— Rohith Vemula

It has been ten years since Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder.^[1] That emptiness is not his alone. It is the lingering feeling many from marginalised communities carry with them when they enter India’s so-called “elite” institutions –- IITs, IIMs, NITs, and Central Universities.

A 2022 survey in the Quint conducted at IIT Bombay following the Institutional Murder of Darshan Solanki found that one in every three SC/ST students had been asked about their caste identity.

Faculty spaces in these institutions reflect a similar imbalance. Despite constitutionally mandated reservations for SC, ST, and OBC communities, faculty positions continue to be dominated by those from the general category, as reported by The Hindu.

Under representation in these institutions

Under-representation is not incidental; it is structural. In at least two IITs and three IIMs, nearly 90% of faculty positions are held by individuals from the general category. In six IITs and four IIMs, the figure ranges between 80–90%, according to a report by The Wire, based on an RTI filed by Gowd Kiran Kumar, National President of the All India OBC Students Organisation.

The culture of exclusion within India’s elite institutions is not declining. It has been firmly entrenched.

Source: MHRD Data and a report in Quint, November 28, 2019

Faculty recruitment across IIMs has witnessed a significant decline between 2019 and 2026.

OBC, SC, ST – FACULTY IN IIM’s

This was first put out on social media. Verifying this we found that, according to a report in The Print on “The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports titled “2025–26 Demands for Grants of the Department of Higher Education” as of January 31, 2025, 28.56 percent of the total sanctioned teaching faculty positions (18,940) remained vacant across IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), Central Universities, and other higher education institutions.

The data further reveals that 17.97 percent of the 11,298 Assistant Professor positions (entry-level posts) are vacant, 38.28 percent of the 5,102 Associate Professor positions (mid-level posts) remain unfilled, and an alarming 56.18 percent of the 2,540 Professor positions are currently unoccupied.

The question then is stark: Why are SC, ST, and OBC positions left unfilled even when institutions have vacancies and eligible candidates are available?

When questioned about their recruitment processes, many institutions claim to follow a “flexi” system. When asked why reservation policies are not implemented, some have anonymously stated that hiring is done purely on “merit”. This raises a troubling question, does “merit” imply that candidates from marginalised communities are deemed intellectually unfit to teach in elite institutions? It is also frequently argued that an “adequate talent pool” is unavailable.

The experience of Subrahmanyam Sadrela illustrates the deeper structural problem. After completing his M.Tech and PhD from IIT Kanpur, Sadrela joined the institute as an Associate Professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department in January 2018. Soon after his appointment, colleagues reportedly remarked that his selection was “wrong”, that he did not deserve to be a faculty member, that his English was inadequate, and that he was mentally unfit. In April 2019 nearly a year after he raised allegations of caste-based discrimination on campus, he was accused of plagiarism in his thesis and threatened with the revocation of his PhD degree, as per a report in ­the Times of India. A detailed investigation by the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE) and reported by the Mooknayak said that the corroborated allegations of caste based discrimination inside IIM – B made by an associate professor Dr Gopal Das were vaild.

A significant portion of the 2025 data is not available online. Most publicly accessible information is from 2023–24, with limited material from early to mid-2025. This absence itself is telling, particularly as the pace of erosion of transparency –by institutions under the union government–appeared to accelerate in 2025, as per a report in the Wire.

RTI data from 2024 revealed that no SC, ST, or OBC faculty members were recruited in 2023 at IIT Bombay. Further, 16 departments at IIT-B did not admit a single student belonging to the ST community in the 2023–24 academic year. Shockingly, in five departments at IIT-B, no ST student had been admitted in the last nine years. This data was shared by the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student group at IIT Bombay, based on an RTI response received on February 6, 2025. In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on 9 April, the group alleged that IIT Bombay “Is violating reservation norms despite the MMR (Mission Mode Recruitment) announcement.”

Notably, no information was put out by the Circle regarding 2025 data on PhD enrolments or faculty recruitment. The Circle, which had consistently been active in raising questions of injustice, appeared to fall silent on these figures. Speculations can be made that the voice of the student group was curbed by the institute. Established in 2017, the Circle had positioned its X account as a strong voice responding to issues affecting students within and beyond IIT-B. 

The death of Darshan Solanki, a Dalit student at IIT-B, further intensified concerns. His father claimed that caste-based harassment led to his son’s suicide. However, the committee constituted by the institute concluded that the suicide was linked to poor academic performance, stating that none of Darshan’s close associates had reported instances of caste-based harassment. It must be noted that the committee did not include a single external member; it comprised only IIT staff. The inquiry was entirely internal. To many, it appeared a complete white wash.

Similar patterns of hostility have surfaced in other premier institutions. Students at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, reported that casteist messages such as “SC/ST leave the campus” and “Jai Parshuram” were circulated by fellow students on unofficial WhatsApp groups. Memes targeting Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar were also shared.

When anonymous complaints were submitted, the institute’s director and faculty reportedly responded that since the complaint had been made anonymously, it could not be entertained. This was conveyed by a senior official on the condition of anonymity.

If students are made to feel this unwelcomed within these institutions, why would they not drop out? Why would faculty members not resign? 

The dropout rates of SC, ST, and OBC students in these elite institutions are often attributed to financial difficulties or “excessive academic pressure.” Yet, the lived experiences of students suggest a far more troubling reality.  Following Darshan Solanki’s death, a survey was conducted at IIT Bombay. Students were asked a series of questions about campus climate and discrimination. One such question, along with several responses, is reproduced here. These responses reveal the brutal reality of a systemic failure—one that institutions attempt to downplay or conceal, even when exposed by the deaths of students like Darshan.

