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Couple takes anti-suicide message to city schools By Rahi Ga

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India’s Universities Are Falling Terribly Short on Addressing Caste Discrimination - The Wire

India’s Universities Are Falling Terribly Short on Addressing Caste Discrimination

BY MAKEPEACE SITLHOU ON 21/11/2017 

Physical exclusion and indifference of the faculty towards the plight of marginisalised students is pushing many to suicide, and despite measures being in place, administrations are doing little to address the issues.

               A view of the JNU campus. Credit: PTI

On March 13, 27-year-old Dalit student Muthukrishnan Jeevanantham took his own life in a friend’s room at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi, much in the same way his friend and Dalit scholar, Rohith Vemula, had done in January 2016.

Rajini Krish, as his friends knew him, had documented on Facebook the stories of his struggle as a student facing discrimination. Just a few days before his death, in his last public post, he wrote: “There is no Equality in M.phil/phd Admission, there is no equality in viva–voce, there is only denial of equality…”

The prevalence of caste-based discrimination in Indian universities has been an open secret for decades. While some Dalit student suicides have been more widely reported in recent years, away from the headlines, direct and indirect systemic discrimination continues to suffocate the lives and thwart the education of Dalit students across the country. Information obtained through Right to Information applications reveals that many universities are yet to implement recommendations made by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to address caste-based discrimination.

Discrimination on campuses varies from physical exclusion to a more subtle denial of entitlements, and to seemingly neutral practices which disproportionately affect Dalit students. Several official bodies set up to investigate allegations of discrimination have found evidence of caste-based discrimination.

Physical segregation

In 2007, a committee set up by the central government to investigate allegations of harassment of SC/ST students at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi found rampant discrimination against these students.

The committee, headed by former UGC chair Sukhdeo Thorat, surveyed half the SC/ST students at AIIMS. It found evidence of informal segregation in the AIIMS hostels, with SC/ST students being forced to shift into certain hostels following harassment, abuse and violence by dominant caste students. SC/ST students reported that they faced social isolation in dining rooms, on sports fields and at cultural events.

Students also told the Thorat committee about discrimination by teachers, which took the form of “avoidance, contempt, non-cooperation, and discouragement and differential treatment”.

Eighty-four percent of the SC/ST students surveyed said examiners had asked them about their caste directly or indirectly during their evaluations. One student said: “Teachers are fine till they do not know your caste. The moment they come to know, their attitude towards you changes completely.” AIIMS initially rejected the Thorat committee findings, and only agreed to implement them after the exit of the then director.

Discrimination by faculty

Inquiry committees at other universities have also found what they said or suggested, was evidence of discrimination by faculty. At the University of Hyderabad – also known as Hyderabad Central University or UoH – six Dalit students have committed suicide since 2008. P. Senthil Kumar, a Dalit PhD student at the School of Physics, consumed poison in his room in February 2008. He was one of the four SC/ST students in the 2006 PhD batch – two among them had dropped out after they were unable to find faculty supervisors for their research.

Also read: Mourning Rohith Vemula, Who Could Not Rescue Himself From the ‘Fatal Accident’ of His Birth

The Professor Vinod Pavarala committee set up to investigate the incident stated: “Inconsistency and subjectivity in the standards applied for coursework and for allocation of supervisors… led to an understandable perception… among SC/ST students in the School of Physics that they are being discriminated against on the basis of their caste.”

In 2013, Madari Venkatesh, a doctoral student at the Advanced Centre of Research in High Energy Materials, committed suicide. Venkatesh had not been allotted a supervisor or a doctoral committee to supervise his research even 2.5 years after he joined the university.

The Professor V. Krishna Committee set up to investigate the incident stated: “It is indeed deplorable that Mr M Venkatesh… has been pushed to seek out various teachers in a desperate effort to continue with his research work, when it was actually the bounded duty of the University and the ACRHM, in particular, to have done so.”

The Justice K. Ramaswamy Committee, which also looked into the suicide, noted, “Though six faculty members from the School of Chemistry were available, none was willing to supervise [Venkatesh’s] research…He was discriminated on the ground of caste… It is not his personal problem, it is the consequence of institutional discrimination.”

According to a professor at UoH who did not wish to be identified, recommendations by the committees have not been taken seriously. He said, “In most cases, it’s very obvious when a teacher makes a student invisible – the teacher not giving enough time, being discouraging in some way, not allowing the student to not work in the labs. It’s not in your face and therefore difficult to prove.”

In 2013, 28 professors from universities in Hyderabad impleaded themselves in a writ petition related to caste-based discrimination before the Andhra Pradesh high court. Their letter noted, “Students from marginalized groups also are troubled by lack of clarity and sometimes contradictions in examination and administrative procedures…rules that do not take into account their difficulties, and discretionary and biased treatment from the administration. For example, ‘don’t waste my time’, ‘go away’, ‘come tomorrow’, ‘I am busy now’, ‘your presence irritates me’ (the last spoken by a deputy registrar sitting in an air-conditioned room) have become routine.”

Protests after the death of Rohith Vemula. Credit: PTI

Susie Tharu, a former teacher at the English and Foreign Languages University and one of the signatories to the petition, said that most teachers did not have the capacity or patience to work with students from marginalised backgrounds. She said, “The students’ weaknesses would be mostly superficial, like inadequate language, whereas they would have new and relevant important insights to offer and a rich set of questions to bring to any topic. Students who come through reservation and from backgrounds that the university is not familiar with really struggle to survive, but the administration is indifferent to that.”

Support programmes 

Some universities have set up academic support programmes for Dalit and Adivasi students, but these are not without their flaws.

On September 4, 2014, Aniket Ambhore, an electrical engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B), jumped to his death from a hostel building. A month before that, he and his parents were reportedly told by his head of department and the head of the institute’s Academic Rehabilitation Programme (ARP) that Aniket, who was struggling academically, would do well to drop out and take up another career.

Aniket had enrolled in the ARP to receive remedial coaching classes, which were voluntarily offered by professors to help students. An IIT-B professor who did not wish to be named said that before the programme, the institute used to encourage students failing the first and second semesters to drop out.

“For the longest time, if you pulled a few courses in the first few semesters, it meant exit. It took a while for the university to realise that there was a pattern in the kind of students who were encouraged to drop out because they were seen as unlikely to make up. They were overwhelmingly Dalit,” the professor said.

Another professor at IIT-B who wished to remain anonymous said the ARP was inadequate as an initiative to address caste discrimination in campus. He said, “It comes through an upper-caste patronising generosity of certain individuals. This is more of a helping mode, which will never work out in an enabling institutional strategy.”

IIT-B set up an enquiry into the suicide only after the National Commission for Scheduled Castes directed it to do so. While the committee arrived at the conclusion that Aniket’s difficulties could not be traced to a caste-based or anti-reservation environment at IIT-B – as was alleged by his parents in a complaint letter to the university – they did find deficiencies in the support system for students who weren’t performing well academically in general.

The committee found that the SC/ST support system in the institute was largely ‘ineffective’ because of the lack of departmental support and interlinkages with other arms of the support system. It said that the role of the SC/ST advisor in the orientation programme and ARP was cursory and not integrated and that the support system comprised individual volunteers, with no effort made to ensure SC/ST representation.

