92- 3oth Nov 2010 - IIT-K witnessed 8 suicides in 5 years-Hindustan Times

She was bright. She was in her fourth year of Civil Engineering at IIT-Kanpur. But four days after celebrating her birthday on November 14, 21-year-old Madhuri Sale hanged herself to death, leaving the IIT-K fraternity shell-shocked.
“ She did not suffer from any mental disorder,” said a leading psychiatrist of Kanpur, whom students throng looking for answers to anxiety, peer and parent pressure, depression and loneliness to which the ‘technology’ has no answer.
Ask the professors and pat comes the reply. “It’s the technology that’s killing. Whole night they are on the computers—researching! Their performance dips, and parental- peer pressure eventually consumes take lives.”
What a pity! Slogging the whole of three years – from 10th to 12th, only to commit suicide. And why? Once they have entered IIT, their future is secured. A job is waiting for them before they step out of the campus. And still preferring death to life. As it has been reported, this was not an isolated incident: Eight students in five years have kissed death at IIT-K alone.
The IIT administration now plans to remove the ceiling fans as in five of the eight cases, the students had hanged themselves to death. But can it prevent suicides? Perhaps not as those who are determined to end their lives would find other ways of doing it—and various websites give you loads of information on ways to commit painless suicide.
May be the decision to stop allotting single rooms in hostels may help!
I am again reminded of sessions that were held in IIT’s across the state by Prof Debasish Chatterjee, now director of IIM, Kozhikodi. In one such session in Mumbai, he had asked students, what is life for besides livelihood? The brainos had scratched their heads to find an answer. As they fumbled with words, he gave a simple two-word reply, ‘Living fully.’ Students were flummoxed when he asked, “Should we go abroad or serve the nation?” Debasish then simply replied, “It’s better to have brain drain than having brain in the drain.”
Debasish had later told me that the ‘Break Free’ sessions were meant to encourage students to discover ‘self’ and ‘de-stress’ from mental pressures.
After all one has to lead self before leading others, the sole ambition of the IITians. And here they are leading themselves to suicide. Perhaps Debasish was right when he said, leaders can’t be made or born, they are discovered, as leadership cannot be a part of a conventional curriculum. It is determined by situations and not from learning. But can Break Free be a one-time lesson? Perhaps not! It has to be a continuous journey if we have to check students from short-circuiting their lives.

91 - 30th Nov 2010 - IT-K student kills self; 4th suicide in 2 yrs- IIT Delhi Alumni Association

IIT-Kanpur girl commits suicide
PTI, Nov 17, 2010, 08.50pm IST
KANPUR: A final year BTech student of IIT- Kanpur today committed suicide by hanging herself in her hostel room here.
Madhuri Sale, in her early twenties, who belonged to Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from the ceiling fan with the help of her 'dupatta' (scarf), IIT-K Registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said.
A three-member committee has been set up by the IIT administration to probe the death of the civil engineering student, he said, adding it was not immediately known why she took the extreme step Kashalkar said the girl had a very good academic record and there was nothing to suggest that she was suffering from depression. No suicide note has been found from her room which was searched for a possible clue, police said. The incident came to light when her friends suspected something wrong as she did not respond to repeated knockings. When they peeped inside, they found her hanging. Police broke open the door of the hostel room and took out her body. The news triggered panic on the campus and the girl's colleagues refused to say anything about the incident, which came at a time when examinations are on. IIT authorities have informed the parents of the girl and sent the body for post-mortem examination.

IIT-K student kills self; 4th suicide in 2 yrs
TNN, Nov 18, 2010, 01.21am IST
KANPUR: Madhuri Sale, 22, a fourth-year civil engineering student of IIT-K from Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her hostel room on the campus on Wednesday. This is the fourth suicide in IIT-K in the last two years.
The incident came to light in the evening when other hostel residents did not get any response despite knocking at the door of Madhuri's room several times. Students then informed the IIT-K security officials who passed on the information to the institute's director Sanjay Govind Dhande.
As the door was bolted from inside, security personnel had to break into the room. Madhuri used a rope to hang herself, police said. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination. "It seems to be a case of suicide but it is difficult to say exactly what led to it since no suicide note was recovered from the spot," said Lakshmi Niwas Mishra, Circle Officer, Kalyanpur. "Madhuri had shown no sign of being depressed as per her batch mates. She was a meritorious student," said the IIT-K director. A panel comprising of Prof Omkar Dikshit, Prof AK Ghosh and Prof Mukesh Sharma has been formed to probe into the matter and submit report within five days. Madhuri belonged to AP's Nalgonda district.


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90 - 30th Nov 2010 - IIT to remove ceiling fans to curb suicides- Indian Express

Kautilya Singh
Posted: Tue Nov 30 2010, 03:59 hrs
Kanpur:

The four-member team at IIT-Kanpur, probing the suicide of Civil Engineering student Madhuri Sale, has come with a plan to help prevent suicides in hostels: replace ceiling fans with pedestal fans.

In the last five years, eight IITians have committed suicide—five of them hanged themselves in their hostel rooms. Another proposal is to end allotment of single rooms to students—now, a student gets a single room from the second year.

Sale, 21, a resident of Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh and a fourth-year student at IIT-K, hanged herself from the ceiling fan with a rope on November 17.

A four-member committee comprising Prof Omkar Dixit, Prof Mukesh Sharma, Prof A K Ghosh and member of the student gymkhana, C Rahul, was formed to probe the reasons.

A source told The Indian Express: “We have a strong reason to recommend the replacement of ceiling fans with the pedestal fans in the institute hostels. By replacing the ceiling fan with pedestal fans, we can at least remove one option for students who are depressed due to some reasons or the other.”

He claimed that the committee was against the concept of allotting a single room to one student. “With regular interaction with room partners, the students get an opportunity to express their emotions. Even if students are given a room, the wall between two such rooms should be demolished, so that the students get their desired space as well as the company of a fellow student,” he added.

He said that efforts have been made to reduce the Internet “addiction” of students. “The Internet speed has been reduced considerably between midnight and 8 am so that students do not download stuff during this time,” he added.

The panel, however, is yet to find why Sale committed suicide. “Sale was a good student, and had a Cumulative Performance Index (CPI) of 5.8 which is pretty good, and she had done well in most of her exams. She was a brave girl who came from financially poor background and had done considerably well in the past three years,” he said. He asserted that poor academic performance was not the reason behind her suicide.

The faculty member said her suicide was a shock for the faculty as well as the students.

89 - 23rd Nov 2010 -IIT Kanpur mulls steps to prevent student suicides

November 23, 2010
Lucknow: Alarmed by a spate of on-campus suicides, the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur is toying with the idea of restricting round-the-clock internet access, which it says is one of the main causes of these suicides.

"Students spending the whole night surfing the internet often fail to do well because they either miss classes or are too mentally fatigued to understand what is going on in class. Their failure to keep pace with their studies led to the suicides," a senior faculty member told the sources on Monday.

However, the decision to shut down internet services after midnight in the Wi-Fi enabled campus can only be taken after being cleared by the IIT senate, institute registrar S.S. Kashalkar said.

The country's premier engineering school has witnessed as many as eight suicides over the past five years. IANS

88 - 22nd Nov 2010 - Condolence meet at IIT-Kanpur- TOI

TNN Nov 22, 2010, 10.20pm IST
KANPUR: The staff, faculty and the students of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, paid condolence to Madhuri Sale, the final year BTech student, here on Monday evening.

A two-minute silence was maintained on the occasion to pay homage to the departed soul. The fellow colleagues and the close friends of Madhuri gathered at the basketball court of the girl's hostel-1 and paid her homage with teary eyes. They were sad that their friend is no more now. Director, IIT-Kanpur, SG Dhande also paid tributes to Sale during the condolence meet.

Madhuri Sale, a student of IIT-Kanpur, had committed suicide on November 17 in her hostel room. Though the reason why she killed herself is yet to be known, academic pressure is not being ruled out.