1.  What Has The Survey Revealed?

• On being asked if anyone has hurled “caste/tribal slurs or abuses or discriminated against you on campus,” 83.5 percent students said ‘No’.
• While 16.5 percent students said that they had, in fact, witnessed such instances, 70.4 percent students said that they had not witnessed anyone else being discriminated against on campus
• Nearly 25 percent, or one in every four students, said that the fear of disclosing their identity has stopped them from joining an SC/ST forum or collective.
• As many as 15.5 percent of students said that they have faced mental health issues arising from caste-based discrimination.
• Nearly 37 percent of students said that they were asked their Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)/ Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE)/ Joint Admission Test for Masters(JAM) /Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design (U)CEED rank by fellow students on campus in a bid to find out their (caste) identity.
• 26 percent of students were asked their surnames with the intention of knowing their caste.
• 6 percent, or one in every five students, said that they feared backlash from the faculty if they talked back against caste discrimination.
• 2 percent, or one in every three students, said that they feel SC/ST Cell needs to do more to address casteism on campus.
• Nearly 25 percent of the 388 students, that is one in every four students, did not attend an English-medium school in class 10.
• Nearly 22 percent of students are first-generation graduates from their family.
• Nearly 36 percent of students foretell that open category students perceive their academic ability as ‘average’. This is in contrast to 51 percent SC/ST students perceiving the academic ability of open category students as ‘very good’. (Source: the Quint)

There is a powerful story from the Solomon Islands that when people wish to uproot a tree, they gather around it and hurl abuses at it until the tree withers and dies. Whether or not this myth holds true for plants, its metaphor is painfully relevant in the context of India’s elite institutions.

An unwelcoming, hostile environment does not merely push students to drop out; it drives faculty members to resign as well.

Vipin V. Veetil resigned from IIT Madras in July, 2021. He had joined in 2019 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) in August the previous year. In his resignation email to the institute’s authorities, Veetil stated that his sole reason for quitting was caste-based discrimination allegedly faced from senior Brahmin faculty members within the department. However, the committee constituted by IIT Madras concluded that there was “no evidence of decisions being biased due to caste discrimination,” reasoning that most faculty members had “hardly interacted” with Dr. Veetil.

This was not the first instance. In January 2022, Veetil had also resigned after rejoining the institute in August 2020.

In another case, K. Ilanchezhian, a senior assistant director at the institute, filed a complaint alleging that his office space had been shifted to a students’ hostel, while his original office was allotted to an ‘upper’ caste research assistant.

Similarly, the Director of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai, was booked at the Taramani police station under the SC/ST Act following allegations of caste discrimination against a colleague.

In 2024, an FIR was registered under various provisions of the SC/ST Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita by the Bengaluru Police in a case alleging caste-based atrocities and systemic discrimination at IIM Bangalore. Eight individuals were named, including the institute’s Director and seven professors. The Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE), in its investigation findings dated December 20, 2024, confirmed systemic caste-based harassment faced by Associate Professor Gopal Das, a globally acclaimed Dalit scholar at IIM Bangalore, as per a report in the Mooknayak.

These cases represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Data on PhD enrolments in these institutions reveals that only a small number of students from SC, ST, and OBC communities have been able to secure admission into these prestigious doctoral programmes

Source: Table showing the 2022 PhD admission data of 13 IIMs obtained by RTI filed by APPSC IIT Bombay, The Wire

Scholarships for SC, ST, and OBC students are delayed and the students often get the amount after the end of their semesters. It has become an annual tradition for students to receive their scholarships after the end of their academic semester as reported in The Hindu. Minister Subhas Sarkar in this winter session of the Lok Sabha presented statistics that reveal the harrowing figures about dropouts by marginalised students studying in central universities, Indian Institutes of Technology, and Indian Institutes of Management.

In response to a question raised by BSP Member of Parliament (MP), Ritesh Pandey in 2023, the government disclosed that over the preceding five years, a staggering 13,626 SC, ST, and OBC students had discontinued their education.

The data further revealed that in Central Universities alone, 4,596 OBC students, 2,424 SC students, and 2,622 ST students had dropped out during this period. In the IITs, 2,066 OBC students, 1,068 SC students, and 408 ST students discontinued their studies. Similarly, in the IIMs, 163 OBC, 188 SC, and 91 ST students dropped out, reported SabrangIndia.

As stated before, no data for 2025 is accessible as of now, online.

Background

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal central government agency on matters relating to reservation, issued an order in 1975 exempting certain scientific and technical posts from the reservation policy.

Siddharth Joshi, an IIM Bangalore doctoral alumnus and researcher who co-authored a paper with IIMB Professor Deepak Malghan on caste bias in IIMs, noted: “In 1975, an exemption was granted to IIM Ahmedabad by the Department of Personnel and Training with respect to reservation in faculty positions. While IIM Ahmedabad had expressly sought this exemption, other IIMs simply assumed that they were also exempt and began not implementing reservations in faculty recruitment.”

Institutions have frequently justified the marginal representation of SC and ST faculty by arguing that there is a lack of a sufficiently qualified applicant pool, as reported by the Quint.

However, marginalised communities remain underrepresented in these institutions both as students and as faculty. They are subjected to grave mental harassment on the basis of caste identity, by peers, by authorities, and by colleagues. At the same time, institutions routinely deny the existence of discrimination and attempt to curb voices that raise these concerns.

The deeper truth is this: people from marginalised communities are seldom truly accommodated within these spaces. They are rarely made to feel that they belong. They are otherised – their culture, language, and food practices subtly or overtly looked down upon. In these elite institutions, they continue to remain “they,” never fully accepted as “us.”

UGC Guidelines: Context, Counter-revolt and protest 

It is in this overall context of entrenched exclusion and othering that recent developments around the much-needed UGC guidelines 2026 need to be understood. Brought in following a rigorous human rights battle in the courts –spearheaded by the mother of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi—they evinced visceral reactions from sections of the privileged caste elite. The union government, without putting up a spirited defence of its own enacted guidelines capitulated in its arguments of caste elite organisations in the Supreme Court. The Court too was prompt to stay implementation of these measures that would go a long way in addressing entrenched exclusion. Dozens of campuses across the country have seen spirited protests against this capitulation. Chandrashekhar Azad of the Bhim Army party even held a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on February 11 demanding that the 2026 Guidelines be implemented without change. Read references to this issue here, here and here.