Also read: In Dalit Student’s Notes, an Intimate Portrait of Life, Loss and Longing on the Margins

Aniket’s mother Sunita Ambhore told me: “His caste was brought up from the beginning, when he failed two papers in the first semester. He even went to the campus counsellor but his feelings of being discriminated on account of his caste were suppressed. He was made to feel like he didn’t belong there because he came in through reservation and was repeatedly encouraged to drop out even as they praised his talent and creativity.”

In June 2015, after IIT-Roorkee expelled 73 first-year students from its BTech, IMT and MSc courses – three-quarters of whom were SC/ST – the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) conducted an investigation into the incident. In their report, the NCDHR said it was told about instances when students who approached teachers with questions were asked their ‘category’ or entrance exam ranks. One student said he was asked by a teacher, “Why do people like you even come to IITs?” The NCDHR said that it found a lack of institutional support and infrastructure for students from diverse backgrounds, including inadequate English language classes, summer coaching classes and remedial programmes. Their report also said that the SC/ST cell was mostly ‘dysfunctional’ and students weren’t aware of its existence or mandate.

Chirayu Jain, a former student at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru who worked on a study on inclusiveness at the institution, said, “The student-run academic support programme and the will and the intent of student body, by and large, remains unconcerned with the issues faced by students from marginalised backgrounds.”

Admission process biased against marginalised students

Some inquiry committees have also pointed out that admissions processes in universities, while appearing to be neutral, put candidates from SC/ST and other marginalised backgrounds at a disadvantage because of English language fluency issues during viva voces (oral interviews).

In April 2016, the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, set up under the human resources development ministry, examined the reservation policy at JNU. It stated: “[W]hile SC/ST students clear written examination with flying colours, they often fail interviews, which is indicative of latent caste discrimination on part of college authorities and teachers.”

In November 2016, a committee led by professor Abdul Nafey analysed admission data from 2012 to 2015 at JNU. The committee said: “The data consistently indicate the pattern of difference in the written and viva voce marks across all social categories which indicate discrimination”. It recommended that viva voce marks be reduced from 30% to 15% during admissions, and for the university to review the system every three years.

Indian universities did not, until last year, have a common admission policy for MPhil and PhD research programmes. However, in May 2016, the UGC issued a notification reducing written entrance tests to mere qualifying e ms, and basing admissions into these programmes completely on oral interviews. It was this move that Muthukrishnan had written against in his Facebook posts.

Compliance with UGC regulations

In July 2011, following several instances of student suicides, the UGC wrote to all universities asking them to develop pages on their websites, and place registers in the registrar or principal’s offices for Dalit students to lodge complaints of caste-based discrimination. In January 2013, the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations were passed, which required institutes to take measures to eliminate discrimination and harassment against SC/ST students.

Authorities in institutions were prohibited from, among other things, announcing students’ caste identities in class, not properly evaluating certain students’ examination papers and withholding their fellowships. The UGC also mandated higher educational institutions to establish an equal opportunity cell and appoint an anti-discrimination officer of professor rank or above. Institutions were obligated to decide on complaints within 60 days of receiving them, and also upload on their websites details of measures taken to eliminate discrimination and punishments for perpetrators.

Also read: Education and Exclusion of Dalits – A History of Hurt and Humiliation

In March 2016, the UGC wrote to universities asking them to submit ‘Action Taken Reports’ on whether they had constituted cells to look into complaints of caste-based discrimination, whether they had webpages and complaints registers in place as well as details of the complaints. Amnesty International India filed RTI applications seeking details of these reports

According to the UGC’s response to the RTI application, only 155 universities appeared to have responded to the UGC’s letter for the year 2015-16 (India has about 800 universities). Of them, only about half had a webpage where SC/ST students could lodge complaints of discrimination. Less than half – 47% – had constituted committees or cells specifically meant to look into complaints of discrimination against SC/ST students. It is perhaps not surprising then that 87% of universities reported that they had received zero complaints of caste-based discrimination. Of the 146 complaints that were received, some were apparently addressed through ‘lectures’, ‘counseling’ and ‘mentorship’.

Discrimination against Dalits and Adivasis is a problem that will not be solved overnight. Many of the universities mentioned above have taken steps to address caste-based discrimination, but far more needs to be done. Anecdotal evidence suggests that discrimination faced by Dalit and Adivasi students in less well-known universities is as bad, or worse.

Following Muthukrishnan’s suicide, a JNU professor told me that things on campus have not changed. He said, “The death of a brilliant young man was tragic to say the least. There are students like him who are first generation entrants into the university system and lack social support and language skills to cope initially. He had a lot at stake. But his death has caused no self-reflection. Things continue as they are, and there is no immediate hope of a transition or change.” 

Many of the recommendations made by various committees which have investigated caste-based discrimination – including remedial coaching, functional SC/ST complaint cells and a sensitised teaching staff – are bare minimum standards that a university must follow. Their absence will continue to prove the truth of Krish’s parting words quoting B.R. Ambedkar, “When equality is denied, everything is denied”.

Makepeace Sitlhou is a former campaigner with Amnesty International India.

CASTE DISCRIMINATION Could having more Dalit professors increase sensitivity to scheduled caste students at IITs? - Scroll.In

CASTE DISCRIMINATION

Could having more Dalit professors increase sensitivity to scheduled caste students at IITs?

Deaths like that of Aniket Ambhore, a Dalit student, who is suspected to have committed suicide in 2014, could be avoided in a more understanding environment.

Image credit:  Via Facebook.com/Anurag Mundhada

Yesterday · 09:30 pm  

Charu Bahri, IndiaSpend.com

In March 2012, Sanjay and Sunita Ambhore, parents of Aniket Ambhore, 19, a first-year electrical engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, received a letter informing them that their son – admitted on a scheduled caste quota – had failed two courses.

Concerned, the Ambhores – Sanjay, a bank manager, is a Dalit from Akola district in Maharashtra, Sunita, a junior-college lecturer, is not – met one of Aniket’s professors, who told them their son could not cope with IIT workload and would be happy in “normal” engineering colleges (with lower standards). He implied, they said, that scheduled caste students took up to eight years to complete a course that normally took four years. The professor suggested counselling to help Aniket focus on studies and named anti-depressants he could take.

The comments were a shock to Sanjay and Sunita, they said, who were until then mostly unaware that such attitudes existed in higher-education institutions.

Some high-caste professors consider Dalit students “uneducable”, wrote educationist Kurmana Simha Chalam in an 2007 book, Challenges of Higher Education.

Reflected in Aniket’s response to his professor’s outburst, casteist expression can leave Dalit students feeling that they are undeserving of their admission to higher-education institutions, concluded this 2013 King’s College London study of an Indian university, now a book, Faces of Discrimination in Higher Education in India: Quota Policy, Social Justice and the Dalits.

“Aniket did not find anything wrong with what he [the professor] had said, maybe because of the way it was said, as a well-meant suggestion,” Sunita told IndiaSpend.

Instead, Aniket – who scored 93% in his Class 10 Central Board of Secondary Education exam and 86% in his Class 12 Maharashtra state board exam – possibly influenced by disparaging talk of affirmative action, told his parents that he wanted to reappear for the Joint Entrance Examination, the IIT admission test, which he cleared in 2011 – and study engineering at an IIT only if he could crack the test without affirmative action.

