What IIT Kharagpur Professor’s Abusive Remarks Tell Us About Casteism In Educational Institutions,

What IIT Kharagpur Professor’s Abusive Remarks Tell Us About Casteism In Educational Institutions
By Shivani Gual
-May 4, 2021


Trigger Warning: Caste-based oppression, verbal and emotional abuse

While scrolling through my Instagram on a lazy afternoon, I came across a video of an IIT Kharagpur professor, Seema Singh. The video shows her taking an online class in a preparatory English course meant to help students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Persons with Disabilities to perform well in the IIT JEE exams the coming year. Professor Singh is seen being evidently casteist towards and abusing the students, using foul language and addressing them with words like “bloody bastards”.

“Shameless creatures, you have to stand up for only two minutes for the national anthem, you cannot do it, and bloody ba****ds, this is on your parents, I am calling your parents that. Do you have any shame?” “What I have to do, I will do. Nothing on earth can prevent me from doing that thing. Go to the Ministry of Woman and Child Development, go to the Ministry of SC/ST and Minorities, nothing will prevent me from doing what I have to do to you. Is it clear? Hello, bloody ba****ds, is it clear? (sic).” — These are just a couple of instances of the IIT Kharagpur professor’s casteist remarks towards the students.


… nothing will prevent me from doing what I have to do to you. Is it clear? Hello, bloody ba****ds, is it clear? (sic).” — These are just a couple of instances of the IIT Kharagpur professor’s casteist remarks towards the students.

Also read: Remembering Rohith Vemula And Casteism In Indian Universities

Soon after around three video clips of Singh misbehaving with the students went viral, several people as well as social organisations came forward and criticised the unjust behavior of the professor. Over 800 IIT alumni wrote a letter to the Director of IIT Kharagpur condemning the professor’s behaviour. They demanded her termination from the institute apart from an apology to the students, which she later handed over.

 According to a Hindustan Times report, Singh said that she “went overboard” because she had tested positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, several anti-caste activists denounced the apology as ‘useless’ and ‘dishonest’.

This outrageous episode is a classic case of intrepid casteism. Some of us might question this argument and simply call it a teacher-student-bashing incident. I would have been extremely happy if that was the case but unfortunately it is not so. When a group of students belonging to the marginalised sections of the society is mistreated, threatened, and abused, we cannot be ignorant and presume otherwise.

Casteism, even though outlawed in India, presents itself in multiple ways in educational institutions. In Justice D Y Chandrachud’s words “Overt discrimination has now become systemic”. The IIT Kharagpur professor’s case of verbal abuse and humiliation is not an isolated event. Every now and then, we witness cases of caste discrimination and tell ourselves ‘educated people are not casteist, this happens only in rural India’. But does it?

Rohith Vemula’s suicide in 2016 was closely related to his Dalit identity. The University of Hyderabad deprived him of his monthly scholarship and hostel accommodation. Apparently, his death came easier to him than his victory against the institutional system. His last words were “My birth is my fatal accident” which reflected his struggle as a marginalised born.

Also read: The Impact Of Social Disadvantage & Implicit Bias On Intellectual Performance

Bal Mukund was another Dalit student from Uttar Pradesh who died by suicide in his AIIMS hostel room in 2010. The faculty and students were always teasing him as the “quota guy”. These two cases were the ones that received media attention owing to the prestige of their institutions. Many other unfortunate cases don’t even get a chance to come into the limelight.

Singh brazenly saying “You can go to ministry of women and child. Go to ministry of SC, ST, and minorities. Nothing can prevent me from doing what I have to do to you” shows the fearlessness that reverberates in her words.

An important question that arises at this point is: where do discriminatory offenders derive their sense of authority from? It is probably due to the existing hegemony of the upper caste communities in almost all the authoritative positions- be it executive or judiciary. As a result of which, it becomes easier to get away with this kind of inhuman behaviour.

Another riveting question we need to ask is whether the IIT Kharagpur professor would have reacted with similar aggression over something as small as asking for a leave if it was a different set of students, for instance, a bunch of savarna students. My intuition tells me otherwise.

Further, it is highly unlikely that the upper caste students or their parents would have tolerated such a scandalous misconduct. Contrary to this, in the video, the students are listening without protest as if this kind of experience is embedded in their genes. The psychological safety that the offenders have while subjecting Dalits, Bahujans, or Adivasis (DBA) to casteism is nauseating.