Conclusion

“One out of three SC/ST students reported being asked about their caste,” revealed an IIT Bombay survey conducted in 2022.

Many students from the general category have reportedly hurled casteist abuses at SC/ST students. These elite institutions increasingly resemble exclusive spaces of savarna dominance. Yet, reports such as Caste-Based Enrolment in Indian Higher Education: Insights from the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) are published, claiming that nearly 60% of seats in higher education institutions are occupied by students from marginalised communities (p. 11 of 26).

While the AISHE data indicates a rise in enrolment from marginalised communities in recent years, it fails to answer a fundamental question: which institutions are being counted? Are these Tier 2 and Tier 3 colleges in urban peripheries, or institutions located in remote rural areas? Or are we speaking of IITs, IIMs, NITs, AIIMS, and Central Universities, the institutions that command prestige, resources, networks, and opportunity?

The distinction matters. A BSc degree from IIT Bombay can open doors to high-paying corporations and global opportunities. A BTech degree from an under-resourced college in a remote district often cannot. Access to elite institutions translates into access to power.

Meanwhile, over 13,000 SC, ST, and OBC students have dropped out of higher education in recent years. In Central Universities alone, approximately 4,500 OBC students, over 2,400 SC students, and nearly 2,600 ST students discontinued their studies. In the IITs and IIM’s, India’s premier institutes of learning — renowned not only for academic excellence but increasingly for caste discrimination and student suicides – around 2,000 OBC students, 1,000 SC students, and 408 ST students dropped out. At the IIMs, 163 OBC, 188 SC, and 91 ST students discontinued their education reported SabrangIndia.

The disbursal of fellowships and scholarships is frequently delayed, often reaching students only after the semester has ended. Students are made to feel undeserving and unwelcome—by faculty and by peers alike. They are shunned for their caste identities. They are made to feel like outsiders, as though these institutions belong only to certain classes and castes. Even their food practices are policed and mocked, as has been reported in several IITs. Sabrangindia has frequently reported on this alienation and discrimination.

Faculty positions in these institutions are overwhelmingly occupied, often 80 to 90 percent—by those from the general category. Those who dominate these spaces frequently go on to hire within the same social circles, reproducing exclusion in the name of “merit.” It becomes a vicious cycle. Even when scholars like Gopal Das or Subrahmanyam Sadrela manage to reach the other end of this black hole, the system finds ways to pull them back.

Nearly 79 years after Independence, sections of our people continue to be treated as second-class citizens within spaces that claim to represent the pinnacle of knowledge and progress. India prides itself on constitutional morality, yet its elite institutions often operate within what increasingly resembles an internal apartheid.

How long will this continue? How long will students like Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi, Darshan Solanki, and countless others be pushed into a system so steeped in humiliation and mental harassment that death appears to them more bearable than a life stripped of dignity?

That is the question we must confront.

(The legal research team of CJP consists of lawyers and interns; this resource has been worked on by Natasha Darade)

[1] A suicide born of distress, mental and other torture and alienation at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) on January 17, 2026 inspired the Dalit students movement to coin the term “institutional murder” as this was the last of many and the beginning of several such deaths with institutions of higher learning in India

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The post Cementing exclusion: What the numbers say about SC, ST, OBC presence in India’s elite institutions appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Tagore had also asked for the union minister’s confirmation to the fact that the people from the OBC, SC and ST community hold a mere 4.5 percent, 7 percent and 2 percent professor’s post respectively while the upper castes acquire 86 per cent of the total posts.

These questions were presented to Dr. Subhas Sarkar, who is currently serving as the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Education. In the response, the union minister apprised the Lok Sabha through the special recruitment driver under Mission recruitment, more than 6080 faculty positions, including professor’s posts, have been filled. Out of these positions, 871 positions have been filled by Scheduled Castes, showing a representation of 14.3 percent. The minister further provided that a total of 426 positions are occupied by the Scheduled Tribes, accounting for a mere representation of 7 percent. As per the data, 1424 faculty positions were held by people belonging in the OBC community, resulting in 23.4 percent representation in the faculty positions in Central Universities. It is crucial to note that the aforementioned data is concerning the total faculty positions available in Central universities and not the post of professor.

The union minister also provided that as of now, there is not proposal regarding reservation in promotions for OBCs.

The data providing the representation percentage of these marginalised communities in faculty positions and the post of professors indicate a need for further efforts to ensure more equitable representation across these groups within central universities’ faculty positions.

The complete answer can be accessed here:

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The post Union data on faculty position in Central University: 14.3% SC, 7% ST, 23.4% OBC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In its response, the union minister apprised the Lok Sabha by providing that the scheme of National Fellowship for OBCs was introduced in the year 2014-15. Kumar asserted that for the year 2022-23, stipends had been released to all eligible beneficiaries by the end of 2022-23. In furtherance they said that to ensure timely release, the system of Central Nodal Agency (CNA) has been adopted and it aims to ensure release of the stipends to scholars within the prescribed time limit.

The answer contains the details and the number of beneficiaries of the scholarship during the last 5 years. From the data, it can be observed that there has been a gradual increase in the scholarships provided to OBCs. As per the data, there has been an increase in the number of beneficiaries, from 670 beneficiaries in 2018 to 1570 in 2023, depicting a growth of more than a double in a span of 5 years.

When the provided figures are looked at state – wise, it can be observed that there are some states in which scholarships to OBCs have been decreasing in the last few years. In the state of Goa, a significant increase in the number of beneficiaries in the early years can be observed, from 7 in 2018 to 13 in 2019, pursuant to which there has been a gradual decrease till date. The same pattern is followed by the states of Assam, Sikkim, Gujrat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, with there being a good amount of increase in the beneficiaries for the first or second year, post which a decline can be seen.