87 - 21st Nov2010 - IIT-K to restrict use of Net by students - TOI

TNN Nov 21, 2010, 10.15pm IST
KANPUR: Perturbed over back-to-back cases of students committing suicide at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K), the institute authorities may put restriction on the round-the-clock internet facility available to the students on the campus during late night hours.

At present the students have freedom to access internet all through the day.

"This 24-hour freedom to the students of using the internet facility seems to be affecting their studies and leaving them fatigued. With incomplete sleep and lack of concentration in the classroom, the students fall in depression," said one of the faculty members of IIT-K, who was a part of a fact-finding team in one such suicide instance.

"Hostelers keep surfing the internet throughout the night. When they go for the classes, they are tired due to lack of sleep. Thus, they are not able to concentrate on academics. This leads to stress," said SS Kashalkar, registrar, IIT-Kanpur.

Therefore, soon the internet service provided to the students at their hostel rooms may be suspended from 12 in the midnight till 8 in the morning, he said further.

Kashalkar further informed that a proposal to this affect will be sent by the counselling cell to the faculty members and the student senate for approval.

Meanwhile, when TOI spoke to a few IIT-K students about the snapping of the internet facility, they expressed their disagreement over the proposal.

"Do you think imposing ban on use of internet during the midnight hours will stop students from committing suicide," questioned an MTech student while talking to TOI.

He further added, "Internet usage varies from student to student. For some it might be a source of entertainment only but for others it is of a great help in studies. Thousands of students on the campus make use of internet and banning it at the time of our studies is not acceptable."

Interestingly, there were several other students who were not in favour of placing ban on the use of internet.

"In today's age, our authorities are thinking of restricting the internet during the time when most of the students here study. It is surprising. This is not the right solution to prevent suicides from taking place here in the institute. The students in stress and depression need counselling service and help from psychiatrists and restricting internet will not give any good results," said another IIT-Kanpur student on the condition of not being named.

Though on the other hand, the IIT-K professors were on an opinion of restricting the use of internet for the students.

"If internet service is restricted during midnight, it will help students in focussing towards their academics during the class hours," said a senior IIT-K professor while talking to TOI

86 - 19th Nov 2010 -After suicides, IIT-K to ease academic rules - Indian Express

19th Nov 2010

Anubhuti Vishnoi

Rattled by yet another suicide on campus, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur is set to amend its academic progression rules and ‘rationalise’ the cut-off cumulative performance index from 5 points to 4 points to ease pressure of students.

While the institute claims it is not precisely academic pressure that can be blamed for the recent spate of suicides and several other factors are responsible, they also admit their academic progression rules are one of the most stringent across IITs.

The IIT has already put before its Senate a proposal to amend the existing academic progression rules. It has suggested major changes in the way warning, probation and termination clauses are handed down to students and, most importantly, bringing down the cut-off for getting an IIT degree to the pass percentage of CPI value 4.

The CPI is a measure of a student’s performance in all courses. At IIT Kanpur, if a student passes all the courses, he gets a D, which means a minimum CPI score of 4.0.

But according to current rules at IIT-K, a student needs to get a CPI of 5.0 to graduate. All students who attain a CPI less than 5.0 — and that is a substantial number — are unable to graduate and consequently face academic stress, get warnings, probations and are even terminated.

Now, it has been proposed that the CPI value of 4 itself be made the reference point for a more humane and less stress-free performance appraisal of students. However, provisions for warnings, probations and terminations with appeal have been retained.

85 - 19th Nov 2010- IIT-Kanpur: Eight cases of suicide in 5 yrs MSN

Crime file: Eight students, including two women, have committed suicide at IIT-Kanpur in the past five years. In a shocking incident, a Briton brutally killed a baby girl who apparently 'interrupted' his video game. Lucknow police arrest a doctor for selling corpses. Read on.

Fourth year student hangs self, institute forms probe team

Kanpur: A fourth-year B Tech (civil engineering) student of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) reportedly committed suicide in her hostel room on Wednesday afternoon. Madhuri Sale, 21, is said to have hanged herself with a rope from the ceiling fan.

Eight students, including two women, have committed suicide in the institute in the past five years.

Though it is not clear why Sale committed suicide, IIT-K authorities suspect she was under pressure because of her poor performance in exams, coupled with the fact the campus placement process is just a forthnight away.

No suicide note has been found in the hostel room of Sale, a resident of Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh.

The institute has constituted a four-member committee headed by Professor Omkar Dixit to probe the incident. The committee is expected to hand over the report in the next five days.

The semester exams began on November 15 and the last paper is scheduled for November 22. There was no examination on November 17 as the institute was closed for Eid. On Wednesday morning, the cleaning staff knocked her door around 11:30 am but got no response. Believing that she was busy, they went back. When the staff returned at 2:30 pm. the door was still locked and there was no response.

They got suspicious and informed IIT-K director Sanjay Govind Dhande. Security guards broke open the door to find Sale hanging from the ceiling fan.

Three days before her suicide, on November 14, Sale had celebrated her birthday in the institute with her hostel friends. She was an average student, and had a cumulative performance index (CPI) of 5.6 out of 10. The performance of each IIT-K student is adjudged on the basis of the CPI.

Institute registrar Sanjeev S Kashalkhar said: "On November 16 evening, Sale had spoken to her mother and said she might have to stay here for one more semester." Kashalkar said prima facie it appeared that Sale had performed poorly in the first two exams of her seventh semester. He did not deny Sale might have been under the pressure due to the placement process.

DIG Kanpur Ashok Mutha Jain said: "Prima facie it appears to be suicide, but the postmortem will confirm the cause of death."

Lives Lost

Nov 17, 2010: Madhuri Sale, B.Tech
Jan 3, 2009: Gangapatnam Suman, M.Tech
May 30, 2008: Toya Chatterjee, B.Tech
April 18, 2008: Prashant Kumar Kureel, B.Tech
April 25, 2007: J Bharadwaj, B.Tech
May 3, 2006: Shailesh Kumar Sharma, B.Tech
Nov 30, 2005: Swapnil Chandrakant Bhaskar, B.Tech
Nov 6, 2005: Abhilash, PhD 

84 - 18th Nov 2010 - Madhuri's death: 8th suicide at IIT Kanpur in 5 years - NDTV

Kanpur:  The suicide of a final year BTech student at IIT-Kanpur is the eighth such incident at the prestigious institute in the past five years.

Apart from 22-year-old Madhuri Sale, who was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her hostel room yesterday, seven other students of the college have taken their lives since 2005.

On January 2009, a second year MTech student G Suman (24) hanged himself, while in April 2008, first year BTech student Prashant Kumar took his life, followed by Toya Chatterjee, who was in fourth year of the same course, the next month.

J Bhardwaj killed himself in April 2007, Abhilash Pillai took his life in November 2006, Shailesh Sharma in April 2006 and Swapnil Bhaskar in November 2005.

Everytime a student committed suicide, an inquiry committee was set up by the institute to ascertain the cause of the extreme step, but the findings were never made public.

Sanjeev Kashalkar, Registrar of IIT-Kanpur, told PTI that the findings of these committees were discussed by the institute's board of directors which sent copies of the reports to the advisory committee as well as the HRD Ministry.

However, the contents of these reports are not disclosed to the media, he said, without giving reasons.

Apart from three teachers of the college, a member of the students' union has also been included in each committee. However, one such student told PTI on condition of anonymity that student members of the inquiry committees are neither called for any meeting nor are they informed about the findings.

Such committees are just an eyewash, he said, adding that students do not question college authorities over the issue as they fear that action could be taken against them.

Kashalkar said the previous inquiry reports state that the students committed suicide as most of them were going through stress and anxiety as a result of parental pressure and career-related worries.

On the suicide committed at the institute's premises yesterday, he said Madhuri, who hailed from Andhra Pradesh, was a good student and it is difficult to determine why she took the extreme step.

However, he said that stress due to the ongoing examinations could be a reason, though nothing can be said till the committee constituted yesterday arrives at a
conclusion.