In her apology statement, accessed by the Hindustan Times, Singh gave mental health reasons for her distasteful behavior. She explains how the isolation and lack of support that she has been experiencing in these difficult times led to her outburst. The cited reasons may likely save the IIT Kharagpur professor from termination or even public criticism. But will it be fair and just?

Clearly, despite laws like the SC/ST Act 1989, marginalisation and discrimination based on caste haven’t left the country. The government provides for setting up SC/ST cells in universities and other institutions to support the DBA students. These cells are there for helping the reserved category persons in different aspects of their learning journey. However, the truth is several institutes do not have a functional SC/ST cell.

These cells also act as a Grievance Redressal help desk for students. Therefore, every institution that gives admission to DBA students should mandatorily have these support cells. In order to take their place in the developing society, it is important that these students feel safe, secure, and respected.

Professor Singh belongs to the Humanities and Social Sciences department at IIT Kharagpur. Given the field of study, aren’t they supposed to be more sensitive and compassionate, especially towards socially underprivileged ones? Ironically, Singh has co-authored a paper titled Learning to Learn from the Other: Subaltern Life Narrative, Everyday Classroom and Critical Pedagogy.

Our teachers, at school or college, have often been our guide and confidant in times of need. Such callousness of teachers deteriorates the already suffocated self-esteem of these students. Consequently, it exposes the already suppressed students to the maltreatment by other members of the institute.

Professor Singh belongs to the Humanities and Social Sciences department at IIT Kharagpur. Given the field of study, aren’t they supposed to be more sensitive and compassionate, especially towards socially underprivileged ones? Ironically, Singh has co-authored a paper titled Learning to Learn from the Other: Subaltern Life Narrative, Everyday Classroom and Critical Pedagogy.

One cannot emphasise enough on how educational institutions should not rely on degrees alone in recruiting the faculty. It becomes crucial that they are tested on their emotional intelligence and social awareness levels too. Apart from providing technical training to the faculty and staff, the institute should socially sensitise them. They need to be more inclusive towards the diverse set of students that are present on the campus.

Providing education opportunities is not enough for creating an equitable system. It is necessary that enabling conditions for marginalised students are established in a step in the direction of our fight against eliminating caste-based discrimination.

Featured image source: LiveWire

Humanity Prof Seema Singh- IIT Kgp calls her students "Bloody Bastards"

“Bloody bastards”: India’s elite IITs have a history of deep-rooted casteism

YOUTUBE/IIT KHARAGPUR

Wrinkles to iron out.


By Ananya Bhattacharya

Tech reporter
April 27, 2021

A video of a professor calling her students “bloody bastards” has sparked outrage around how minorities are treated at India’s elite institutes.

In a video that went viral on social media on April 25, Seema Singh, a professor at the department of humanities and social sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur (IIT-KGP), can be seen and heard foul-mouthing students and berating them after she thought some of them had not stood up for the national anthem.

The video was first posted on the Facebook page IIT-KGP confessions.

The video was shot during Singh’s Prep English Course, which is meant for students from the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and persons with disabilities. 

The one-year preparatory class is aimed at helping students from these communities to secure a seat the following year if they make the cut-off but are unable to get direct admission.

“This video is connected to the larger issue of reservation. If you notice, the very nature of the course is based on the merit-based education system, wherein it is assumed that SC, ST, OBC students are not eligible to study here; that they need a preparatory English course to enter this institution,” said a member of Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), an IIT-Bombay (IIT-B) student body that promotes the anti-caste ideologies of BR Ambedkar, Periyar EV Ramasamy, and Jyotirao Phule.

In the clip, Singh threatens students that she will “give zero marks to everybody, all 128” and calls them “shameless creatures of prep course.” She then says, “when will you learn sense you idiotic people of prep course?”

The professor is also seen challenging the students to complain about her to the ministry of women and child development and ministry of SC/ST/Minority (coined ministry of social justice and empowerment now).

“She is aware of the power and immunity she holds as a faculty member,” the APPSC member said. 

“She knows that the savarna-dominated IIT administration will protect her from any backlash.” (Savarna refers to those belonging to one of four upper castes. SC/ST students come from the lowest caste, Dalits, and tribal backgrounds.)