Between then and August 2014, the Ambhores consulted three psychiatrists to help their son regain confidence. It made no difference. Gradually, the talented Aniket (here’s a video of him singing at an IIT- Bombay festival) turned into a student with low self esteem.

In August 2014, a joint meeting with Aniket’s head of department and the head of the Academic Rehabilitation Programme – a programme for academically deficient students that Aniket had been enrolled in the previous year headed by the same professor they met in 2012 – went particularly badly. The programme head suggested that another exam failure would devastate Aniket, so it would be best if he dropped out, perhaps joined an NGO and considered a career as a teacher.

On September 4, 2014, Aniket fell to his death from the sixth floor of an IIT-B hostel. It isn’t clear if it was an accident or he jumped.

‘Some bias on campus’

Media reporting of Aniket’s death – such as this September 6, 2014, report in the Times of India – suggested that he struggled with academics, but did not mention that his parents “had repeatedly asked the HoD (head of department) if there was any way of reducing the academic load on Aniket”, to quote from their 10-page testimony submitted to IIT-Bombay after his death.

Despite this, they were not informed about the possibility of converting the dual degree M Tech programme Aniket was enrolled for to a shorter B Tech programme.

Aniket’s death was described as an accident and reporting included comments from unnamed friends that he did not appear to be “anybody who would commit suicide”.

Media reporting also did not mention Aniket’s growing preoccupation with religion and spirituality – he was raised in an atheist household – as he tried to navigate academics and his scheduled caste origins.

The IIT system provides for an scheduled caste/scheduled tribe adviser for the redressal of caste grievances, and there is acknowledgement that caste plays some role in the life of Dalit students (and tribal students, for whom an additional 7.5% of seats are reserved).

“Some caste bias does shows up on campus, mostly as upper-caste students expressing their discontent with the reservation system,” Devang Khakhar, director of IIT Bombay, told IndiaSpend.

Questions have been raised over the efficacy of the redressal of caste grievances. Filmmaker Anoop Kumar of the 2011 documentary Death of Merit said that 80% of those who committed suicides in the IITs between 2007 and 2011 were Dalits, and none of these institutes had a grievance-redressal mechanism to address caste-based discrimination.

Sunita Ambhore now wonders if Aniket’s downward turn began when he stepped into IIT-B as a Dalit, within months believing his academic woes were a result of his inability to reconcile with his origins. This left him with the belief that he was undeserving of a seat at India’s premier engineering college – an attitude confirmed by the King’s College London study.

Could it have helped Aniket if there were at least some professors who shared his background? There are, for a start, very few Dalit professors in India’s 23 IITs.

1.1% of IIT faculty is Dalit

The quota system policy was designed in the 1950s as an early form of affirmative action to ensure that higher education institutions retained 15% of their places for Dalit students; the same proportion of faculty was also expected to come from this background.

–Faces of Discrimination in Higher Education in India: Quota Policy, Social Justice and the Dalits

In July 2016, IndiaSpend reported how affirmative action helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds get college admission.

Source: American Economic ReviewHover over the chart for more details.BC-A, BC-B, BC-C, BC-D refer to sub-categories A, B, C, D of Backward Caste. SC: Scheduled Caste, ST: Scheduled Tribe.

A 2008 government order instructed the IITs to employ 15%, 7.5% and 27% scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and other backward caste faculty, respectively – in line with the quota system being implemented for student admissions since 1973 – at the entry-level post of assistant professor and lecturer in science and technology subjects and across all faculty posts in other subjects.

Almost a decade on, you can count the number of SC and ST faculty in the IITs on your fingers.

Dalit faculty made up no more than 1.12% of IIT faculty positions in December 2012, according to this statement made in the Lok Sabha (parliament’s lower house) that year: 0.12% of IIT faculty were tribals, while OBC faculty were 1.84%. The proportion of SCs and STs were 16.6% and 8.6% respectively, as per the 2011 census.

Source: Lok Sabha; *Based on the sanctioned strength of 5,706

As on June 2015, according to an answer received by a right-to-information request by a former student, quoted in this June 26, 2015, report in The Hindu, 2.42% of faculty in IIT Madras were SC or ST, based on faculty positions filled, while the similar figure for IIT Bombay was 0.34%.

This lack of SC/ST faculty could affect students from traditionally disadvantaged groups.

“Considerate and supportive faculty who are genuinely sympathetic to student’s problems are few,” said sociologist Virginius Xaxa, professor of eminence, Tezpur University, who has studied the adverse attitude–as this commentary details–towards SC/ST students in Delhi University.

“The pervasive attitude,” said Xaxa, “is that students coming through quotas are undeserving.”

Why do IITs lack SC/ST/OBC faculty?

Too few applicants: That is the overriding reason for not having enough SC/ST faculty, the directors of IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras told IndiaSpend.

“We have very few scheduled caste faculty because we receive too few applicants from this category,” said IIT Bombay’s Khakhar.

“We receive too few good-quality applications from SC/ST candidates who meet the minimum threshold for an IIT faculty,” said Indranil Manna, director, IIT Kanpur. “While we are committed to the law and our social obligation, we are also keen to protect the IIT brand, a globally recognised Indian brand that has taken fifty years to build.”

Could prejudice impede the employment of faculty from disadvantaged communities?

In August 2016, the Madras High Court concluded that IIT Madras had committed “gross irregularity” in passing over associate professor WB Vasantha–a faculty member from a backward caste–for promotion in 1995, and then again in 1997, for lesser-qualified candidates.

“There is no corner of India where prejudice against dalits doesn’t exist,” said Anand Teltumbde, senior professor, Goa Institute of Management, formerly with IIT Kharagpur.

“It took the public sector many years to overcome resistance to employ dalits at managerial levels,” said Teltumbde, the grandson of BR Ambedkar, the writer of India’s Constitution. “India has reconciled itself to admitting dalit students in the IITs, but resistance to admitting dalit faculty is still very strong, a dalit must expect to fight the system.”

Some IITs are bending rules to increase SC/ST faculty, others do nothing

Some of the IITs that IndiaSpend contacted for comments have started to bend the rules to increase the number of SC/ST faculty. Some are doing nothing.

“We have not taken any specific measures to increase the number of faculty members belonging to the scheduled castes,” said Khakhar.

Almost all the SC/ST faculty on the rolls of IIT Delhi today were hired a couple of years ago during a special recruitment drive, a senior faculty member, requesting anonymity given the sensitivity of the topic, told IndiaSpend.

IIT Madras has considered conducting a special recruitment drive for SC/ST faculty, over and above its six-monthly recruitment cycle. However, “so far, a special drive does not seem like an idea that will give us more candidates as we are constantly on the lookout for SC/ST candidates during regular recruitment”, said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director, IIT Madras.

IIT Kanpur’s Manna sees rolling advertisement on the website as a better option to recruit SC/ST faculty than a separate, one-time recruitment drive. “A drive would only provide access to talent existing at a given point of time,” he said.

SC/ST applicants compete against general category applicants in regular recruitment. Does that increase the odds against them? .

Manna does not think so: “SC/ST candidates would not be disadvantaged because they are treated under a separate category with a different level of expectation,” he said.