It is also crucial to note that a pattern of gradual increase in number of beneficiaries of the said scholarships can also be seen in some states where there is a pattern of gradual increase in the number of beneficiaries each year. The states included are Bihar, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Manipur, Tripura, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

Notably, the highest number of beneficiaries each year from 2018 to 2023 has been from Uttar Pradesh- 133 in 2018, 202 in 2019, 223 in 2020, 243 in 2021, 325 in 2022. As can be deduced from the data, the number of beneficiaries in the state have also increased. On the other hand, the lowest number of beneficiaries have been from Arunachal Pradesh, which received 0 beneficiaries for the first three years and has received a total of 5 beneficiaries in the last two years.

It is pertinent that while we appreciate the overall increase in the number of scholarships provided, focus is also on ensuring that all states follow a positive pattern, with increase in the number of beneficiaries, and ensure that an equitable number of beneficiaries exist in accordance to the population of each state.

The table provided in the answer is as follows:

The complete answer can be read here:

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As per the survey report, the total population in the state stood a little over 13 crore. The report has now revealed that the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) constitute 63 per cent of the state’s population. The census also shows that Scheduled Castes account for over 19 per cent of the 13-crore population, while Scheduled Tribes make up 1.68 per cent. 

As the Bihar Government released the survey months away from away from the upcoming General Election of 2024, it also clarified that the same is only a compiled data and no analysis of it has been done yet.

A detailed break-up of the caste constitution in the state

The caste survey had 17-point socio-economic indicators, including caste. Beginning from January 2023, the survey got completed in a three phased exercise in August this year with around 2.64 lakh enumerators documenting the details of 29 million registered households. The 214 castes mentioned in the survey were allotted different individual codes.

The survey has provided that the extremely backward classes (EBCs) formulate the largest segment of the population of Bihar as they comprise of about 36 per cent (4.7 crore) of the state. The backward classes constitute 27 per cent (3.5 crore) of the population. Together, these two depict that the OBCs make up 63% of the whole state’s population. Notably, the survey also revealed that among the Other Backward Class group, the Yadavas comprises 14.26% while the Kushwaha and Kurmi castes forms 4.27% and 2.87% respectively. 

It is further essential to note that the survey revealed that the Scheduled Caste population in Bihar is at 19.6518% (2.6 crore) while the Scheduled Tribe population is 1.6824% (22 lakh). Accordingly, the population of general population or “upper caste” groups has come out to be 15.52%. Among upper castes, the population of Brahmins is the highest at 3.65%. The population of Rajputs stands at 3.45% and the Bhumihars population at 2.86%.

The report also revealed that the state enjoys a Hindu majority, with Hindus comprising 81.9% of the population while the Muslim share is at 17.7%. Furthermore, Christians, Sikhs, Jains and those following other religions as also the non-believers have a miniscule presence, together making up for less than 1 per cent

“Historic Moment”- Reactions to the survey from the Bihar government

The Bihar government has maintained that conducting the survey is a necessary step towards ensuring and achieving social justice. Additionally, the process of carrying out a caste survey in Bihar has found support from all political parties. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took over to X (formerly known as Twitter) and congratulated the survey team on the completion and release of the findings even after facing so many hurdles. CM Kumar wrote, “Today on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the data of the caste based census conducted in Bihar has been published. Many congratulations to the entire team engaged in the work of caste based enumeration. The proposal for the caste based survey was passed unanimously in the State legislature.” He further informed that “All nine political parties of the State assembly will now be called for a meeting to apprise them about the caste based survey report”.

It is noteworthy that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has been demanding a caste census in Bihar since it was in opposition. Janata Dal (United) party and CM Kumar has been on the same path as well. Maintaining the same stance, CM Kumar stated that the report would aid in the state government’s initiatives for the development and upliftment of all sections. “Caste-based census also provides information about the economic condition of everyone. On the basis of this report, further action will be taken for the development and upliftment of all sections,” CM Kumar shared on ‘X’.

The last time a caste-based headcount was conducted was in the year 1931.

RJD chief Lalu Yadav and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav termed the occasion as a “historic moment”. Lalu Yadav wrote on ‘X’ that “Today, on Gandhi Jayanti, we all have become witness to this historic moment. Despite many conspiracies by the BJP and legal hurdles, the Bihar government released the caste-based survey.”

Deputy Chief Minister, and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Tejashwi Yadav said, “Bihar once again became witness of a historic moment with the compilation of caste based survey data and its release thereafter in such a short time. Bihar has now drawn a long line and set an example before the country. What has happened in Bihar today, shall have its voice heard tomorrow across the whole country. And tomorrow is not far ahead. Bihar once again has shown light to the country.”

‘Eye Wash’- Reactions of the union government, opposition

Leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed the caste census report to be an ‘Eye Wash’. Many leaders took to ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) to express their opposition and criticism of the caste census survey. Bihar BJP President Samrat Choudhary said that “Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar play caste-based politics. Backward class plays a vital role but Nitish Kumar has not done anything for the backward class… Bihar CM has done nothing for the development of the state.”

Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh further called the caste census as nothing more than “spreading ‘bhrahm‘ (misunderstanding) among the poor” of the state. The minister further stated that “They should have given a report card that Nitish Kumar ruled the state for 18 years and Lalu Yadav ruled the state for 15 years but did not develop the state. Report card of caste census is just an eye wash.”

Lok Janshakti Party chief Chirag Paswan accused the the Janata Dal (United) of trying to “divide” the people of Bihar by conducting the said survey. Paswan provided that “We had said earlier that JD(U) will be segmented and in the coming days, JD(U) will be wiped out…Some people in Bihar are creating a divide on the basis of caste and religion. People of the state do not trust CM Nitish Kumar due to his policies.”

Notably, hours after the caste census survey result was released, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a speech in Madhya Pradesh wherein he accused the opposition of “trying to divide the country in the name of caste”. While he did not specifically mention the caste census, a report of the NDTV provided that through his speech, PM Modi lashed out at the opposition for having failed to secure development while in power and attacked them for “playing with the feelings of the poor”.