IIT-KGP is considered among the most prestigious colleges even among the IITs. The college’s list of notable alumnus includes Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and former Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao.

“In the IIT system, we do not support such language. We will take some action,” IIT-KGP registrar Tamal Nath told daily newspaper the Hindu. 

Quartz’s e-mails to Singh, Nath, IIT-KGP director Virendra Kumar Tewari, and head of humanities and social sciences as well as SC/ST student coordinator Narayan Chandra Nayak went unanswered at the time of publishing.

Seema Singh and the law

Since the video started making the rounds on social media, there have not only been calls for Singh’s termination, but many say there should also be legal action against her.

A case can be registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Rahul Singh, general secretary of National Dalit Movement For Justice, told Quartz. “She knows they are SC/ST community members and even then she’s using such language,” he said. 

Once a First Information Report (FIR) is filed, the police investigation has to be concluded within 60 days, and after a charge sheet is filed, a special court must complete the trial within 90 days,” he explained.

Systemic casteism at IITs

Although India outlawed the caste system in 1947, at the country’s elite engineering institutes, casteism—both implicit and explicit—is rampant, according to Thenmozhi Soundararajan, executive director of social justice organisation Equality Labs.

Soundararajan was horrified but also unsurprised by the leaked footage “given that dalit bahujans across the country have been speaking out of horrible casteism that is ingrained in IIT culture,” she told Quartz. “Caste violence goes on in these campuses because of the administration’s refusal to address this as a structural problem.”

The discrimination starts even before candidates bag a seat.

For starters, getting into an IIT is pretty expensive. The fees for the coaching classes in Kota, Rajasthan—the hub of IIT entrance test training institutes—can surpass Rs5 lakh ($6,702). This alienates students from marginalised backgrounds who cannot afford these courses.

Then, the reservation policy at IITs—that holds 15% seats for Scheduled Caste, 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes, and 27% for the Other Backward Classes category—has largely been skirted.

In 2020, as many as 12 departments in IIT-KGP, 15 in IIT-Delhi, and 16 in IIT-B did not admit a single SC student into their PhD programmes.

Between 2012 and 2017, nearly every undergraduate student expelled at IIT Kanpur belonged to the SC/ST /OBC/PwD category, “suggesting a systemic failure in addressing caste discrimination and accessibility on campus,” a post on user-generated content platform Youth Ki Awaaz noted.

Meanwhile, grievance redressal systems for caste-based complaints at the universities are lacking.

Even if action is taken against Singh due to the media glare on the incident, people worry such incidents will recur in the future.

“I know very few universities that would allow such behaviour from professors outside of India but because of caste apartheid, there is an acceptable level of impunity related to dominant caste professors who violate professional norms” said Soundararajan. She suggests system-wide caste equity training with a clear redline that any violations will lead to suspension and termination. “These policies must be enforced and the setting up SC/ST grievance cell on all of these campuses with real power for investigation and enforcement must be done,” she said.

Casteism beyond the classroom

There are issues around caste that extend beyond just the students.

Towards the end of 2020, a panel comprising directors of various IITs recommended that the colleges be exempt from caste-based quotas in faculty hires. The resistance comes even after the 23 IITs are meant to reserve posts only at the entry-level. And if they don’t find suitable candidates, they can de-reserve these posts after a year.

At IIT-Madras, the caste politics went beyond the campus walls when the institute shut the gate connecting it to a majorly Dalit residential area Velachary, citing “heightened security threat” from “undesirable elements” who hang out near the gate and to prevent the sale of “banned substances” and “assault on women” students.

The residents took issue with this caste-based discrimination that shut residents off from employment on campus, kept their kids away from schools they’d enrolled in on IIT land, and took away their right to worship at their temple on campus grounds.

What’s more, is that the conversations around these issues are often hushed. Odile Henry, a professor of sociology at the Université Paris 8, who was researching caste discrimination at IIT-Kanpur from December 2014 to December 2016, alleged that her research was cut short because she participated in a discussion on the suicide of University of Hyderabad research scholar Rohith Vemula. Vemula left behind a heartbreaking suicide note speaking of caste oppression and prejudice.

Now, alumni of various IITs, including some from Kharagpur, have come forward to share personal stories of pervasive prejudice.