At the entry level, applicants need not possess “a superlative record”, said Manna. A doctoral degree from a “decent” university, a good academic background, some good publications and a couple of years of work experience.

“I would definitely prefer the SC/ST candidate if I had three candidates of different social status but comparable merit and qualification,” said Manna, who added that IIT Kanpur would only relax the work-experience requirement for an “exceptional” SC/ST doctoral candidate and “appoint such a candidate on a contractual basis with scope for regularisation in due course”.

“We relax the age and work experience norms for OBC/SC/ST candidates to ensure more candidates from among those who apply are called for interview,” said IIT Madras’s Ramamurthi. “We also ensure representation from reserved categories in the selection committee when we have OBC/SC/ST applicants. They make allowance for skills which can be picked up with experience.”

Improve the learning environment, offer training to increase SC/ST faculty

At a December 13, 2016, meeting of directors of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)–India’s chain of prestigious management institutions, where too the government has urged faculty quotas–to discuss ways to increase faculty from traditionally disadvantaged communities, the IIM Kashipur representative described special fellow programme in management for SC/ST doctoral students, who will simultaneously be trained for faculty positions.

Asked whether he could consider absorbing his institute’s own fresh SC/ST/OBC doctorates as junior faculty, Manna said: “The IITs follow a strict policy on preventing inbreeding. We would prefer that our doctorates work away for a few years, then return to us if they are interested.”

Instead, he suggested that the government take on the training of SC/ST doctorates with potential, with the intention of bringing them up to the IIT standard.

“It isn’t enough to legislate and require IITs to employ a certain number of SC/ST faculty,” he said. “Surely a group of 100 SC/ST entry-level faculties can be created to start with?”

IIT Madras has relaxed the prevention-of-inbreeding condition for SC/ST doctoral scholars. “But like our PhD scholars from the general category, our graduating SC/ST scholars often join other centrally funded technical institutes, national laboratories, industry, foreign universities, etc.,” said Ramamurthi.

Improving the learning environment and training potential candidates in-house would likely help retain more SC/ST doctoral scholars.

“Students aware of the environment in the IITs may be reluctant to join as faculty,” said Tezpur University’s Xaxa “Academic progress depends greatly on how comfortable you feel in an environment.” Aniket, clearly, did not.

This article first appeared on IndiaSpend, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.

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If IITs had more Dalit professors, would Aniket Ambhore be alive - Economic Times

If IITs had more Dalit professors, would Aniket Ambhore be alive?

By IANS | Updated: Jan 17, 2017, 03.45 PM IST

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Some of the IITs that IndiaSpend contacted for comments have started to bend the rules to increase the number of SC/ST faculty.

By Charu Bahri 

In March 2012, Sanjay and Sunita Ambhore, parents of Aniket Ambhore, 19, a first-year electrical engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), received a letter informing them that their son — admitted in the Scheduled Caste (SC) quota — had failed two courses. 

Concerned, the Ambhores — Sanjay, a bank manager, is a Dalit; Sunita, a junior-college lecturer, is not — met one of Aniket's professors, who told them their son could not cope with IIT workload and would be happy in "normal" engineering colleges (with lower standards). He implied, they said, that SC students took up to eight years to complete a course that normally took four years. The professor suggested counselling to help Aniket focus on studies and named anti-depressants he could take. 

The comments were a shock to Sanjay and Sunita, they said, who were until then mostly unaware that such attitudes existed in higher-education institutions. However, "Aniket did not find anything wrong with what he (the professor) had said, maybe because of the way it was said, as a well-meant suggestion", Sunita told IndiaSpend. 

Instead, Aniket — who scored 86 per cent in his class 12 Maharashtra State Board exam — possibly influenced by disparaging talk of affirmative action, told his parents that he wanted to re-appear for the Joint Entrance Examination, the IIT admission test, which he cleared in 2011 — and study engineering only if he could crack the test without affirmative action. 

Between then and August 2014, the Ambhores consulted three psychiatrists to help their son regain confidence. It made no difference. Gradually, the talented Aniket turned into a student with low self-esteem. 

In August 2014, a joint meeting with Aniket's head of department and the head of the Academic Rehabilitation Programme (ARP) — a programme for academically deficient students that Aniket had been enrolled in the previous year headed by the same professor they met in 2012 — went particularly badly. The ARP head suggested that another exam failure would devastate Aniket, so it would be best if he dropped out. 

On September 4, 2014, Aniket fell to his death from the sixth floor of an IIT-B hostel. It isn't clear if it was an accident or he jumped. 

The IIT system provides for an SC/ST adviser for the redressal of caste grievances, and there is acknowledgement that caste plays some role in the life of SC students (and tribal students, for whom an additional 7.5 per cent of seats are reserved). 

"Some caste bias does shows up on campus, mostly as upper-caste students expressing their discontent with the reservation system," Devang Khakhar, Director, IIT Bombay, told IndiaSpend. 

Questions have arisen over the efficacy of the redressal of caste grievances. Filmmaker Anoop Kumar of the 2011 documentary "Death of Merit" said that 80 per cent of those who committed suicides in the IITs between 2007 and 2011 were Dalits, and none of these institutes had a grievance-redressal mechanism to address caste-based discrimination. 

Sunita now wonders if Aniket's downward turn began when he stepped into IIT-B as a Dalit, within months believing his academic woes were a result of his inability to reconcile with his origins. This left him with the belief that he was undeserving of a seat at India's premier engineering college — an attitude confirmed by a 2013 King's College, London, study of an Indian university, now a book, "Faces of Discrimination in Higher Education in India: Quota Policy, Social Justice and the Dalits". 

Could it have helped Aniket if there were at least some professors who shared his background? There are, for a start, very few Dalit professors in India's 23 IITs. 

The quota system policy was designed in the 1950s as an early form of affirmative action to ensure that higher education institutions retained 15 per cent of their places for Dalit students; the same proportion of faculty was also expected to come from this background. 

A 2008 government order instructed the IITs to employ 15 per cent, 7.5 per cent and 27 per cent SC, ST and other backward caste (OBC) faculty, respectively — in line with the quota system being implemented for student admissions since 1973 — at the entry-level post of assistant professor and lecturer in science and technology subjects and across all faculty posts in other subjects. 

Almost a decade on, you can count the number of SC and ST faculty in the IITs on your fingers. 

Dalit faculty made up no more than 1.12 per cent of IIT faculty positions in December 2012; 0.12 per cent were tribals, while OBC faculty were 1.84 per cent. 

The proportion of SCs and STs in the country's population were 16.6 per cent and 8.6 per cent, respectively, as per the 2011 census. 

This lack of SC/ST faculty could affect students from traditionally disadvantaged groups. 

"Considerate and supportive faculty who are genuinely sympathetic to student's problems are few," said sociologist Virginius Xaxa, professor of eminence, Tezpur University, who has studied the adverse attitude towards SC/ST students in Delhi University. "The pervasive attitude is that students coming through quotas are undeserving." 

Why do IITs lack SC/ST/OBC faculty? Too few applicants: That is the overriding reason for not having enough SC/ST faculty, the directors of IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras told IndiaSpend. 