“They played with emotions of the poor back then… and even today they are playing the same game,” PM Modi stated

The Prime Minister also called any attempt at “division on caste lines” a “sin”. “Earlier they divided the country in the name of caste… and today they are committing the same sin. Earlier they were guilty of corruption… and today they are even more corrupt,” he said in Gwalior. It is also essential to note that the Congress party has also promised to conduct a caste census survey if they return to power in poll bound Madhya Pradesh. 

The origin of the caste survey:

Four years ago, on February 18, 2019, the proposal for a caste based census was passed in the Bihar legislative assembly when Janata Dal (United) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were together.

Last year, on June 1, after an all-party meeting CM Kumar had announced that all nine parties including the Bihar BJP unit had unanimously decided to go ahead with the caste census. Notably, the survey was ordered last year after the Narendra Modi government at the Centre made it clear that it would not be able to undertake a headcount of castes other than SCs and STs as part of the census. Pursuant to this decision, the state’s Council of Ministers had also approved the proposal to conduct the survey using Bihar’s own resources and Rs. 500 crore from its contingency fund for the exercise.

After JDU walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance last year, CM Kumar’s government, together with its alliance partner RJD, expedited the work on caste census. The survey’s first phase, which involved counting the total number of households in Bihar, began on January 7 of this year and ended on January 21. The second and final phase kick started on April 15 to collect data on people from all castes, religions and economic backgrounds, among other aspects like the number of family members living in and outside the state. 

In May, the survey was briefly paused owing to the stay put on it by the Patna high court which was hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the exercise. As per various media reports, the petitions were allegedly being filed by supporters of the BJP party to ensure that this exercise does not get completed. Notably, the caste survey was challenged in the Patna High Court under two significant grounds: that it violated a citizen’s fundamental right to privacy and that the state had no power to carry out such a survey. 

On August 1, after hearing the arguments raised by the petitioners against the census, the Patna HC decided that the survey was “perfectly valid”. The HC noted that “the action of the State to be perfectly valid, initiated with due competence, with the legitimate aim of providing ‘Development with Justice’; as proclaimed in the address to both Houses and the actual survey to have neither exercised nor contemplated any coercion to divulge the details and having passed the test of proportionality, thus not having violated the rights of privacy of the individual especially since it is in furtherance of a ‘compelling public interest’ which in effect is the ‘legitimate State interest’”.

The said survey had concluded on August 25, 2023. 

It is crucial to highlight that both RJD and JDU have called for caste-based enumeration across the country and CM Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav had also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pitch for the same.

A deep analysis of the caste based census can be read here. 

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The post Caste Census Survey Result: 63% OBCs, 19% SCs and 1.68% STs constitute Bihar’s total population appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While the OBC reservation is 27%, the proportion of OBC professors at 45 central universities is just 4%! At the associate professors and assistant professors levels, the bleak scenario does not change much as their share increases slightly to 6% and 14%, respectively.

The information is based on the data presented in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister for Education (State) Subhas Sarkar. He recently replied to a question raised by Sanjeev Kumar Singari, a Member of Parliament (Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party) from Kurnool constituency in Andhra Pradesh.

The OBC reservation for non-teaching staff has also not been fulfilled. According to the figures, only 12% of seats have gone to them at the central universities. At present, there are only five OBC vice-chancellors at 45 central universities.

After decades of struggle, the socially and educationally backward classes were able to get 27% reservations in the early 1990s. Three decades after the historic achievement and the assertion of the OBC politics, the situation at public universities has not changed much. They continue to be monopolized by a few privileged castes.

Look at the irony. Prime Minister Narendra Modi never misses a chance to highlight his OBC identity but even his nine-year rule has not ensured justice to the members of his own castes.

Apart from OBCs, Adivasis are highly under-represented. Among professors, the share of Adivasis is only 1.6%, while they are given 7.5% reservation. Similarly, at associate and assistant professors levels, they are able to get a mere 2% and 4%representation, respectively. With 7% (professors level), 8% (assistant professors level), and 11% (associate professors level) share, Dalits are better than Adivasis but these figures are far less than the 15% reservation given to them.

While the marginalised communities remain grossly under-represented, the privileged castes are ruling the roost at the educational centres. They serve their caste privileges by monopolizing almost all seats under the general or unreserved (UR) category. As per the law, the UR category is open to all but in practice, it has been kept out of the reach of marginalized castes. Since there is no legal binding on the selection committee to take candidates from the marginalized community, the privileged castes lobby employs several methods to exclude SC, ST and OBC candidates from the UR category.

Even if their applications are accepted, during the interview, SC, ST and OBC candidates appearing under the UR category, are discriminated against and humiliated. It has been reported that these candidates have been told by the authority “not to encroach on the UR seats”. During written exams and interviews, the candidates belonging to marginalized communities are given less marks to keep them out of the race. To harass them further, the selections under the SC, ST and OBC quotas are not easily made. NFS or Not-Fund Suitable is another weapon to reject all the candidates belonging to the marginalized community. However such practices are hardly seen under the UR category. Are meritorious and suitable candidates only born in a few privileged castes?

To reiterate the point, higher education in India is yet to be democratised. Since colonial times, the upper castes have entered the system and through their caste network, they have maintained their privileges. The preceding decades indeed saw the politicization of the lower castes at the grassroots levels and a large number of OBC leaders got close to the corridor of power, but they have not been able to ensure social justice at the educational and cultural institutes. From the university to media houses, from the cinema to religious bodies, the marginalized castes remain excluded.

This is one of the main reasons that the electoral victories of the lower caste political parties do not often succeed beyond a point in making social change. For example, even for the ideologies and programmes of their parties to be brought to the masses, the lower caste leaders are heavily dependent on the upper-caste-run corporate media. During the Mandal agitation in the 1990s, the upper caste-dominated mainstream media did not support the lower castes and it went all out to demonize the politics of social justice as “divisive” and working “against the development” of the country.

