIT Bombay admitted that they do not implement reservation in Post-Doc admissions, and also accepted that there was no rule that exempted Post-Doc appointments from reservation. Post-Doc admissions happen mostly through academic networks dominated by faculty from among the savarna caste, where they recommend that their students to other faculty in different institutes. Students coming from Dalit Bahujan Adivasi (DBA) communities without any cultural and social capital find themselves outside these networks and lose the chance to avail of these positions entirely.

In such institutions dominated by savarnas, the entire culture is designed to ensure that students coming from marginalised communities find it difficult to grow, to survive. The discrimination starts from the process of admission where the savarna faculty ensure that seats reserved for SC ST OBC students remain unfilled, after which they bring more savarna students in their place.

PhD Admission data collected by APPSC IIT Bombay from 2016-2023 shows that despite having thousands of applicants from among the SC/ST/OBC categories, none of the IITs have taken the required number of students mandated by reservation norms. Even after raising these issues for the past three years, in 2023, IIT Bombay denied 80 seats that rightfully belonged to SC/ST/OBC students despite having 3079 applicants and admitted 95 more savarna students, more than the allowed limit for PhD. One department in IIT Bombay, Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA) has not admitted a single ST student in last 9 years. If we comb through the PhD data from among all the IITs, we will find same pattern everywhere.

Even when students from DBA (Dalit-Bahujan-Adivasi (communities somehow get admission inside these campuses, the dominant savarna culture and anti-reservation sentiment that is prevalent will work in tandem to ostracise and alienate them. The savarna students, staff and faculty openly taunt the DBA students and harass them on a day-to-day basis makes their lives a living hell throughout their course.

In a survey conducted by the SC/ST Cell at IIT Bombay, in February 2022 — a year before the death of Darshan Solanki, students had shared accounts of the constant harassment and discrimination they face daily. Students are marked by asking their ranks when they step into the campus which discloses their category. The survey revealed that one in three students was asked his/her rank by fellow students in a bid to know their caste identity. The savarna students exclude SC/ST students from their groups and even when clubbed together, deliberately avoid, or discards their ideas and opinions in group discussions. Casteist slurs are often hurled at students, and even cases of untouchability, where students avoid touching water bottles belonging to them were reported. Even after having this data on the ways and practices of how students are facing casteism, the administration of IIT Bombay did nothing to protect the students and sensitize the savarnas. They did not just ignore the issues, the Director of IIT Bombay shamelessly claimed that there is no caste discrimination on campus, just the day after Darshan’s death.

When an anti-reservation Facebook post by the head counsellor of IIT Bombay was reported to the administration in June 2022, they ignored it and took no action. Further enquiry by APPSC showed that there were no SC ST Counsellors. The counsellors were not caste aware and discarded the casteist harassment faced by SC ST students as “just inside their head” further worsening students’ mental health and denied the presence of caste discrimination in campus.

APPSC filed a case against the administration’s inaction to the National SC/ ST commission who called out the director, IIT Bombay and ordered them to remove the counsellor and appoint new counsellors from SC ST communities. Even now, the administration of IIT Bombay has not complied with these orders and they have not removed the counsellor who harbours anti-reservation sentiments. These actions by the administration shows their disregard to the mental health of DBA students in campus.

None of the IITs have a proper functioning SC/ST cell. According to the RTI filed by APPSC IIT Bombay, only two IITs out of 23 allocate funds for these cells, only three have allotted rooms and only five have conducted any events. The existence of these cells has only been mentioned by 12 IITs on their websites. These cells exist as just namesakes and does not address the issues of SC/ST students, does not oversee the proper implementation of reservation, not does it conduct any sensitization process for their students.

Unless we hold these institutes accountable and force them to take in more faculty and students from within the DBA communities, enforce democratic decision-making and break the dominance of savarnas, these spaces will never be either safe, peaceful or productive for marginalised students.

Views and opinions expressed in this article is solely that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views or position of SabrangIndia and this site.

[1] Privileged castes

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Out of 11,742 SC and OBC students preparing for examinations in coaching institutions, only 1,300 students were selected, said the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on September 16.

Member of Parliament Partap Singh Bajwa questioned Minister of State (MoS) Rattan Lal Kataria about the number and performance of SC and OBC students who had enrolled in coaching institutions for different competitive exams. He also asked about the number of students who had enjoyed the Pre-Matric Scholarship (PMS) scheme since 2016. The PMS is a Centrally-sponsored scheme that supports SC parents and seeks to improve participation of their children studying in Classes 9 and 10 of the pre-matric stage.

Accordingly, MoS Kataria listed the total number of reserved slots in coaching institutions across India from 2016-17 to 2019-20. The presented data showed that Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of successful SC and OBC students at 214 out of 600 enrolled students. Delhi was second highest in this regard with 204 out of 2050 enrolled students passing exams. Delhi also had the highest number of enrolled participants.

Tripura recorded 300 enrolled students but reported that no student had passed the competitive exams. Similarly, while Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha reported 400 students, 1100 students and 292 students respectively, they failed to report how many students had successfully cleared examinations.

Haryana also showed poor performance with only five students recorded to have passed exams out of the 300 students enrolled in the last four years.

Regarding beneficiaries under the PMS scheme, the Ministry said that 28,09,542 students were provided this scholarship in 2019-20. In 2018-19, as many as 26,30,366 students benefited from this scheme. 2018-19 recorded 3,48,112 students more than 2017-18 figures that recorded 22,82,254 beneficiaries.

In 2018, SabrangIndia reported on the importance of pro-minority schemes like PMS and their decline in then Poll-Bound States.

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