On being asked what steps the college has taken to reduce stress among students to prevent such incidents, the Registrar said apart from yoga and counselling centres, the institute has two trained psychologists who can be approached by students to share their problems.


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83 - 18th Nov 2010 - Kanpur: IIT final year student commits suicide - India Today

18th Nov 2010

A final year BTech student of IIT Kanpur allegedly committed suicide in her hostel room on Tuesday. It was the eighth suspected case of suicide on the IIT-K campus in the last five years.

The body of Madhuri Saale, in her early twenties, was found hanging in the room. She belonged to Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh and was a student of civil engineering. The reason behind the suicide could not be known.

The director of the institute, S.D. Dhande, said, "A fourth year civil engineering student of our institute has been found dead. Initial investigations suggest that she has committed suicide."

According to IIT-K authorities, Saale did not leave any suicide note. Even her academic record was reported good ruling out the possibility of not performing well in academics as the reason.

However, the IIT-K authorities have been under scrutiny now as they opened the door of her room without informing the police. Even the media was not allowed near the room.

A three-member committee has been set up by the IIT administration to probe the death of the girl.

82 - 18th Nov 2010 - IIT Kanpur girl student commits suicide - Thai Indian

18 November 2010 2:38:31 AM by IANS

Kanpur, Nov 17 (IANS) A girl student of the premiere Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), Wednesday committed suicide in her hostel room on the campus, police said.

“Madhuri Salve, aged around 22 years, a civil engineering student, was this (Wednesday) evening found hanging from the fan of her hostel room. Prima-facie, it clearly appears to be a case of suicide,” Deputy Superintendent of Police Lakshmi Narayan Mishra told reporters in Kanpur, 80 km from Lucknow.

“Investigations are on to establish what prompted the girl to take the extreme step,” he added.

IIT-K officials, who barred the entry of reporters in the institute following the incident, were not available for comments.



More at : IIT Kanpur girl student commits suicide http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/iit-kanpur-girl-student-commits-suicide_100461314.html#ixzz1PLnpEYUc

2 Responses

 vijay singh Says:
November 17th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
again loss of one valuable life.
no doubt this happened due to pressure of exam and the unbearable system of IIT Kanpur.its very hard to survive in iit campus.very few people are happy here.

 Anonymous Says:
November 17th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
I dont agree with you. Life is competitive here and you have to be strong to face it.



More at : IIT Kanpur girl student commits suicide http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/iit-kanpur-girl-student-commits-suicide_100461314.html#ixzz1PLnx4UVi

81 - 18th Nov 2010 - IT Kanpur student commits suicide - You Tube

80 - 18th Nov 2010 - IT-Kanpur girl commits suicide - Zee News

hursday, November 18, 2010, 00:23

Kanpur: A final year BTech student of IIT- Kanpur on Wednesday committed suicide by hanging herself in her hostel room here.

Madhuri Sale, in her early twenties, who belonged to Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from the ceiling fan with the help of her 'dupatta' (scarf), IIT-K Registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said.  

A three-member committee has been set up by the IIT administration to probe the death of the civil engineering student, he said, adding it was not immediately known why she took the extreme step

. Kashalkar said the girl had a very good academic record and there was nothing to suggest that she was suffering from depression.

No suicide note has been found from her room which was searched for a possible clue, police said.

The incident came to light when her friends suspected something wrong as she did not respond to repeated knockings.

When they peeped inside, they found her hanging.

Police broke open the door of the hostel room and took out her body. The news triggered panic on the campus and the girl's colleagues refused to say anything about the incident, which came at a time when examinations are on.= IIT authorities have informed the parents of the girl and sent the body for post-mortem examination.

PTI

79 - 18th Nov 2010 - IIT-Kanpur girl commits suicide - NDTV News

Kanpur:  A final year BTech student of IIT-Kanpur committed suicide on Tuesday by hanging herself in her hostel room.

Madhuri Sale, in her early twenties, who belonged to Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from the ceiling fan with the help of her 'dupatta' (scarf), IIT-K Registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said.

A three-member committee has been set up by the IIT administration to probe the death of the civil engineering student, he said, adding it was not immediately known why she took the extreme step.

Kashalkar said the girl had a very good academic record and there was nothing to suggest that she was suffering from depression.

No suicide note has been found from her room which was searched for a possible clue, police said.

The incident came to light when her friends suspected something wrong as she did not respond to repeated knockings. When they peeped inside, they found her hanging.

Police broke open the door of the hostel room and took out her body. The news triggered panic on the campus and the girl's colleagues refused to say anything about the incident, which came at a time when examinations are on.

IIT authorities have informed the parents of the girl and sent the body for post-mortem examination.

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78 - 17th Nov 2010 - IIT-Kanpur girl Madhuri Salve commits suicide - Deccan herald

Kanpur, Nov 17, (PTI):

A final year BTech student of IIT- Kanpur today committed suicide by hanging herself in her hostel room here.

Madhuri Sale, in her early twenties, who belonged to Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from the ceiling fan with the help of her 'dupatta' (scarf), IIT-K Registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said.

A three-member committee has been set up by the IIT administration to probe the death of the civil engineering student, he said, adding it was not immediately known why she took the extreme step.

Kashalkar said the girl had a very good academic record and there was nothing to suggest that she was suffering from depression. No suicide note has been found from her room which was searched for a possible clue, police said.

The incident came to light when her friends suspected something wrong as she did not respond to repeated knockings. When they peeped inside, they found her hanging. Police broke open the door of the hostel room and took out her body. The news triggered panic on the campus and the girl's colleagues refused to say anything about the incident, which came at a time when examinations are on.

IIT authorities have informed the parents of the girl and sent the body for post-mortem examination.

77 - 17th Nov 2010- IT Kanpur girl student commits suicide - SIFY

Kanpur, Nov 17 (IANS) A girl student of the premiere Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), Wednesday committed suicide in her hostel room on the campus, police said.

'Madhuri Salve, aged around 22 years, a civil engineering student, was this (Wednesday) evening found hanging from the fan of her hostel room. Prima-facie, it clearly appears to be a case of suicide,' Deputy Superintendent of Police Lakshmi Narayan Mishra told reporters in Kanpur, 80 km from Lucknow.

'Investigations are on to establish what prompted the girl to take the extreme step,' he added.

IIT-K officials, who barred the entry of reporters in the institute following the incident, were not available for comments.

76 - 17th Nov 2010 - IIT-Kanpur girl commits suicide - TOI

PTI Nov 17, 2010, 08.50pm IST
 

KANPUR: A final year BTech student of IIT- Kanpur today committed suicide by hanging herself in her hostel room here.

Madhuri Sale, in her early twenties, who belonged to Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, was found hanging from the ceiling fan with the help of her 'dupatta' (scarf), IIT-K Registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said.

A three-member committee has been set up by the IIT administration to probe the death of the civil engineering student, he said, adding it was not immediately known why she took the extreme step.

Kashalkar said the girl had a very good academic record and there was nothing to suggest that she was suffering from depression.

No suicide note has been found from her room which was searched for a possible clue, police said.

The incident came to light when her friends suspected something wrong as she did not respond to repeated knockings. When they peeped inside, they found her hanging.

Police broke open the door of the hostel room and took out her body. The news triggered panic on the campus and the girl's colleagues refused to say anything about the incident, which came at a time when examinations are on.

IIT authorities have informed the parents of the girl and sent the body for post-mortem examination.

75 - 20th August 2010 - IIT Madras Takes its Second Toll- Source - Live on Campus

By : Samsher
JSS Academy of Technical Education,Chennai

IIT Madras witnesses second in the row suicide of 26-year-old, R Sandeep, from Hyderabad, This is the second in the list of a p.g student in  IIT Madras hostel in the last two years. In October 2008, a first-year MTech mechanical engineering student, Sankar Perumal, had committed suicide at Krishna Hostel.

With suicide note absent, inquiries point  a combination of academic and financial reasons as the possible explanation. He was unable to complete the two-year course in 2009.

With parents annual income of only Rs 35,000 his elder brother financially supported him. Although he did not show signs of depression, but more lies in his visit to his home which was some weeks ago.

