I have a Solution that will reduce pressure on IIT aspirants but do not know how to get this across to HRD Minister of India. Suggestions are welcome. - Ram Krishnaswamy

Search This Blog

Thursday, April 30, 2020

31-year-old research scholar found hanging in IIT-Kharagpur hostel


Campus Updates

31-year-old research scholar found hanging in IIT-Kharagpur hostel

By Campus Varta
-April 29, 2020

The body of a 31- year-old research scholar of IIT-Kharagpur was found hanging in his hostel room, police said on Tuesday.

The body of Bhavanibhatla Kondal Rao was found in his room on the second floor of the B R Ambedkar Hall around 10 am on Monday, they said. Unable to contact him over the phone, his parents informed other inmates of the hostel.

They found Rao’s room locked from inside and after repeated knocking when he did not open the door, they informed police, an official said. The police then rushed to the hostel and broke open the door, finding the body hanging, he said.

Rao, a resident of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, was a research scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He got married in February at his hometown and after staying there with his family for around two weeks, he returned to the campus before the lockdown began, according to district police sources. His wife is currently in Chennai where she is working, they said.

IIT-Kharagpur director V K Tewari, who described Rao as a “bright young scholar”, said the institute has got in touch with his family. He said Rao is suspected to have committed suicide and the matter is being investigated. Police said the body has been sent for post-mortem examination and the reason behind the incident is being probed.

Very few students are currently on the campus as most of them returned home before the lockdown was imposed. Rao, who joined the Indian Institute of Technology- Kharagpur in 2015, was on the verge of completing his research project, his friends said.

They remembered him as a jovial person and popular among students and faculty members. Some of them said that he was under some sort of mental stress but didn’t share it with anyone Following Rao’s death, the director, in a Facebook post, urged students to connect with friends who need support.

“Look beyond the hurdles which at present may seem like the most critical chapter of your life but are mere speed-breakers if you are able to envision your life in the long run,” he said. “Try to reach out to us, your faculty supervisors, the counselling centre and your peers. Talk to your friends and family, your seniors, your juniors, they are only a tap away from your phone in this century and at this time,” Tewari said in his post.

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Payal Tadvi, Fathima, AIIMS Doc Suicides: When will they get Justice?



Payal Tadvi, Fathima, AIIMS Doc Suicides: When will they get Justice?
APRIL 20, 2020
POORVI GUPTA
Subscribe To Our Whatsapp Subscribe To Our Telegram

A case of alleged caste-based discrimination leading to suicide has emerged at India’s top medical established AIIMs. So much so National Commission of Women (NCW) have taken notice and sent a letter to the premier institute. This isn’t the first of such cases in India. We have had many young women doctors and students who have been driven to suicide due to alleged caste discrimination and most of these cases are yet in courts.

One such story made headlines. On May 22, 2019, a postgraduate student of gynaecology at the Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai committed suicide because she couldn’t take the alleged bullying and torture she was subjected to by her seniors. The 23-year-old woman was Payal Tadvi and in a suicide note she left behind, she accused three senior doctors of pushing her to take such an extreme step. It is going to be a year, but justice evades Tadvi, now even more with the coronavirus outbreak delaying the hearings. Besides, Tadvi is not alone. Other cases of suicide due to bullying and mental harassment have grabbed headlines in the recent past. We need to ask ourselves, why do we continue to fail our doctors and students? Why is discrimination still so prevalent in our society? And why does justice take so long? Why is social status or caste still a reason for such incidents?

In a recent case, a female dental surgeon working at All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) also attempted suicide on Friday reportedly due to alleged gender and caste-based harassment by her faculty members. The woman is now in a critical condition fighting for her life. Responding to this incident, the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) of the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) wrote to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday alleging inaction by the administration in the case.

Also Read: IIT-M Topper Kills Self, Father Alleges Mental Harassment by Profs

“Despite multiple letters (on three different dates), there has been no adequate action to address this issue of grave concern and eventually, leading the Resident to the edge, making her take the drastic step to end her life after losing the hope of justice in this prestigious institute,” the letter said as per the India Today report. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women took cognizance of the case and wrote to Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for an immediate inquiry and details of the action-taken report to be sent at earliest to the Commission.



NCW Letter on AIIMS doctor suicide attempt case

In another incident in November last year just a few months after Tadvi’s suicide, a first-year student of MA, humanities and development studies (integrated) in IIT-Madras, Fathima Nafis also committed suicide. In a letter written by her father Abdul Latif to the CM of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan requested state intervention in the probe being conducted by Tamil Nadu police. To support his case, Latif attached an image of a screenshot from his daughter alleging that a professor was the reason of her death. Fathima was reportedly a class topper and her father claims that she had mentioned the accused professor to him earlier as well.

Tadvi’s case grabbed more attention compared to the other cases because
It was allegedly a caste-based discrimination – Tadvi belonged to the Muslim Bhil Tribal community of Maharashtra. This report and many others report that this was a caste-based discrimination that led to suicide
It highlighted the issue of bullying and mental harassment by superiors

But now with the news of another doctor attempting suicide just last week, one wonders what is driving such caste base suicides in the country? Why is it not getting enough attention.

Also read: Two Doctors Accused In Payal Tadvi Suicide Case Get Clean Chit

The AIIMS doctors is a woman and belonged to the SCST community. She had also written to the Women’s Grievance Cell and SC-ST Welfare Cell of AIIMS as well as the National SC-ST Commission.