"We receive too few good-quality applications from SC/ST candidates who meet the minimum threshold for an IIT faculty," said Indranil Manna, Director, IIT Kanpur. "While we are committed to the law and our social obligation, we are also keen to protect the IIT brand, a globally recognised Indian brand that has taken 50 years to build." 

Could prejudice impede the employment of faculty from disadvantaged communities? In August 2016, the Madras High Court concluded that IIT Madras had committed "gross irregularity" in passing over Associate Professor W.B. Vasantha — a faculty member from a backward caste — for promotion in 1995, and then again in 1997, for lesser-qualified candidates. 

"There is no corner of India where prejudice against Dalits doesn't exist," said Anand Teltumbde, Senior Professor, Goa Institute of Management, formerly with IIT Kharagpur, and grandson of B.R. Ambedkar, the writer of India's Constitution. 

"India has reconciled itself to admitting Dalit students in the IITs, but resistance to admitting Dalit faculty is still very strong, a Dalit must expect to fight the system." 

Some of the IITs that IndiaSpend contacted for comments have started to bend the rules to increase the number of SC/ST faculty. 

Almost all the SC/ST faculty on the rolls of IIT Delhi today were hired a couple of years ago during a special recruitment drive, a senior faculty member, requesting anonymity given the sensitivity of the topic, told IndiaSpend. 

IIT Madras has considered conducting a special recruitment drive for SC/ST faculty, over and above its six-monthly recruitment cycle. However, "so far, a special drive does not seem like an idea that will give us more candidates as we are constantly on the lookout for SC/ST candidates during regular recruitment", said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras. 

SC/ST applicants compete against general category applicants in regular recruitment. Does that increase the odds against them? 

Manna does not think so. "SC/ST candidates would not be disadvantaged because they are treated under a separate category with a different level of expectation," he said. 

At the entry level, applicants need not possess "a superlative record", said Manna. A doctoral degree from a "decent" university, a good academic background, some good publications and a couple of years of work experience. 

"I would definitely prefer the SC/ST candidate if I had three candidates of different social status but comparable merit and qualification," said Manna. 

Improving the learning environment and training potential candidates in-house would likely help retain more SC/ST doctoral scholars. 

"Students aware of the environment in the IITs may be reluctant to join as faculty," said Tezpur University's Xaxa "Academic progress depends greatly on how comfortable you feel in an environment." Aniket, clearly, did not. 

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Charu Bahri is a freelance writer and editor based in Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend.)

You lied in Lok Sabha: IIT-B Dalit student's mom tells Smriti Irani in open letter - Mid Day

You lied in Lok Sabha: IIT-B Dalit student's mom tells Smriti Irani in open letter

By Pallavi Smart |Posted 28-Feb-2016

Sunita Ambhore, mother of Dalit IIT-B student Aniket Ambhore, who committed suicide in 2014, says her letter to HRD ministry, didn’t make it to the 61,892 letters Irani claims to have responded to

Her speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday — an explanation of the government’s stand on the suicide of Hyderabad scholar and Rohith Vemula and the arrest of JNU student’s union leader Kanhaiya Kumar — may have got Union HRD Minister, Smriti Zubin Irani both accolades and criticism, however, there is one person at least who feels Irani’s ministry has for long denied her justice.

Also read: 'Caste discrimination continues to exist in IIT-Bombay'

Sunita and Sanjay Ambhore, parents of Aniket, had visited Rohith Vemula’s family earlier this month. Sunita says the Vemulas have been receiving threats, being asked to “back-off” from the case. Pics/Suresh KK

Sunita Ambhore is the mother of Aniket Ambhore - a student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) who was found dead after allegedly slipping and falling off the sixth floor of a hostel building in September 2014. It’s believed that Aniket may have committed suicide as he wasn’t doing well academically.

Aniket Ambhore, a student of IIT-B, allegedly committed suicide in 2014. Officials said he took this step since he wasn’t performing well academically

Ambhore, who has now written an open letter to the Union minister on her Facebook post said, “After the JNU controversy, I feel that institutions of higher education are pointlessly being politicised, whereas, there are more important issues that need attention.”

In her post, which Ambhore — a Hindi lecturer — hopes many share, she accuses Irani of lying in the Parliament and also not acting on the 11-page letter that the Ambhores’ had written following Aniket’s death.

While meeting sunday mid-day at her Prabhadevi home, she said, “We had written a letter to her department on November 29, 2014, regarding the current student scenario, wishing that whatever ill occurred to my son must not happen again with any other student.” Ambhore said her family hasn’t yet received a response from the ministry.

Also read: IIT-Bombay student who fell from 6th floor was struggling with failing grades, say institute's officials

Ambhore also said that her letter wanted the ministry to ensure that parents were taken into confidence if their child was not performing at the institute - another aspect that seems to have been ignored.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, the Ambhore family visited Hyderabad to show their support for Vemula’s family. The Ambhores collected R1 lakh to help Vemula’s mother in her struggle for justice. “The Vemulas are not even living in their house but are always on the HCU campus. They keep receiving threats asking them to back-off from the case. They have been offered money even. We went to meet them just to show that we support them. It is not easy to lose a young son, we understand their plight,” said Ambhore.

Ambhore's letter

Dear HRD minister Smriti Iraniji,

We had written to you regarding the current student scenario, wishing that whatever ill occurred to my son doesn’t happen again with any other student; and there be a healthy environment in all of educational campuses, for SC/ST students in order to help them flourish.

This appeal was made to you on 29th Nov ‘14. But, no action has been taken for it yet. You claimed that you resolved 61,892 cases that had come to your ministry from May 1, 2014, till date. But, our request isn’t one of them.

A large number of outstation students study in the respective IIT branches, staying away from home. The gap that needs to be filled is that if any student isn’t performing well in academics, or is suffering from any stress, isn’t it the responsibility of the institute to inform his/her parents about this? Had the management at IIT-B taken this step, the unfortunate wouldn’t have happened.

All these concerns were written to you, expecting fair...amendments in the functioning. Also, the speech that you made yesterday in the Lok Sabha was very arrogant and did not help in the discussion that was expected. Students look forward to an open and stress-free environment. Such justifications have only widened the tension amongst students. We were expecting you to make a statement that would’ve help us fight our sorrows; instead, your speech sounded like you only cared about your ‘safe-side’ and justifications pertaining to Rohith’s case.

(The letter has been translated from Hindi)

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/you-lied-in-lok-sabha-iit-b-dalit-students-mom-tells-smriti-irani-in-open-letter/16994163#sthash.ieoxoO1E.dpuf

A powerful letter to Rohith Vemula's friends and family from the mother of Aniket Ambhore, who committed suicide. He was a Dalit, too - India Today

A powerful letter to Rohith Vemula's friends and family from the mother of Aniket Ambhore, who committed suicide. He was a Dalit, too

• Aniket Ambhore was found dead in the IIT-B campus in September 2014.
• Authorities called it a freak accident, but Aniket's parents suspect he committed suicide since he was subjected to caste discrimination.
• After Rohith Vemula's suicide, Aniket's mother writes an open letter to Rohith's friends and family.

Vivek Surendran

New Delhi, January 29, 2016 | UPDATED 18:43 IST

On September 4, 2014 Aniket Ambhore, made a leap he rather shouldn't have, and that ended in his death. He was a student of Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, pursuing a dual degree in electrical engineering and communication and signal processing. Aniket was found dead in the campus, and the officials maintained he slipped and fell off the sixth floor of hostel building number-13.