74 - 7th July 2010 - IIT Kanpur student dies- Deccan herald

Kanpur, July 7, (PTI):

A 22-year-old IIT student who was undergoing treatment for mental illness on Wednesday died in a hospital here even as his batchmates suspect foul play.

Rakesh Kumar Thakur, who hailed from Bihar's Darbhanga district, died this morning at a private clinic in the city where he was admitted four days ago, IIT Kanpur Director Sanjay Govind Dhande said. Thakur, who was an M. Tech student of mechanical engineering, had been undergoing treatment for some mental problem for past some time, he said, adding he took admission in the institute in 2009 and was staying in hostel.

His condition started to deteriorate four days back following which he was admitted in the clinic. His parents were also sent for. IIT Registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said his parents were present at the time of his demise. They later left with the body for Darbhanga. To a query, he ruled out the suicide angle.

Meanwhile, some students of the institutes have suspected foul play in the matter. "The institute did not disclose to anyone about Thakur's illness. They admitted him in the hospital in a secret manner and when he died his body was secretly sent home early morning," a student said.

73 - 2nd July 2010 - Suicides in IIT Kanpur, Article by Kilkil Sachan

Suicides and attempts for suicide by the students of IIT Kanpur (An autonomous prestigious Institute where recruiters come from heaven) IIT Kanpur,

It was the night of this April 19’2010, Snehal Ajit Indurkar, student of IIT Kanpur cut a slit into her left hand nerve to end her life just because of the fear of termination, if you are stunned please don’t be now because this is like the sun rises every morning and sets in the evening, yes in IIT Kanpur this is a pattern here, eight students in four years ended their lives, and dozens have tried but any how they are saved, and many hundreds of students are under different type of psychological treatment here in IIT Kanpur, if you are judgmental here please don’t be now, story is a bit big. And you will be startled to know that immediately any suicide attempt happens IIT Kanpur administration found busy in preventing the news from spreading, even I have heard from a PhD student that before a year a girl attempted suicide and dean of student affairs Partha Chokraborty rang to health centre and warned the doctor about spreading the news and gave threat of job. Often in the morning I go for a walk in the lane where my director sir lives, a big cup of tea in left hand and the news paper in other hand, sitting with his wife with cheerful short conversations after every few minutes, his highness, he is a director here for the third time, you know I am a fan of him, wouldn’t you ask why, because he has made very good relations with upper cone of political hierarchy. Neither the President, Prime minister, MHRD, Home Ministry, Human Rights nor State Government tried to intervene this killing business in IIT Kanpur, he is a man of powers in this democratic country.

If you think to leave apart the suicides and attempts for suicide because IIT Kanpur has been a prestigious institute, retrieve the memories of expulsion of 50 students that was illegal as well as in humanitarian and malicious. I am saying it illegal in the sense that the senate that takes the decision was running short in number means quorum was incomplete and it is happening for last few years, I am saying it in-humanitarian as the students having genuine excuses (like heart surgery of parents etc) were expelled and students with no proper excuses were reinstated back. In last of the December 2009 IITK authorities issued termination letters to 140 students of various departments, don’t think this is a big number who couldn’t perform up-to mark but apart from this many hundred students are put in the category of under-performance called probation, this is real picture of academically inadequately running institute, if students in a huge numbers are being served as terminations this shows the failure of administration and management. Government is always found concerned about quality of education in our country but one thing that bothers me and many of us is why this government just ignoring the case of IIT Kanpur for the past few years while the situation is terribly cynical here and its world ranking is going down rapidly, simultaneously talking of reforms in education system every time.

Above indicated are not the only problems, institute is going through a lot of other atrocious implications and it’s a time to find out an immediate remedy for the disease before it jump to the next and irreparable level.

Article by:
Kilkil sachan
Graduate student
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
(IIT Kanpur)
Posted by Kilkil Sachan at 1:37 AM 0 comments Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Google Buzz

72 - 23rd April 2010 - Three students committed suicide in IIT-K in 3 years: Govt - ZEE News

Friday, April 23, 2010, 22:15

New Delhi: Three students of IIT Kanpur have committed suicide during the last three years, the government told the Rajya Sabha today.

Replying to a question, Minister of State for HRD,  D.Purandeswari, however, did not elaborate on the reasons behind students taking the extreme step.

The reasons for some of the cases for taking such extreme step have reportedly been stated in notes left behind by them which are in possession of the police department," she said.

To a question by Anusuiya Uikey, Purandeswari said the academic programme of a few students of the institute have been terminated as they failed to clear the requirements.

Such students may choose to appeal against the decision, she said.

The government has received a few complaints of irregularity and discrimination in IIT-Kanpur. But such complaints have not been substantiated, she said.

-PTI

COMMENTS
Kilkil Sachan - IIT Kanpur
Government is provided with false information or providing false information as eight students of IIT Kanpur have committed suicide in four years under the current administration. As far as the case of expulsion is concerned it is advised by HRD ministry and IITK administration to appeal against decision but the fact is that these terminations are done after appeals, before appeals they had expelled 140 students, there is no equitable criteria for considering appeals in IIT Kanpur.

anuj - kanpur
Here are some of the suicides cases that we would like to bring to your notice. •    November 29, 2004: Swapnil Chandrakant Dhasraskar, second year mechanical at IIT Kanpur jumps to death from a IIT Kanpur building. •    May 3,2006: Shailesh Kumar 23 years old student of chemical engineering department(dual degree) iit kanpur hangs himself to death. •    October 9, 2006: Anjan Kumar, second year, Chemical, IIT Kanpur. •    November 6, 2006: Abhilash JJ, a PhD scholar from Kerala, pursuing doctoral studies at IIT Kanpur. commits suicide by consuming poison. •    April 25, 2007: J Bharadwaj iit kanpur student jumps before a moving train. •    April 19, 2008: Prashant Kumar, first year student of electrical engineering, IIT Kanpur hangs himself to death in his hostel room. •    May 31 2008 Toya Chatterjee The 22-year-old bio-engineering final year student from Tollygunge commit suicide hanging herself in hostel room. •    January 3, 2009: G. Suman, second year M.Tech electrical engineering student, IIT Kanpur commit suicide hanging himself in hostel room.

71 - 15th March 2010 - IIT-M student dies - The Hindu

Monday, Mar 15, 2010

City Bureau
CHENNAI: A student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras died on Sunday, despite efforts by his friends to get medical intervention.

G. Ragavendra (20), studying third year B.Tech. chemical engineering and belonging to Hyderabad, complained of chest pain hours after his birthday party on Saturday evening at Godhavari Hostel, according to police.

His friends rushed him to the health post on the premises.

As his pain worsened, doctors advised the students to shift him to a better equipped healthcare facility. The institute's ambulance was requested.

But, Ragavendra died before the vehicle arrived, the police said.

The Velachery police arranged for Ragavendra's body to be moved to Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH) for autopsy.

However, staff at the hospital could not conduct the post-mortem as there was no forensic science expert.

The students were asked to take the body to the Government Kilpauk Hospital (KMC).

The autopsy was done at the KMC on Sunday evening and the body sent to Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, students of IIT-Madras have made a representation to the faculty that a delay of 20 minutes in the arrival of the ambulance stationed inside the institute had resulted in the death of the student, the police said.

IIT-Madras Dean (Students) M. Govardhan said, “There was a small delay… much less than 20 minutes in the arrival of the ambulance. Incidents of such nature are rare at IIT-Madras, so the driver of the vehicle was not prepared.”

The State's Director of Medical Education, S. Vinayagam, said the body had to be shifted from the GRH to the KMC as in a teaching medical institution autopsies should be performed only under the supervision of a forensic science expert. Arrangements were being made to rectify the shortfall of forensic science experts in GRH, he added.

(With inputs from

R. Sujatha, Petlee Peter and Ajai Sreevatsan)

 

70 - 14th Jan 2010 – A Letter – Caste Virus in IIT Kanpur

14jan10
 

To,
The Ministry,
Human Resource and Development,
Government of India,
New Delhi.