Why is India’s deeprooted caste system raising its ugly head again and again?

Clearly, our deeply-rooted biases against caste, gender, classes etc continue to get the worse of our society even in 2020. As a country that prides itself on unity in diversity, we as citizens are failing our fellow country men and women. We ought to drive change in mindsets and have more detailed coverage on issues like these.

Picture credit- Twitter/ Vishal Sonara
Kashmir Images

Age-related emotional turbulence and suicides
BY: Syed Mustafa Ahmad

Given the present situation, anyone can feels suffocated. The chaotic situations prevailing all around forces people to look for an easy escape – sometimes suicide being one!

The age group of 15-29 years is my concern, as I myself belong to this group. This stage of life is called the ‘age of strife’. There are physical, emotional, mental changes happening in an adolescent or a youth. He or she is a storehouse of energy, creativity, agility, sympathy, love, etc., to name a few. Every youth tries to fulfill his or her aims, whatever they are. The chaos and confusion comes in to play when the things do not seem to work up the way they want them to. Let us have a look at some facts.

Live a little every day – ‘ek hi zindagi milti hai’ ( we have got but only one life), these were the last words of the postgraduate student, written on the suicide note he left at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, on July 02, 2019.

What forced him to take this step is of utmost importance? He felt frustrated as the things were going. Cut-throat competition with no aim is forcing the students to go for the extreme step.

According to the facts, every hour one suicide takes place in India. It means about 24 suicide incidents take place every day in India. According to the National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB), in 2018, 10,159 incidents of suicide took place. 9,905 incidents of suicide took place in 2017; some 9, 478 incidents in 2016. Among the states and the union territories, Maharashtra is at the top of the list. Every year 1,448 incidents of suicide take place there. Tamil Nadu is the second in this crime. There are 953 cases of this type everywhere. Madhya Pradesh is at the third place. 862 cases of this kind are recorded there.

From1999-2003, some 27,990 students ended their lives this way. From 2004-2008, 28,913 students ended their lives. From 2014-2018, 46,554 students went for the extreme step.

As per the data of the Department of Higher Education, under the Ministry of Human Resources Development, between 2014-2019, 27 students committed suicide in the top IITs of the country. The top-most among the IITs is the IIT Madras with the cases stood at 7. It shows the reality of our educational system. Why our creative minds are failing in living this life? Why do they look out at escapism? It, indeed, is a bothering question.

Last year, in Telangana, 19 students committed suicide after their results were out. They failed on their intermediate examination. It is the secondary question that there were many lapses from the authorities. Look at this picture. Why to go for this extreme step? It shows our level of teaching. We still believe in fantasies. We don’t prepare our students for failure. It is failure that makes the real worth of education possible.

In 2017, like the same fashion as in Telangana, 12 students found an escape from the life by committing suicide. In Kota, Rajasthan, 58 students ended their lives in between 2013-2017. The hub of coaching centres is still lacking in giving the real education!

According to a Lancet report, most suicides are found in the age group between 15-29. Among men, 40 percent were individuals, while it is 60 percent among women. Why does this age group become the scapegoat of everything? They, being the torch-bearers of a nation, cannot die in this fashion.

As told by Karan Singh, the son of the Maharaja Hari Singh, that the youth are not children now. They are not married yet. It becomes possible for them to face the realities. They can do it very efficiently. The same was told by Sir CV Raman. He said that it is nature with science that gives the reality of life. It means that all the happenings of life are to be welcomed and looking for the solutions, make our life.

According to Mrugesh Vaishnav, stress, anxiety, disorder, depression, personality disorder, etc., lead to the extreme step. He says that there should be a proper mechanism from the very beginning so that the students often don’t become worried about their lives. They should be taught in a healthy environment. Maximum effort should be placed on the well-being of the individuals.

Sanjeev Alam, a faculty at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, said that a student commits suicide when he/she doesn’t get emotional support at the time of crisis. This might happen when individual expectations are too high. Parental and peer pressure also have an adverse effect. Furthermore, it can be a personal relationship as well. In our country, we have wrong perception about the personal relationships. There is no healthy environment for these things.

A.K. Joshi, Professor and Head of Sociology, Banaras Hindu University, stated that academic stress is an obvious factor for students taking their own lives. After studying to a certain level, when they feel they are without support or that they can’t fulfill their own and their parents’ role expectations, a role conflict starts within the student. In this type of situation, students feel they are left without any choice and so they take such an extreme step.

Pradip Kumar Saha, Directorate of Institute of Psychiatry, Kolkata, says that the fear of failure is a leading cause for suicide among students. When students pass through an unsuccessful phase, everything seems pessimistic to them. They feel their future is bleak and this may result in them committing suicide.

Having said all these things, the need of the hour is to do something on the ground level. For a healthy society, we should make it our duty to create a healthy environment. A lot of work is to be done. The causes are known. There is the need to address them in a sustainable way. It means that all the responsible people have to find ways to get out of the present sameness.

Students need care. They need love. They are not in a position to know themselves. They want comfort at every level. We have to make them understand the true realities of life. Imitation is never an option for them. Live your life is the mantra for them. Changing the way of looking at the things and life, can do miracles; and we are in dire need of such miracles.