They called it a 'freak accident'. He was not doing well in academics and was quite unhappy about it, they said. 

Aniket's family saw no reason to believe the incident was a 'freak accident', but did accept he was worried due to backlogs. Aniket's fathertold the Times of India that since Aniket had taken admission under the SC/ST quota, he had to face derogatory comments and frequent taunts, both from fellow students and staff members. Aniket's parents Sunita Ambhore and Sanjay Ambhore submitted a 10-page testimony to the IIT-B director explaining various forms of caste discrimination their son faced in the campus. An inquiry committee was setup by the institute to inquire about his death. Despite persistent demands, the report of this committee has not been made public till date, nor was it shared within the IIT-B community.

On January 17, Rohith Vemula, a 26-year-old PhD scholar, committed suicide hanging himself inside a hostel room in the Hyderabad Central University campus, and left a note that said no one is responsible for his act. But friends and family say Rohith was forced to end his life due to constant harassment from authorities since he was a Dalit.

Here's a letter from Sunita Ambhore, Aniket's mother, to family and friends of Rohith. (SIC)

23 January, 2015

To the family and friends of Rohith,

After going through the last letter written by Rohith Vemula, I am feeling very restless, very suffocated. A researcher who in the name of punishment did not receive his fellowship for seven months and was thrown out of the hostel, all in an attempt to break him to his core.

Though Rohith has not blamed anybody in his letter, it is very heart wrenching. I can see the similarities between the thoughts of the two, Aniket and Rohith, and I am trying to understand what pain they must have gone through. Aniket did not leave behind any letter, but from the sentences scattered here and there in his diary, in poetries I found that both of them had the same state of mind towards the end of their lives.

Aniket also talked about equality, and even supported and whole heartedly empathized with the struggles of transgender or his 'Saathi' friends. He also had a lot of concern for his parents. He was struggling to find answers about caste, reservation, god etc. He was fighting against the discriminatory mindset which he had to face ever since he started preparing for IIT entrance exam.

When a person gets tired of fighting with powerful forces, only then is he overcome with an emptiness, which can be seen in my son's and Rohith's life. This is frightening for one who is sensitive, thinks a lot and wants to realize his dreams. Such people due to their nature do not blame others but come to a point when they are unable to go on any more, they feel empty.

Why would Aniket think so much? We always saw him laughing, performing mimicry, singing. What was there in IIT that my son forgot to smile. After his death the doctor told us that Aniket was confused. But Science and Mathematics were his favorite subjects from the beginning, then how could he have become confused?

In IIT, Aniket must have suffered the emptiness and hidden insult a lot. This was not in a direct but an indirect way, for he faced it in everyday discussions and in the name of advice, sometimes by peers and sometimes by faculty members.

Not only IIT but other prestigious higher educational institutions also possess this egoistic way of thinking.

Those who befriend students who come to these institutes through reservations keep saying, "Look, you and I have a similar economic background, yet you have received special facilities because of your caste...reservation is wrong" and other such things.

That is why Aniket had started searching for the roots of caste. Vedic religion, books and such knowledge are shown to be true and given a scientific form in these prestigious institutions and their ideas are drilled into the heads of the students even now. But when the students face a problem due to caste bias, there is no support system that the institute provides. There is no counseling for these problems, they are not even recognised as a problem, but put across as a fact that a category student has to face.

Availing reservation is treated as a crime. If you have availed of reservation then you are expected to face the arguments and judgments of people, this is the mentality of the 'savarnas'. Aniket and other children are not treated empathetically, their problems are instead framed as issues of low academic ability, parental pressure, high self-expectation so that savarnas do not have to deal with the actual issue on hand.

Aniket had lost his identity. "Who am I" - why would such a question trouble him? Why did Aniket become concerned about graha, stars, soul - supreme soul or the other world after coming to IIT?

We don't know where his positive thinking, creative mind and his smile disappeared. Our only crime was that we sent him to IIT-B with a category certificate. If he had studied in ordinary institutions then at least he would not have to listen to so many discussions and advice which weakened his mind.

That he is incapable, who gave such a feeling to my able, sensible, jolly Aniket?

We have not yet received any replies to the letters we sent to various important official authorities like MHRD and Scheduled Castes Commission. After our request, IIT Bombay did set up an inquiry committee but no changes were brought about in its institutional functioning, nobody has even informed us about the inquiry report. Perhaps they do not think it necessary to give answers.

We feel very small in our own eyes. But Rohith's incident has once again highlighted the matter. Both Aniket and Rohith faced different conditions, but the reason they had to struggle was the same. I don't know till when will our children fight this hidden casteism. We too are fighting it.

Students, agitation is the only remaining hope!

Perhaps only the students will be able to wake up the dormant system. We are waiting to see some solace for the pain suffered by Rohith's family and the Dalit society.

Aniket's mother,
Sunita Ambhore

"Perhaps only students will be able to wake up the dormant system!"

Photo: Aniket's and Rohith's Facebook profiles. 

'Caste discrimination continues to exist in IIT-Bombay' - Mid Day

'Caste discrimination continues to exist in IIT-Bombay'

By Pallavi Smart |Posted 21-Jan-2016

Even as campuses across the country are seized with outrage over the suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad University, the family of IIT-Bombay student Aniket Ambhore, who fell to his death from a hostel terrace, is still waiting for closure 15 months after his death.

Also read: IIT-Bombay student who fell from 6th floor was struggling with failing grades, say institute's officials

Aniket’s parents Sunita and Sanjay are frustrated by the apathy of authorities. Pics/Suresh KK

Aniket’s parents and friends told mid-day on Wednesday that the Dalit student was subjected to continuous taunts over his caste in the months leading up to his death. Aniket was found dead below the six-storey hostel building on September 4, 2014. Even today, neither the police nor the institute, which set up a probe into the incident, has told the family the reason behind Aniket’s death.

Aniket Ambhore fell to his death from a hostel terrace

The family told mid-day the slurs had heightened just before his death, with even a professor in his remedial class and the head of a department being among those who berated him as being dull because he was a Dalit. But the institute, they alleged, has till now not submitted a report by an enquiry committee that was set up to look into the circumstances of Aniket’s death.

Aniket’s parents at their Prabhadevi home

Ambhore’s mother Sunita told mid-day on Wednesday that she could understand what must have forced the 22-year-old Hyderabad boy to take the extreme step.

“Aniket did not leave any note for us,” Sunita told mid-day. “But when I read Rohith’s note I could understand what my son must have been feeling. Only after Aniket’s death did we find some lines scribbled in his books about how empty and lonely he was feeling.”

The Ambhores said Aniket grew up not being aware of caste discrimination and did not know how to handle it when he faced it on campus. He initially took it as a consequence of his poor grades. Ambhore’s father Sanjay said he had turned to spiritual books towards the end of his term at IIT, though the entire family was atheist.

“There was no pressure on him from us,” Sanjay, who works with a nationalised bank, told mid-day. “We were willing to withdraw his admission if it was getting too difficult for him. We even had this discussion with his department head after he failed in some subjects. But everybody said he would catch up. But before his death, he had told us how a professor had berated him in front of the entire class about how easy it was for Dalits to get to IITs through reserved category. He must have gotten very lonely due to the continuing taunts over his caste. The entire nation is talking about the Hyderabad incident, but Aniket’s case remains unresolved.”