Subject: Caste based discrimination with SC/ST students in IIT Kanpur

Respected Sir/ Madam,

Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) are premier institutions of our country that were built by the Union Government to develop best engineering and technological brains for our country. For this to happen, IITs are given large autonomy so that they could function quite independently keeping with the best interest for our country.

However, we are greatly concerned as students of IIT Kanpur, that this particular IIT is flouting all the rules and regulations and practicing discriminatory behaviour in the name of institutional autonomy. Rather than becoming an Institute that promotes equal opportunity to all Indian citizens, as envisaged by Indian constitution, IIT Kanpur is creating hurdles for students from the marginalized sections of the society. For example, whether there is any Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe faculty member in IIT Kanpur is unknown to us. Since IIT Kanpur is an autonomous body, administrators have no fear of any enquiry. Thus all the rules and regulations are overlooked for their personal interest and dictatorship. Even the decisions of the Senate, Board of Governors, Finance Committee, Building and Works Committee, are not made public.

(http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/iitk/newhtml/rightinformationact.htm). 

In last few years the ranking of this elite institute has dropped down to 146 rank (Dainik jagran, Kanpur, 5th Jan., 2010). Who should be terminated? The Administrators/ Professors or the Students? Apart from this glaring example, we, the Dalit students of IIT Kanpur, want to mentions some facts to draw your kind attention.

1. Every year the reserve category students (SC/ST) qualify the JEE/JAM/GATE competition exam and enter this elite institute. We come here with lots of expectations and hope, but as we step here, our hopes get shattered as we face caste based discrimination in terms of academics and other activities. We are being discouraged to continue our studies and are regularly failed intentionally in various subjects to ruin our careers in the name of poor academics or CPI. 

Consequently they put us in AP, AP*, DP, DPC, Warning and terminations and many leave the degree/program when they cannot sustain in these conditions. These students are not only from the first year but even the final years too.

2. When we are facing some doubts or trouble in our academics and try to approach the concerned instructor, they just don’t pay heed to our problems. They try to neglect us by saying that “search it on google or any other website”. Though
instructors encourage us to ask questions but when we try to ask our doubts they make fun of us and they reply something like “don’t ask me such simple and silly questions”.

3. I.I.T. Kanpur authority have informed media (as per ‘HINDUSTAN’ dated 6th of January 2010 page no.3 column first) that 111 students were terminated but after mercy appeal 26 students have not been reinstated because of disciplinary and academic grounds. Sir we would like to inform you that we are not involved in any undisciplined activities and also we are not under any “disciplinary probation”. However Hindustan newspaper reports (8th January, 2010, Kanpur) that there are 38 students who have been terminated and this number may increase. The cause of terminations are poor CPI and health problem. This is in contradiction to what the authorities have informed earlier (‘HINDUSTAN’ dated 6th January,2010).

4. The suicide cases in IITK have increased in last few years. We are informed about the suicides and fact finding committees through e-mails that they will enquire for the cause of such incidents. The committee consists of the Institute professors itself. The report of the fact finding committee is never made open even to the IIT community. Here are some of the suicide cases that we would like to bring to your notice.

A) On Saturday, Jan 3 ,2009 G Suman, a post-graduate IIT student allegedly committed suicide in Kanpur by hanging himself in hostel room. (SC student).
B) Prashant Kureel, 19 April, 2008 a first year student of electrical engineering commit suicide in his hostel room ,he was not a weaker student as he is one of the top student in IIT-JEE exam. (SC student).
C) Ms. Toya , May 2008.
D) Mr. Durgesh Vikram who was under psychological treatment, attempted suicide at Kanpur Central Railway track.
E) A female student attempt suicide by hanging herself in her room. His life was saved when someone who saw her from window.
F) A student committed suicide by drinking mortein. He was referred from Health Centre to Regency hospital and his life was saved.

Similarly there has been numerous suicide attempts whose cases can be enquired through students.

5. The different levels of meetings, especially Senate, where the termination cases are discussed we do not know whether there are SC/ST representatives in both student and faculty members. When we approach to the concerned member of the Senate they just ask caste and category and even after full assurance to support most of them decline to
keep their promises later or in Senate meeting. a.) The counseling service (CS) does not seem to be supportive. Even though IIT Kanpur spends lots of money on it they never ask the students about their difficulties throughout the semester . But when we get terminated they just call the students in lecture room and sympathize us that they are with us. Whenever we consult them, they always try to neglect us in lieu of poor academics and behave as if we have got depression feelings. The previous CS head Prof. Gautom Deo and current CS head Prof. A.K.Gosh and Dean of Student’s Affairs –Prof. Partha Chakraborty, are chain smokers. Thus, when we tell our problems, they keep on smoking cigarettes and at last they scold us for poor performance. They don’t arrange for extra classes, training, and skills , as they are
prejudiced that we SC/ST are poor in studies and have come through quota.

6. Here In IIT-Kanpur we have a grade system viz.A=10 ,B=8 ,C=6, D=4 and F=2 . But in other IIT’s the grading system is A=10, A-=9, B=8, B-=7, C=6, C-=5, D=4, and F=2 .

e.g. If someone gets 60 marks in a particular course he is getting C grade but if he get 59 then according to IIT-Kanpur grading he is awarded D grade. So there is big gap between C=6 and D=4.But according to other IIT’s it is not so much difference between C and D.

7.Our exam answer sheets have our name and roll numbers on them. Thus, It is easy to know a person’s category from his/her answer sheet and hence they can grade us with lower marks than what we deserve. As a result due to biased grading system most of our students either drop out or are compelled to complete the course in more than the allotted ime period. The administration terminates students twice in a year (two semesters). The number of such terminated students increase every semester .Consequently very few SC and ST students complete the course within the stipulated time. (After termination they don’t reinstate easily and if reinstated the student degree gets extended thus PSU sector don’t give jobs to the extended degree holder students).

8. There are few SC and ST students who managed to survive in this biased system and are in the final year of their courses and about to complete their degrees but now they have been terminated. Now they have nothing in their hand and have even lost their valuable time.

9. When the first appeal from terminated students for reinstatement is turn-down by the concerned authorities, the reasons for such step of turning down the appeal are never clearly given out. Even before his/her appeal, the terminated student is always made to feel low and insecure by telling that he/she has almost no chance to study in IIT.

The Institute administration says that one can re-appeal any number of times. With this hope, we wait for 6 months for the next senate meeting but again we come to know that our re-appeal has been turned down without any concrete easons. As a result our valuable time and hope is lost.

[For e.g. A 2003 batch SC student has been re-appealing for the last 18months but every time his appeal is turned down by the Senate under the Chairmanship of the Director without any concrete reason ].The concerned authorities only ask us to re-appeal everytime our appeal is turned down.

10. SC/ST cell: Due to all these above problems and harassment, we look for the SC/ST cell in IIT Kanpur but we find no information about it either on the IIT-Kanpur website or anywhere else within the campus so that we can express our grievances .

11. The mandate of Article 46 of the Constitution of India says: “It is not in dispute that SC and ST are a separate class by themselves, and the creamy layer principle is not applicable to them. Article 46 of the Constitution enjoins upon the state to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections and protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. These socially and economically backward categories are to be taken care of at every stage even in the specialised institutions like IITs.” It’s an utter disappointment that in such an elite institution with highly educated community, they haven’t realized the real relevance of reservations even after 60 years of Independence.

12. Despite the recent supreme court ruling (dated 12th August, 2009) on terminating SC/ST students and showing more encouragement towards SC/ST students the IIT Kanpur administration has continued to be indifferent to the woes of SC/ST students. The administration continued to be a deaf ear and continued to terminate SC/ST students trivially. They have not shown any encouragement like always and continue to terminate SC/ST students even on small pretexts.
In such context,we appeal to the concerned authorities in the ministry to take immediate action in IIT Kanpur to save the life and career of SC and ST students otherwise we would be of nowhere inspite of spending our precious time in IIT Kanpur.