Since the coming of the Modi Government in 2014, the caste supremacist lobby has become quite strong. For example, the RSS has a direct say in the recruitment process at colleges and universities. The main criterion for the selection is often not the knowledge of the subject and the ability to teach and carry out the research but the candidate’s loyalty to Hindutva ideology. Even the prestigious universities in the national capital such as JNU, Delhi University and Jamia are in the total grip of the Hindutva forces.

The selection process has been so perverted by the Hindutva forces that it has become a drive for recruiting cadres. Those who have held their independent opinion and have refused to follow the divisive ideology of RSS are deliberately thrown out of the selection process. These have all contributed to the further marginalization of marginalized communities. The political leaders from marginalized communities are either helpless or visionless to understand the gravity of the situation.

Access to education, particularly in the Phule-Ambedkar tradition, is a road to liberation. As Phule argued in Slavery (1873), the privileged castes could maintain their dominant position only because they forcefully deprived the Shudras and Ati-Shudras of education. Babasaheb Ambedkar, similarly, gave a call to educate, organize and agitate. He cautioned that if people from marginalized sections were not given representation in the key sectors of a nation, the interests of weaker sections would be jeopardized. Isn’t the exclusion of marginalized communities from the central university a re-establishment of the old order based on exclusion and inequality?

(The author is an independent journalist. He has also taught political science at NCWEB Centres of Delhi University.) 

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New Delhi: At a time when the dominant political class is in a over drive to counter the combined opposition’s attack on its government for disqualifying Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from parliament by projecting his remarks as an insult directed at Other Backward Classes (OBCs), data provided by the Narendra Modi government in the Rajya Sabha shows that in the last five years, representation of OBCs, Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) in All India Services has been low.

In a written reply to a question by Kerala MP John Brittas, Jitendra Singh, minister of state for personnel, provided the year-wise break-up – between 2018 and 2022 – on how many OBC, ST and SC candidates were given jobs in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IoFS).

An analysis of the figures showed that of the total 4,365 appointment made to IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service between 2018 and 2022, only 695 candidates from OBC, 334 from SC and 166 from ST communities were appointed.

Five years back, in 2018, 464 IAS officers were hired in total, only 54 from them were from OBC, 29 from SC and 14 from ST communities. Between 2019 and 2022 also, a close look at the numbers showed that the candidates hired for the IAS category of government jobs never crossed the hundred mark in total (OBC, SC and ST taken together). According to the minister’s reply, of the 371 IAS officers hired in 2019 and 478 in 2020, only 61 were from OBC groups in both the years. While 28 IAS officers from the SC category and 14 from the ST communities were hired in 2019, 25 from the SC and 14 from ST groups were appointed as IAS officers in 2020.

Two years back, 2021, while 54 OBC persons were hired as IAS officers and 58 in 2022, 30 persons from SCs were appointed in the IAS from SC and 13 from STs. In 2022, 28 SC candidates and 14 from STs were picked for IAS.

In the more distinguishing IPS and IFoS categories too, the last five years had seen a low rate of appointment from OBC, SC and ST communities. Among the 337 IPS officers, only 49 were from OBC groups and 25 from SC and 20 from ST. In 2021, among 339 IPS officers, only 57 were from OBC communities while 28 were from SC and 14 from ST categories.

Then again, from the 190 IFoS officers in 2021, only 40 belonged to OBC groups, 16 from SC and eight from ST.

Reacting to the reply from the government, Brittas, an Upper House MP from CPI(M), called it “an alarmingly low rate” of appointment from these communities. “Out of the total figure of appointments to IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service during the last five years (both direct and promotional appointments), persons belonging to OBC secured only 15.92 per cent jobs while SC a dismal 7.65 percent and ST 3.80 per cent.” Brittas commented, ‘The real malfeasance behind these numbers could be unearthed when these numbers are correlated with the representation of OBC, SC and ST in the total population of the country.” While OBCs roughly constitute between 41-52% of the country’s total population, SC and ST communities constitute about 16.6% and 8.6% respectively, as per the 2011 Census.

In a press note issued, he said he has urged the central government to take action “on a war footing to rectify this significant underrepresentation” of these communities in the All India Services.

The CPI-M Opposition MP’s plea is in contrast to the ruling BJP being seen lately particularly wooing the OBC communities, keeping an eye on several crucial assembly polls slated later this year. While in 2022, the party appointed an OBC to head the state unit of Uttar Pradesh, Bhupendra Chaudhary, to deflect the Adityanath government from being termed as a ‘Thakur-Brahmin’ combine, in poll-bound Karnataka, it changed the chief minister, B. Bommai, an OBC. Only this past week, the ruling party in Delhi also appointed OBC leaders as their state unit chiefs in Bihar and Odisha.

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Dhanera, Gujarat: A temple with two entrances opens up to a broad hallway that leads up to two fire pits in front of two doors marking separate entries to different temples. One temple remains open while the other is closed—members of the local Scheduled Caste (SC) Gohil community identify the closed one as theirs.

As this reporter goes towards the closed side of the temple, the priest enters from the other side. “It’s an age-old custom. The temple is 100 years old; some things cannot be changed,” he answers when questioned about caste discrimination.

Untraceable custom

The 68-year-old priest continues to support the discriminatory custom. “We do not do any injustice but temples should be different,” he says adding that “there were differences, as taught to them, that is part of the culture”. 

The temple is located in Dhanera Taluka’s Sankad village, in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat. Newlywed couples come to seek blessings at the temple, which is shared by 30 villages.

“Is God different? Are our offerings different? Is the cause of the visit (marriage) different? Then why can’t we share the same space?” questions Sankad native Dinesh (35).

Temples in the villages of Saral, Thawar and others in Banaskantha also have similar tales of discrimination to narrate.

A teenager from an SC community peeks into the temple in Sankad.

When women from the Gohil and Solanki communities went to attend a Navratri function in Saral, they were asked to leave. “We were not allowed to dance, sing or participate in the puja and asked to leave,” says Meeta, who firmly believes in the principles of BR Ambedkar.

