Q - I read with interest your blog on the suicides at IITs. A canard
is being spread that Dalit students form a huge portion of such suicides
because of caste discrimination. I went through your list and the names suggest
that only 6 could be Dalits. Do you have any additional information in this
regard? Shall be grateful for a response.
A - "Canard" is the most appropriate word for this and it is just
that.
Having said that the true situation IMHO is that a considerable percentage
of merit students struggle with the high pressure system and tough curriculum,
especially merit students from JEE Coaching schools, who learn get trained to
excel in an JEE based on Multiple choice questions, without having strong fundamentals in maths, physics and
chemistry.
If this is the case for even some merit students, imagine how difficult it would
be for Dalit Students who get admission through Reservation even though they do not score adequate marks in JEE. These students
lack strong fundas and are no match for merit students oozing with brains.
IITs are like boot camps and there is no let up and every one has to keep
up or drop out and no one is in a position to assist the weak.
As one would expect the Dalit students fall into a rut and find it
difficult to extricate themselves. To blame the failures of Dalit students on Caste discrimination, is false accusations.
Imagine throwing a bunch of kids who do not know how to swim into the deep
ocean. They will all struggle and majority will some how survive however there
will be a few that drown in the process. Is the Ocean to be blamed for these drownings ?
The mistake here is introducing Reservation into IITs for SC/ST students who
don't have to score the marks scored by general category students.
Reservation in IITs is hurting the very students it is supposed to assist. Blame Govt Policies.
Reservation has done more damage to SC/ST population since independence and we are led to believe it is helping them.
The Government has to look for better options to assist SC / ST Students like giving them scholarships to attend JEE Coaching Schools so these students enter IITs on Merit feeling confident and not through reservations.
Ram Krishnaswamy