Sir, If this continues the day is not far that the “IIT Kanpur” would be better known as “ITI Kanpur.” Looking to it please take immediate action in this matter as our life and career are most affected due to this termination and the social justice can be done as early as possible.

Hoping for a positive response.

Yours Sincerely
SC/ST Students
IIT-Kanpur

69 - 19th Nov 2009 - Madhuri's family members blame IIT authorities for suicide-Source TOI

TNN Nov 19, 2010, 08.56pm IST
 

KANPUR: The relatives of Madhuri Sale have held IIT-Kanpur responsible for her untimely death. They have decided to lodge an FIR against the authorities of the institute in this regard.

With teary eyes, Madhuri's younger brother Bharat Sale, said in an emotional outburst that he will get an FIR lodged against the IIT authorities who forced her to commit suicide.

"I will get an FIR registered against IIT-Kanpur authorities because of whom my sister embraced death," Bharat said while autopsy was being conducted at the mortuary. He is pursuing BTech from Osmania University in Hyderabad.

Bharat asked how can his sister commit suicide when she was doing well in her course. "We do not know why she committed suicide. Something is wrong somewhere and it has to be brought out. I want police to conduct a fair inquiry into the matter to ascertain the cause of death of my sister," he said.

Autopsy was conducted in the presence of Madhuri's maternal uncle S Ravi, cousin brother Prasanth and Bharat.

The autopsy report confirmed that Madhuri died due to strangulation, when she hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her hostel room on Wednesday.

The family members had requested that the autopsy be conducted in their presence. Hence, the body was preserved at the institute's health centre.

The body has been handed over to the family members. They will fly back home in Nalgonda, where the last rites will be performed.

68 - IIT suicide victim was a jovial fellow- Source DNA

Published: Sunday, Nov 8, 2009, 3:37 IST
By Mihika Basu & Rashpal Singh | Agency: DNA

A day after Siddharth Charan, a BTech student at IIT Bombay, committed suicide at his Jodhpur home on Friday morning, the institute reiterated that the second-year student had not shown any indication that he would take such a drastic step.

“No one, not even his roommate, detected any sign of anxiety. We have various mechanisms of figuring out if someone is in trouble, and encourage students to come to us with their problems. Charan didn’t exhibit any visible signs of stress and depression,” said Prakash Gopalan, dean of students’ affairs at IIT Bombay.

Gopalan said Charan was a Mess secretary at his hostel (Number Two). “Charan was involved in a responsible activity and if he had shown even the slightest behavioural change, it would’ve come to someone’s notice,” Gopalan said. He added that the youngster did not appear to be a loner either. (His Orkut profile suggests he was a part of many online communities and was a fan of net games.)

Charan allegedly left for home on Thursday and called his mother from Jodhpur Airport to surprise her. The police claim that his suicide was pre-planned. Dinesh Singh, station house officer (SHO) of Mahamandir police station in Jodhpur, said both the police and Charan’s parents feel the note recovered from his room indicates he may have been suffering from depression. Charan, who shot himself with a .12 bore gun on Friday, had asked his mother for his father’s licensed gun and bullets. She gave it to him, thinking he wanted to clean it.

Meanwhile, Charan’s local guardian in Mumbai met Gopalan on Saturday. “He was trying to see if we can throw any light on the situation. He said Charan’s family feels something may have happened in Mumbai to trigger his suicide. But we said that if that had been the case, the boy wouldn’t have waited to go to Jodhpur first,” Gopalan added.

Charan’s batchmates are also puzzled. “He was quite a cheerful person. The day he left for home, Charan said he was feeling homesick. But neither his classmates nor his roommate were aware he was under any stress,” a batchmate said.

67 - 7th Nov 2009 - IIT-Bombay student kills self - Source - TOI

TNN Nov 7, 2009, 03.49am IST
JODHPUR: An 18-year-old student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay committed suicide at his home in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, early Friday.

The cops found a suicide note in which Siddharth Singh Charan expressed his anguish over a number of things that had gone wrong in his life, from his grief over his cousin's death to his poor performance in the exams. His cousin, Pappu, had died of cancer a few months ago.

Siddharth, a second-year student of engineering physics, shot himself with his father's licensed .12-bore gun at his home in Jodhpur's Mahamandir. ''Life goes on regardless of the existence of any person. Whether you live or not, it makes no difference. What happened when Pappu died? Has life changed in any way?'' read the suicide note. Siddharth also mentions that, though he studied very hard, he scored 2% less than his friend in the annual exams this year.

his was corroborated by what his friends on the IIT campus. ''He was not doing too well at studies. He was disappointed with his results,'' said a classmate, adding that Siddharth was an introvert.

The IIT canteen attendant, too, described him as a rather quiet boy.

66 - 6th Nov 2009 - IIT-Bombay student ends life at home in Jodhpur -DNA

Friday 6th Nov 2009

A student of IIT-Bombay allegedly shot himself dead at his home here and police said a suicide note reflected his "disenchantment" with life. Siddharth Singh Charan (18), a resident of Jhalra Bera area of Mahamandir, was a second year BTech student at IIT-Bombay.

Police said his family heard a loud sound from his room in the morning. They broke open the door only to find him in a pool of blood and their licensed 12 bore rifle near him.

Police later recovered a suicide note, in which he wrote about the "meaninglessness" of life. His father Gajendra Singh Charan is the sub divisional magistrate at Chipa Barod in Baran district.

65 - 3rd September 2009 - Denied campus placement, IIT-Kanpur student commits suicide - The Hindu

Kanpur (IANS): Apparently depressed over the denial of a campus placement, a 26-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) committed suicide on Saturday, police and institute officials said.

"G. Suman, a final year student of M.Tech, was found hanging inside his hostel room," director IIT-K Sanjay Dhande told IANS.

According to the police, Suman took the extreme step as he was denied a campus placement.

"We have learnt that Suman was quite upset as he did not get any placement offer from the companies that visited the campus this time," police inspector Alakh Narayan Trivedi told IANS.

Suman hailed from Andhra Pradesh. His family in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh has been intimated. His father G. Bhaskariyya is expected to come to Kanpur Sunday, according to the officials.

No suicide note was recovered from Suman's room, police said

64 - 17th July 2009 - Suicide spree: IIT-Kharagpur to get professional counsellors - Indian Express

Shiv Sahay Singh
Tags : kolkata, IIT-K
Posted: Fri Jul 17 2009, 03:58 hr

The recent spate of suicide incidents taking place inside the campus of IIT- Kharagpur has forced the authorities to involve professional counsellors to help students cope up with stress.

“The counselling centre has a broader objective. It will not only look after the academic side but will see whether the students are suffering from any personal stress,” said D Gunasekaran, Registrar IIT-Kharagpur.

Gunasekaran said that apart from the faculty members who will counsel the students, professional counsellors would be hired to help the students de-stress. The institute has already placed an advertisement for hiring professional counselors but before it finalises on it, the faculty members will serve as counsellors.

Institute officials say all the suicide incidents are not related to academic stress as there are a number of cases where the students took the extreme step because of personal problems.

According to faculty members, students join the institute at a very young age — 18 and 19 years old — and thus they suffer from home sickness. “So it is necessary for the institute to ensure that students do not feel isolated,” they said.

They added that the previous concept of faculty members as counsellor has not worked and hence it was decided to hire a professional counsellor.

Experts say that those who join the IITs have to go through tough competition and are prone to depression and stress even if they face slight rejection or failure. “The students do not have an aptitude for a job but they are keen to get it only because of peer pressure. The students sometimes suffer from rejection factor when they fail to qualify the interview,” said Prof B K Mathur, a professor of physics and the placement head of the institute.

Mathur added the counsellors will also help the student choose the right kind of job.

“The counselling centre can help a student who has an inclination towards core sciences take a job in that discipline rather than going for software since his peers have done so,” said Mathur.

The institute houses around 8,000 students in its campus that is spread over 2,100 acres.

3 and counting...
April 23: K Ramananda Rao a fourth-year chemical engineering student committed suicide. According to fellow students, he was not doing well in academics.