Women of Saral village believe only in the principles of BR Ambedkar.

At the Shiva temple in the same village, women from these two communities who fast for 16 Mondays during the holy month of Shravan are barred. “We are asked to stay away and maintain the difference,” says Meeta. 

Even dead bodies of members of SC communities are discriminated against because of their castes. In all the 94 villages of Dhanera Vidhan Sabha, there are different crematoriums for different castes.

The discrimination does not end here. There are pending court cases over ownership of crematorium land in Vasan and Malotra villages. The SC community of Vasan alleges that the land, allocated by the collector to it for 40 years, was hijacked by the sarpanch and other upper-castes. A similar incident allegedly happened in Malotra, where the land is demarcated by a fence. 

Ostracisation from public spaces to settlements

An unmetalled road along an open crematorium leads to a settlement in the woods in Sankad. The settlement, which bears all the marks of ostracisation due to its far-off location, has mud houses with hay boundary walls. They belong to the Valmikis, the last in the caste system, who are oppressed even by the SCs of the village. 

Caste discrimination in these villages does not start with the Brahmins. The Other Backward Classes oppress the SCs (Gohils and Solanki), who, in turn, discriminate against the Valmikis.

Geeta, making millet chapatis for lunch at one of the houses, is the youngest and the most educated among the three sisters-in-law in the family. She had studied up till the 8th grade. “We are not allowed to raise our voices. If we do, we are abused,” says the 19-year-old, who could study only till class eight.

In 2017 and before, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Assembly election manifestos consistently promised to eradicate caste discrimination in Gujarat. However, these villages tell a different tale. 

“During the last campaign, candidates promised to construct metalled roads and permanent houses. But you can see the condition of the road you took to reach our house,” Geeta says sarcastically when asked about the election campaigns of political parties adding that “they visit us once in five years only to ask for votes”.

From weddings to other public events, the Valmikis use their utensils and sometimes even carry their own food to marriages. For the comparatively less underprivileged SC communities of Solankis and Galchars, the situation is slightly better due to their vote bank. “They have separate utensils for us in their houses,” says Dinesh, a member of the Gohil community in Sankad.

The temple used by the Valmiki community.

“The difference is evident. Our newlywed couples cannot enter temples and are supposed to worship from outside. We carry our utensils and sometimes food too to their weddings. They mostly don’t attend our weddings—and even if they do, they give cash and leave,” Shilpa, another member of the Valmiki community says describing the deep-rooted discrimination.

Even election candidates visiting the Valmiki settlement “do not enter the houses or touch the community members. They give verbal assurances and leave”, adds Shilpa. Some of the candidates enter the houses of other less underprivileged communities and have tea during campaigns.

Shilpa’s husband Bhangi Pagwan Bhai Virchand tried several times to apply for the position of Safai Kamgaar. Finally, he gave up and expected their son Shivam, who has a master’s degree, to improve the family’s financial condition. But he too failed to land a job and now assists his father and uncles in farming.

Shilpa’s husband Bhangi Pagwan Bhai Virchand shows the forms which he filled to get a house under the PM Awaas Yojana.

Caste discrimination stretches to government schemes as well. Shilpa’s family applied for a house under the PM Awas Yojana thrice but their forms either failed to reach the concerned officials or were ignored. “Once an officer from Palanpur even visited our house for inquiry. He said that since we already have a roof, we do not need a house,” says Shilpa, who stays with the six family members in a one-room house with no washroom or a permanent roof. 

Oppression: From land to representation

Dhanera is one of the biggest constituencies containing SCs, who total 28,000. Besides, it has a tribal population of approximately 9%. But neither SCs or Scheduled Tribes (STs) have any representatives.

“No one from the SC or ST community can contest even in Panchayat elections without a reserved seat. An analysis of the unreserved seats in Panchayat election shows a clear picture of the situation here,” says Pankaj, a local reporter and son of a former sarpanch. 

Gujarat was among the top five BJP-ruled states with the highest number of crimes against Dalits in 2018, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

As per the rules, the underprivileged have been granted some government land for farming. Masra Hamira Galchar (62), a native of Malotra, lost his land in 2019 and son in the first wave of the pandemic. He now works as a daily wager in the lands of other farmers for Rs 200 a day. 

In 2002, Galchar was granted six bighas. When the water crisis hit the village, he could not afford to spend lakhs on a borewell. With no option left, he approached the village Patel, who arranged for irrigation on the condition that he would have a “75% share in the produce”.

“I was left with only one-fourth share despite slogging on my land,” adds Galchar. In 2018, he finally asked the Patel for another share. When he refused, Galchar stopped working for him. 

Galchar collected his crops in one place to sell some of them and use the rest for as cattle feed. The same night, the “Patel and a few other men burnt his crops”. When Galchar and his family rushed to extinguish the fire, they were “beaten up”.

When he registered an FIR at the Dhanera Police Station, the Patel claimed that the land belonged to him and Galchar had instead burnt “his” crops. The police believe his version and the case has been pending in a Palanpur court for the last four years. Since the matter is sub judice, Galchar can’t use the land.

Masra Hamira Galchar, of Malotra village, shows his land papers.

“Being of the same caste matters more than being fair,” Galchar says with fading hope and a hunger for justice in his eyes while showing documents and a copy of the FIR in support of his claim to the land.

Galchar, who has a debt running in lakhs, has already spent, at least, Rs 3 lakh on the court case. When asked about how will he pay the loans or whether he is sure about getting his land back, he replied with only a pitiful smile. 

Meanwhile, the Patel has his own house and lands, and continues his ‘one-fourth share’ business with other farmers of the village. 

Caste-based atrocities against Dalits and tribals in Gujarat spiked by, at least 70%, between 2003 and 2018. Despite the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) pledge to eliminate caste discrimination, the situation hasn’t changed. 

“It is this way to keep honour intact,” asks Shilpa pointing out

the separate entries to the Sankad temple.