Sunita said she had noticed how even close friends on campus often directed casteist remarks very casually at Aniket. Following his death, the family wrote to the HRD ministry and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes besides constantly following up with the institute. With no response, they managed to get their MP to raise the issue in the Rajya Sabha, following which the probe committee was set up.

Also read: Hyderabad varsity on the boil after research scholar ends life

“But even now, we do not know the conclusion of the committee’s inquiry,” said Sanjay, who had spoken to his son the day he died. “I was on my way to the Institute to pick him up as he was to come home that day. 

After knowing where have I reached, he told me that he is going to sleep now. So we did not call him again as he never liked to be disturbed when he was sleeping.”

Prejudice exists
Sanjay said IIT officials would call them over only when they called to ask about the status of the probe. The institute’s Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle later stepped in to help the Ambhores in their quest for closure.

“They never spoke to Aniket’s friends and other students from the improvement class to know the facts about the casteist remarks,” said Sanjay. “We had to request his friends to go to the authorities and give their statements.”

Even then, the college tried to spin it as a case of depression, the family alleged. Sanjay said they were aware that Aniket was disturbed and was undergoing psychological treatment in the months before the incident.

“He accepted there was a problem but was clear that he had to face it,” said Sunita. “This shows he was willing to come out of his disturbed state.

Members of the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle said even they had tired of trying to impress upon authorities about the casteist slurs on campus.

Rakhahari Saha from the group told mid-day, “Caste discrimination on IIT-B campus is not explicit. Remarks and taunts from professors as well as students coming from general categories do affect Dalit students. 

Their confidence level goes so low that having an open discussion with faculty members also becomes difficult. This happened in Aniket’s case also. Worst is that even faculty members have the same prejudices, so Dalit students do not come forward.”

Another member, who did not want to be named, said, “The authorities have completely ignored the caste slurs in Aniket’s case. They have turned it into a mental health issue. Whenever we talk to them, their response is always about how they are doing a lot to counsel students. At IIT-B, caste discrimination is an issue never spoken about as neither institute nor students want to talk about it. In fact, many students are trying to hide their caste, fearing the constant taunts. There is a general prejudice among students coming from open category. IIT-B as an institute also adds to this. The official opposition to quotas is well known.”

Students said unlike with their peers, the discrimination by professors is often subtle.

“A professor will randomly ask for your JEE rank to know your background,” said another student. “Then they will pass comments like how it is only students from reserved category who require remedial teaching, etc.”

IIT in denial
Dean of Student Affair at the institute, Prof Soumyo Mukherji, denied there was any casteist slur in Aniket’s, or any other, case. He said the committee was formed “to understand the mental health situation of students on campus and suggest preventive measures to avoid such unfortunate incidents in future.”

“There is no mention of caste remarks or taunts in the report,” said Mukherji. “But in an individual scenario, one would not know. The institute has a strict policy against any kind of discrimination. We have never seen such a compliant go unnoticed or unpunished. In Aniket’s case, it might have been a general comment on students who are lagging behind in studies and attending academic improvement classes. But it might have been perceived differently. This is one unfortunate incident but issue of mental health of students on campus is much larger.”

The Ambhores are unconvinced. The least the institute could do, they said, was to give them so-called report if it was indeed submitted. And help them find closure

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/caste-discrimination-continues-to-exist-in-iit-bombay/16881190#sthash.2kDUsKuN.dpuf

Mumbai: Social stigma keeps troubled IIT-B students away from counselling - Mid Day

Mumbai: Social stigma keeps troubled IIT-B students away from counselling

By Shreya Bhandary |Posted 10-Nov-2015

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-social-stigma-keeps-troubled-iit-b-students-away-from-counselling/16668181#sthash.azTy4Lkm.dpuf

A recent article in Insight, the premier institute’s student newspaper, highlights that while the provided facilities need improvement, students too need to take the initiative to ask for help

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) has stepped up its efforts on providing counseling to students suffering from depression or anxiety. IIT-B made changes to its existing counseling mechanism after observing two suicides and one suicide attempt over the last year.

Even so, the social stigma of undergoing counselling still keeps many students away from the counsellors. A recent article in Insight, the institute’s student newspaper, has highlighted that while the facilities provided by the institute need improvement, students too need to take the initiative to ask for help.

“It’s sad to see that students still don’t approach counsellors when they first start feeling depressed. The competitive atmosphere gets to most of us, especially, since we stay far away from our home. It is important to be vocal about our problems,” said Mihir Kulkarni, one of the editors of Insight.

Loopholes

The article highlights the loopholes, not only in the institute but also in the student community. The mentorship program introduced by IITs across the country — where senior students mentor freshers to help them cope with pressure — has brought about some change.

“The good thing is, that there’s more acknowledgement of stress and pressure amongst the students now, which is very important. But beyond that, we need to address this problem proactively,” added Kulkarni.

Need more counsellors
However, all this still cannot suppress the need for more counsellors on board. At present, IIT-B has two full-time and one visiting counsellor, who visits student hostels and talks to the students regularly. With close to 10,000 students on campus, the three counsellors handle quite a handful, as they meet about 7-8 students everyday.

“The number of students a counsellor sees on a daily basis can vary. But the number of students connecting with the counsellors is showing a steady increase,” said Shivani Manchanda, counselling coordinator at IIT-B. She added that with the new steps taken by the institute, more and more students are sharing their problems.

IIT-B says
While officials at the institute stated that students have not yet approached anyone demanding more counsellors, they didn’t deny the problem. “With three counsellors on board, we are reaching out to as many students as possible. We are still looking to hire more counsellors.

We are already in the process of hiring a fourth counsellor and are also taking active steps to ensure a total outreach program,” said Soumyo Mukherji, student affairs Dean at IIT-B. He added that the management is also in talks to introduce a new counselling center code to the student hostels, but it is yet to be approved.

Recent suicide/attempted suicide cases at IIT-B

June 2015: A 23-year-old MTech student, pursuing degree in Earth Sciences, tried to end his life when he was alone in his room at Hostel 5. His mates claimed that after the initial attempt to commit suicide by hanging failed, he popped some pills. He was immediately rushed to the IIT-B Hospital and later to the Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, where he finally recovered.

May 2015: Jitesh Sharma, a third-year chemical engineering student, was found dead on the terrace of one of the hostels on May 2. The 21-year-old was reportedly suffering from depression and had been undergoing counselling for over six months. His body was found around 7 pm on the terrace of Hostel 15-B. He resided in Hostel 8.

September 2014: Aniket Ambhore (22), a fourth-year student pursuing a dual degree in electrical engineering, died after falling from the sixth floor of Hostel 13. Aniket was immediately rushed to Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar, where he was declared dead on arrival. It is still unclear whether it was an accident or a suicide.

The PAL system
At IIT-Gandhinagar, the institute started a Peer Assisted Learning system (PAL), three years ago. This system appoints mentors and groups that help students deal with stress and pressure. While helping freshers, the system also involves compensation for the seniors, who get paid Rs 125 per hour.