June 15: Manoj Kumar, a first-year student, committed suicide. The dead body was recovered a few days after he committed suicide as most of the students were away on vacation.

July 15: Yogendra Kumar Singh, a student who secured 400 rank in this years IIT entrance test, committed suicide. According to reports, he was keen on joining some other institute.

63 - 17th July 2009 - Psychologist appointed after IIT-Kharagpur suicide-TOI

TNN Jul 17, 2009, 04.00am IST
KOLKATA: The body of 19-year-old Joginder Singh, who committed suicide on the IIT Kharagpur campus on Wednesday, was handed over to his father on Thursday. Singh had reached the campus on Wednesday morning for admission with his father and maternal uncle. He was supposed to register himself on Friday. However, he hanged himself in a room of the institute's Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of residence.

This is the second suicide on the campus in a span of one month. Worried, the institute has decided to employ a clinical psychologist on campus. It will be a residential position and the psychologist is expected to join in a week.

"We need a psychologist on the campus. The kind of mind disorders that kids are coming with these days is extremely upsetting. This is the largest IIT we have 8,000 students and we needed expert help. Hence the decision," said Soubhik Bhattacharya, dean of students.

Faculty members said that toppers from all over compete to enter an IIT. They cannot get over their being brilliant academic career and become depressed if they cannot live up to their past record, senior teachers feel. "There is tremendous pressure from parents and a large number of boys and girls cannot cope with that. Naturally, depression sets in. Though very few end up committing suicide, many are in acute need of help," Bhattacharya said.

The psychologist on campus will be assisted by a teacher and student representatives. The latter will form a team and after initial training from the psychologist, they will be responsible for identifying students who show signs of depression and get them counselled.

62 - 16th July 2009 - IT fresher commits suicide - IIT FOUNDATION

The views and opinions expressed in this message board are those of the message posters themselves. The IIT Foundation does not neccessarily share these views. Additionally, the IIT Foundation does not, in any way, guarantee the correctness of these messages or the authenticity of the message poster.

(From The Telegraph, July 16, 2009):-

IIT fresher commits suicide
OUR BUREAU
Kharagpur/Calcutta, July 15: A first-year student at IIT Kharagpur committed suicide this afternoon by hanging himself in his hostel room.

The body of Yogendra Kumar Singh, 18, a resident of Noida, was found in his newly allotted hostel room by his father around 3pm.

Yogendra, who secured an all-India rank of 400 in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination this year, had taken admission to study electrical engineering. He had come with his relatives for allotment of his room and the orientation that starts tomorrow.

IIT sources said Yogendra had moved into his room in the Madan Mohan Malavya Hall. “His uncle and father had gone to buy utensils and other things but Yogendra wanted to stay behind and freshen up,” said U.P. Singh, spokesperson and security chief at the IIT

“We have learnt from the father that he wanted to study in IIT Delhi but had not got admission there and was dejected about it.”

61 - 16th July 2009 - One more suicide inside IIT-Kharagpur - INDIAN EXPRESS

In yet another suicide case inside IIT campus, an 18-year-old student hanged himself on Wednesday afternoon in Kharagpur.

Yogendra Kumar Singh was at IIT-Kharagpur for registration in the undergraduate programme, which is scheduled for Thursday. He was staying at the Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of residence along with his father and uncle.

The institute sources said he had been offered electrical engineering based on his rank. Singh had ranked fairly high in the merit list of IIT-JEE examination this year.

“We have learnt that the boy was not happy to get admitted to IIT-Kharagpur and since he was from Noida, he wanted to join the nearest institute,” said UP Singh, the spokesperson and the security officer at the institute.

According to the authorities at the institute, the incident took place when Singh’s father and his uncle had gone for shopping. Singh hanged himself with a chain used to tie suitcase and other luggage. Over the last few months the institute has been rocked by a series of suicide cases. On June 15 Manoj Kumar, a first year student, committed suicide at Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall. On April 23 K Ramananda Rao, a 4th year chemical engineering student and a boarder at the Nehru Hall of Residence, had also taken his life inside the campus.

60 - 15th July 2009 - Youth commits suicide at IIT Kharagpur

A youth has allegedly committed suicide at a hostel in the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur.

Informing this, IIT(Kharagpur) Chief Security Officer V P Singh said the deceased, identified as Jogendra Kumar Singh (19), was found hanging from the ceiling with a rope tied around his neck at Madan Malabia Hall this morning.

Mr Singh said the youth qualified himself for undergoing a course in electrical engineering at the institute, adding he was scheduled to take admission tomorrow.

''Jogendra's father Laxmi Singh, who accompanied his son, informed that his son was suffering from depression as he wanted to study at IIT (Delhi) but was forced to take admission at IIT (Kharagpur),'' he stated.

The body would be sent for post-mortem tomorrow, according to him.

59 - 16th June 2009 – 3 deaths in 3 months in Indias No 1 Institute

This morning, I received two "pings" on G-Talk from my batchmates at IIT-Kharagpur, and both seemed to be in an excited state. The first one pinged a link that most of them had put on as their Status Message, some story from Outlook. It seemed IIT-Kharagpur had yet again emerged as the No.1 Engg.college in the country in a survey that's normally conducted around this time of the year, during the admissions-counselling period. Not only did it beat the closest competitor, IIT-B, by a huge margin of 90 points, it had also topped the Architecture Schools list.

The implication might have been that IIT-Kgp was in fact the best place for an undergraduate student to be in the country. 

The 2nd ping, however, was quite in contradiction. It was not reconfirmed by anyone else, no news source carried it, and most said that the news wasn't being released "due to ongoing IIT-JEE counselling at IIT-Kgp." Somehow, a lone news source is carrying a report on the incident as of now. Oh, and the incident. Yeah, another student died at IIT-Kgp, nothing new...

Police said they broke into the room at the Madan Mohan Malaviyya hostel in the campus and recovered the body of Manoj Kumar (18) after the hostel cleaning staff complained of a stench emanating from it.

Police said prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide and investigations were on.
-- The Indian Express

A first year student of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture Department, Manoj Kumar, hailing from Rajasthan, was found hanging from the ceiling of his room in Madan Mohan Malviya Hall of Residence, IIT Kgp. It was just a couple of months ago, that another fourth year student had committed suicide in his hostel room. And who can forget the death of Rohit Kumar due to the institute run Hospital's medical negligence.

A 3rd year dies of Medical Negligence, a fourth year commits suicide a month later, and a fresher now. My batch had already lost Anshu to negligence in the first year itself. And we still are the best institute in the country.

Is this how complacent we've become? Is this the best place for a student to be? Is counselling for potential students more important than counselling suicide probables and taking care of existing students?

We have regular student-administration meetings at the campus, which all students are open to attend. I shall be attending them regularly the coming semester onwards, and shall raise and follow up on issues regarding the state of the hospital as well as allocation of doctors, counsellors and psychologists.

Will you be there?

Let's see...

58 - 15th June 2009 – IIT Student commits suicide- Web India

Manoj Kumar (21), a first year student of Naval Architecture Department of the IIT Kharagpur, was found hanging in his room today.

Police said Manoj, who a brilliant student from Rajasthan, had not left behind any suicide note. The body was first discovered by the fellow students in Madanmohon Malaviya Hall in the campus at about 1230 hrs. They then reported the matter to the institute's authority, who in turn contacted police. The police has taken the body for a postmortem. IIT Chief Security Officer V P Singh said it apparently seems that Manoj could not bear with the pressure of the study and was suffering from depression.

''However, we are waiting for the post-mortem report,'' Sing

57 - 24th April 2009 - IIT Kharagpur student found hanging- The Telegraph

UR CORRESPONDENT
Calcutta, April 24: A fourth- year IIT Kharagpur student, studying an extra year to clear a backlog of exams, was found hanging in his hostel room.

Ramananda Rao K. from Andhra Pradesh was a resident of the Nehru Hall on the Kharagpur campus. Yesterday morning, the sweeper found him hanging from the ceiling fan in his room.