Saral is also known as Ambedkar Nagar. However, fasting Dalit women are not allowed inside temples. Caste discrimination in villages of north Gujarat is part of the culture and the social fabric.

The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist reporting on issues of unemployment, education and human rights.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) listened to the grievances of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) regarding higher education during a public hearing at Hyderabad University (HU) on November 12, 2020, reported The Satyashodhak.

According to the President of the All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) – the organisation that raised the complaints – Kiran Kumar Gowd, it was a first-of-its-kind hearing that brought up issues about OBC teaching, non-teaching staff, students and the implementation of OBC reservation in the university.

During the meetings attended by NCBC member Achary Thalloju and the commission’s legal advisor Ramesh Vishwanathula, violation of reservations in PhD and MPhil admissions, faculty recruitment, promotions, and roster points were discussed.

“We expect that UoH admin will address the issues pertaining to PhD and MPhil admissions immediately and other policy-level decisions by the University Grants Commission and concerned ministries will also be taken,” said Gowd who is also a PhD scholar at the university.

Further, the AIOBCSA also presented a letter to Thalloju that claims central universities are leaving vacant many teaching posts allotted to OBCs while remarking that ‘none [of the candidates] found suitable’.

However, after filing a Right to Information (RTI) application, Gowd found out that only nine positions out of 313 sanctioned professor positions were filled by OBC teachers. Similarly, only 38 associate professors were given jobs out of the 735 reserved associate professor posts and 1,327 persons received jobs out of 2,232 positions for assistant professors.

The association also alleged that Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBC candidates who cleared entrance exams, were rejected in the interview round of MPhil and PhD admissions with a ‘not recommended’ remark. The seats are kept vacant with yet another ‘no suitable candidates found’ comment.

Gowd asserted that the AIOBCSA would continue their struggle to realise all their demands. The entire letter can be viewed below:

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On the second day of Parliament’s monsoon session, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment’s data revealed that funds for the Post-Matric Scholarship (PMS) for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) was yet to be released in all states and Union Territories (UT) of the country.

According to Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar, the centrally-sponsored scholarship was implemented all over India. As per the department’s website, the scheme’s objective is to provide financial assistance to the OBC students studying at post-matriculation or post-secondary stage to help complete their education. The income ceiling for eligibility of this scheme is Rs.1 lakh per annum including self-income.

However, a summary view of amounts allocated, released and utilised by each State shows that the Centre has not released funds for Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu for 2020-21. This despite the fact that the areas were allocated funds ranging from Rs. 34 lakhs to Rs. 11,398 lakhs.

In 2019-20 as well, the Centre had not released money for states like Bihar, Haryana, Punjab and Union Territories like Jammu and Kashmir as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli that has not received funds since 2017-18.

Uttar Pradesh had the largest fund allocation of Rs. 21,917 lakhs in 2020-21 but received Rs.7,263.12 lakhs. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh was allocated Rs. 7,972 lakhs but received Rs. 2000 lakhs.

According to Gurjar, states and UTs utilised the released amounts of Central Assistance while also using funds out of their own State budgets. While Utilisation Certificates for 2020-21 had not been submitted possibly due to Covid-19, he said some of the states are yet to submit certificates for 2019-20 as well.

“Monitoring of funds and implementation of the Scheme is done through seeking physical and financial progress report along with the Utilisation Certificate as well as by review meeting from time to time with the Scheme implementing States/UTs,” he said.

Last year, the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) criticised the Union Budget for reducing fund allocation for PMS, a critical scheme that helps in the upliftment of the marginalised.

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The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has issued a notice to the Health Ministry for not implementing the 27% reservation, since the 2017 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), in all India quota seats which are pooled from state colleges. Instead these seats were being transferred to general category which has cost the OBCs around 10,000 seats in the last 3 years.

The notice was issued with regards to a complaint filed by All India Federation of OBC Employees Welfare Association which the NCBC said, “appeared prima facie genuine”. As per the complaint, the government has argued that the 27% reservation is applicable only for central institution seats and not the state colleges as per the Central Educational Institutions Reservations Act. The complaint however, contends that if the seats pooled from state colleges for ‘all-India quota’ had remained in the state quota, the OBCs would have availed of the reservation. The complaint explains this by giving an instance, “In 2020, Tamil Nadu has 1,758 seats under PG courses. Out of this, 879 seats are pooled for all-India quota in which OBCs are not getting any reservation. Had the seats remained in TN, 440 seats would have gone to OBC students.”

Reportedly, out of 9,550 seats under all India quota for 2020, nearly 8,880 seats were pooled from state colleges.

The representation is in the following chart:

NEET is the single window national examination for admission to graduate and post graduate courses in medicine and dental sciences. Under it, 85% seats (state quota) are reserved for state domicile candidates for seats in those states. The remaining 15% seats are pooled from state and central institutions and are open to candidates from across states.

Matter in Supreme Court

Former Union Health Minister and Member of Parliament, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, on May 28, moved the Supreme Court seeking implementation of the 27% OBC reservation in medical seats.  

The Mandal Commission, in 1980, had concluded that 52% of the population comprised OBCs and recommended 27% reservation for OBC in government jobs and public universities. Accordingly, the central government, in 1990 declared that 27% reservations will be provided to socially and educationally backward classes for jobs in central services and public undertaking.  The Supreme Court has also held in previous cases that the 27% reservation is not illegal.

The PMK leader, in his petition, states that the government contends that reservation quota for OBCs is different in different states but the question arises that if SCs and STs can be given reservations in the All-India quota then why not the OBCs?

The plea states, “When the policy of reserving 15%, 705% and 10% of seats to SC, ST and EWS is implemented in totality, the OBC reservation alone was not implemented as per norms. This is against the Parliamentary Act to provide reservation to OBCs. The states that give their seats to Central pool will be unable to fulfil their social commitments to OBCs”.

The petition contended, “Arbitrary moving of seats belonging to the OBC to the general category has violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 15 (4) of the Indian Constitution.”

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