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-social-stigma-keeps-troubled-iit-b-students-away-from-counselling/16668181#sthash.azTy4Lkm.dpuf

Two deaths and an attempted suicide later, IIT-B upgrades on-campus student support system - Mid Day

Two deaths and an attempted suicide later, IIT-B upgrades on-campus student support system

By Shreya Bhandary |Posted 26-Aug-2015

 76 0 1 0 0

Besides deploying counsellors in hostels, institute is allowing families of distressed students to stay with them on campus for a few days; students claim nothing much has changed

In the wake of two deaths and an attempted suicide on IIT-B campus in less than a year, the management has taken steps to ensure that students don’t feel stressed or get bogged down by academic or other pressures.

Representation pic/thinkstock

From hiring counsellors to making arrangements for families of stressed students to stay with them for a few days, the institute is deploying various methods to ensure that students are offered a strong support system.

One such method is the appointment of a counsellor to work from hostels. This counsellor is easily approachable as per students’ convenience. “We realised students felt uncomfortable while visiting counsellors at their offices in the main building, so we made arrangements for a counsellor to work from the hostels.

This counsellor moves form one hostel to another on a rotational basis and ensures more interaction with the students,” said Soumyo Mukherji, dean, student affairs, IIT-B, adding, “Since the counsellor is in the hostel, several students freely approach the counsellor. Some of the students simply visit so that they can chat with the counsellor.”

Currently, two counsellors work on IIT-B’s payroll and the third has been hired on a contractual-basis. According to figures given by institute officials, the number of students seeking help from counsellors has increased over the years. At present, on an average, two different counsellors conduct 120 to 130 sessions a month.

Of these, 25 sessions are dedicated to first timers, while the remaining ones are follow-ups. Officials added the number of students attending group workshops on stress management has increased by over 50 per cent due to word-of-mouth publicity, as most of the workshops have yielded positive results for distressed students.

“There are several measures that we are trying to implement, but most of these are still ideas and we want to ensure they are implemented well and benefit our students. For now, students are busy with the orientation programmes and we want them to know that the institute is always there to help them,” Mukherji said.

Counter view
While the institute claims it is implementing all possible measures to strengthen the support system, students have questioned the impact that the counselling sessions have had. 

“The institute may or may not be responsible in certain cases when students take extreme steps.

But, in case of a suicidal attempt or a death, the administration’s reaction has always been far from what it should have been. There is a need for change in the way our problems are treated. Counselling isn’t the only solution,” said a third-year student.

Cases

June 2015: A 23-year-old MTech student, pursuing degree in Earth Sciences, tried to end his life when he was alone in his room at Hostel 5. His mates claimed that after the initial attempt to commit suicide by hanging failed, the student popped some pills. He was immediately rushed to the IIT-Bombay Hospital and later to the Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, where he finally recovered.

May 2015: Jitesh Sharma, a third-year chemical engineering student, was found dead on the terrace of one of the hostels on May 2. The 21-year-old was reportedly suffering from depression and was undergoing counselling for over six months. Sharma’s body was found around 7 pm on the terrace of Hostel 15-B. He, however, resided in Hostel 8.

September 2014: Aniket Ambhore (22), a fourth-year student pursuing a dual degree in electrical engineering, died after falling from the sixth floor of Hostel 13. Aniket was immediately rushed to Rajawadi Hospital, Ghatkopar, where he was declared dead on arrival. It is still unclear whether it was an accident or a suicide.

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/two-deaths-and-an-attempted-suicide-later-iit-b-upgrades-on-campus-student-support-system/16485192#sthash.FYVAEzTZ.dpuf

IIT-Bombay student attempts suicide, saved by hostel mates - Mid Day

IIT-Bombay student attempts suicide, saved by hostel mates

By Shreya Bhandary |Posted 03-Jun-2015

The student’s hostel mates say he tried to hang himself but failed; he then popped some pills and began to scream in pain, alerting other students

A student’s attempted suicide rocked the IIT-Bombay campus on Monday. The 23-year-old student, who was pursuing his MTech in Earth Sciences was rushed to the IIT Bombay Hospital and then taken to to the nearby Hiranandani Hospital in Powai, where he is currently recuperating.

Hostel mates say the student had kept three suicide notes, but Powai police said no note was found. File pic

The incident comes in the wake of two students having allegedly committed suicide on the IIT campus since last September. The student was alone in his room in Hostel 5 when he allegedly attempted suicide. According to his hostel mates, he first tried to hang himself, but was unsuccessful and then immediately popped some pills.

“Due to the reaction of these pills, he started screaming in pain and we rushed to his room. He had a towel tied around his neck so we understood what was happening and immediately rushed him to the hospital on campus.

Also Read: Girl student at IIIT Hyderabad commits suicide

The doctors provided an ambulance which rushed him to Hiranandani Hospital,” said one of the students. The incident took place around 7 am on Monday and he was taken to Hiranandani Hospital around 9 am in an unconscious state. With most students away on vacation, very few are currently on campus.

The student’s roommate, too, was not around at the time of the incident. Some students and two senior officials from IIT-Bombay rushed him to the hospital. “He is originally from Bihar and his brother stays in Delhi. His brother reached Mumbai early on Tuesday morning. We are taking turns to stay with him in case he needs help,” said another student.

When mid-day contacted officials at Hiranandani Hospital, they confirmed that the student was admitted to the ICU on Monday morning. “He was brought in unconscious and a stomach wash was done, which showed some pills. He also had a towel tied around his neck but there are no major marks on his neck.

The pills have been sent for tests to check the substance,” said an official. By late Tuesday evening, students said that their friend was conscious and talking and was moved out of the ICU to the general ward.

Suicide note confusion
The Powai police said no suicide note was found but the the student’s hostel mates told mid-day that three suicide notes were found in his room. “He had addressed one suicide note to his mother, another to the police and the third to the institute authorities.

But we are not clear about what was written in them,” said a student. An official from IIT-B said that one suicide note was found. “It seems he had written that no one was to be blamed for his actions. But only the police will know the details as they checked the room after the incident,” said Rashmi Uday Kumar, IIT-B PRO. The authorities at IIT-B said they are regularly checking on the student’s status at the hospital.

“He is doing decently well academically. We are still not sure why he took the step,” said Kumar. Since this is the third such incident on the IIT-B campus since September last year, questions have also been raised on the counselling of students who are always under pressure to perform well. “Counselling in IIT is an ongoing process. Our counsellors also regularly visit hostels and talk to students to understand their problems if any,” she added.

In the past

September 4, 2014: 22-year-old Aniket Ambhore, a fourth-year student pursuing a dual degree in electrical engineering, died after falling from the sixth floor of Hostel 13. Aniket was rushed to Ghatkopar’s Rajawadi Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. It is still unclear whether it was an accident or a suicide.

May 2, 2015: Jitesh Sharma, a third-year chemical engineering student, was found dead on the terrace of a hostel on the campus on May 2. The 21-year-old student was reportedly suffering from depression and had been undergoing counselling for over six months. Sharma’s body was found on the terrace of hostel number 15 B on the campus. Sharma lived in hostel 8.

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/iit-bombay-student-attempts-suicide-saved-by-hostel-mates/16260166#sthash.pOz8U3Sr.dpuf