“The sweeper wanted to clean the room but he got no answer when he knocked. The door was not locked from inside so when he pushed it, the door opened and he found Rao hanging from a fan,” said U.P. Singh, the security officer of the institute.

“The police are investigating. It is difficult to say exactly what led to the suicide since there was no suicide note,” said Singh.

Rao’s friends said the student of chemical engineering had shown no sign of being depressed. “Rao’s friends told us the he had shown no sign of being depressed or troubled. He had played cricket with them (his friends) yesterday,” said Singh.

Institute authorities said Rao, who was the captain of Nehru Hall’s volley ball team, was popular among the students.

But deputy director Madhusudan Chakrabarty said Rao was studying an extra year because he had fared poorly in some subjects in his final year. “It is not possible to say why he committed suicide because he did not leave behind any note but it is possible that he was suffering from depression and frustration because he had not been able to clear his final year exams.”

Some of his hall mates said though Rao was good at sports, he was an average student and did not do too well in his exams.

A testimonial by Praveen, Rao’s friend from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, on the social networking site Orkut said: “Nanda (Ramananda) is a good friend of mine. Very

intelligent and fearless, he can do whatever he wants. (He) takes everything easy. He looked very careless but he has it in him. I hope he will reach the heights of life and stand like an Everest to all my JNV friends. I am very proud to share some years of my life with him.”

56 - 24th April 2009 - IT student commits suicide - Indian Express

Posted: Fri Apr 24 2009, 01:55 hrs
Kolkata:

Barely a month after the death of a student of IIT- Kharagpur allegedly due to medical negligence, gloom descended on the campus once again when a 22-year-old student committed suicide within the campus premises on Thursday.

K Ramananda Rao, a fourth-year chemical engineering student, was found hanging from the ceiling of his room - No 201, Block C of the Nehru Hall of Residence. The incident came to the notice of the administration when at 11.30 am the hostel sweeper knocked on his door to collect the laundry and received no response. His friends, too, had not seen him since morning.

Later in the day, the authorities grew suspicious and pushed open the door only to find him hanging from the ceiling.

According to the eyewitnesses, the door was not locked from inside and no suicide note was found from his room.

Rao was appearing for his semester examinations. Students close to him said they were not sure whether the academic pressure led him to commit suicide. Rao was the captain of the Volleyball team of the Nehru Hall.

Senior officials at the institute said prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide and the body has been handed over to the police for postmortem. The institute has informed his family members and his father and elder brother have already left for the institute to collect his body.

Even his teachers are perplexed at the incident. Although they describe him as a below average student and said that he could not clear a number of subjects in the last semester, yet they say that it is by no means unique.

55 - 13th April 2009 - IIT aspirant commits suicide - TOI

09, 09.43pm IST
KANPUR: An 18-year-old IIT-JEE aspirant committed suicide by hanging himself under the Naubasta police station here on Monday morning.

According to reports, the police identified the deceased as Prateek Kumar Bajpai, son of Vinod Kumar Bajpai, a resident of Gulmohar Nagar locality.

The deceased Prateek was a Class XII student of a local public school in the city. No suicide note has been found. His friends said they were completely clueless about any possible reason, for he secured 70 per cent marks in high school, was a brilliant student, and was an IIT-JEE aspirant.

Police officers said the boy had not left any suicide note and the exact reason behind Prateek's extreme step was yet to be ascertained. The kin of the deceased, however, said that only on Sunday he had appeared for IIT-JEE entrance test and he was feeling a little low. This was his first attempt at the IIT-JEE entrance test.

A police officer said Prateek did not come out of his room despite repeated knocks. "His family members then called up the neighbours, who then broke open the doors only to find him hanging from the ceiling of the room," the officer said.

The kin said that they had come from the market last evening and Prateek seemed normal. "He had his breakfast and went inside his room on Monday morning. When he did not come for quite sometime, I went looking for him and found the door locked from inside following which police was informed," said victim's mother Shashi Bajpai. A doctor, who lives nearby confirmed that he was dead, the kin added.

Another friend of the deceased said, "He was really into his studies; he took the IIT-JEE entrance coaching." Prateek's father Vinod Kumar Bajpai works with a Central Bank branch in Lucknow.

"We are yet to lodge a case in this regard but the investigations have confirmed that the deceased was depressed. However, we will investigate the case once the autopsy report arrives," said a police official.

54 - 23rd March 2009 - IIT Kharagpur student dies due to lack of adequate medical facility, outraged students demand Director's resignation

Rohit Kumar, a 3rd year undergraduate student of Electrical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur died this morning due to lack of basic medical facilities at B.C. Roy "Hospital", the civic IIT-run hospital responsible for providing healthcare facilities to IIT-Kharagpur campus residents, which includes students, faculty members, staff and other employees.

Rohit complained of a headache on Saturday evening after a basketball match. He visited B.C.Roy Hospital, no confirmation of the occurrence there is available. During the course of the night his condition worsened and the next morning he again visited the hospital with excruciating pain. He was asked to go back after being prescribed painkillers. While going back to his Hostel, he collapsed and hit his head on the cowtrap. He was rushed back to the hospital, where he was told to wait for the Doctor to arrive in "five minutes". After three hours of "five minutes", the Doctor arrived but refused to touch him. He was referred to Apollo Hospital, Kolkata since he required treatment by a neurologist. He was sent in an ambulance also containing, besides the driver, a pharmacist and two of his friends, but no trained paramedic. Considering the profuse bleeding and worsening condition, they decided to go for Medinipur Hospital instead. He was declared 'brought dead' at Medinipur Hospital.

B.C.Roy has had a history of medical negligence, with several serious medical blunders taking place frequently, and any critical case being needed to rushed as far as Kolkata, despite the administration's claim of developing it into a "Multi-speciality medical research centre", whereas, ironically, not a single paisa has been spent in this regard. No other medical facility is available on the 2100 acre campus, while the strength of students and need for medical care is growing multi-fold every year.

Earlier, the campus newspaper, Scholar's Avenue, had been "banned" for 6 months for publishing an investigative report on the sorry state of the hospital.

Outraged students assembled outside the Director's bungalow aiming for a silent protest. However, the Director refused to attend to the students, not ready to acknowledge the problem with IIT-Kgp's medical facilities. In addition to this he was ignorant of the details of the whole incident. This lead to greater outrage and more than 2000 students gheraoed the residence.

Finally making an appearance on the balcony of the residence he expressed his SYMPATHY and appreciated that we had all gathered for the cause but promised no action. It was demanded that he answer the questions put up by the protesting students. He eventually came out with security where he made blunt promises like suspending the doctor and registering a police case against the "CULPRIT" making it evident that he was trying to laugh off the matter. This caused further unrest after which he slunk away into his house. Exasperated students aggressively demanded the director's resignation since the life of every student is his responsibility and he has not addressed to the much obvious problem even after it has been blatantly pointed out to him many a times in open house discussions with students earlier, as recent as one month ago.

What is even more amusing are the loose comments that the authorities repeatedly made - the Deputy Director said "Whats the big deal..."

Rohit's memory will forever remain embedded in our hearts. May his soul rest in peace...
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8 people like this.

Gaurav Sharma just ask that ass...had this happened to his own son...would he have said the same thing???
March 23, 2009 at 1:54am

Balram Suman Very sad and disturbing news. Medical facility should improve there -- which is good for all living at KGP. Medical facility has never been better there and urgent attention is needed -- it involves people's life.
March 23, 2009 at 1:59am

Ashutosh Nandan Bagaria Shocking!
Similar thing happened 2 yrs back at kgp where a first yr expired while playing cricket, and due to bcroy’s lack of medical equipment. Hope something is done asap.
March 23, 2009 at 2:19am

Abhishek Prakash I am surprised they still could not improve medical facility!!
March 23, 2009 at 2:21am

Shantanu Ghosh Shocking!!! And who is this insensitive Dy Director who makes such an idiotic statement!!!!
And how can the Director refuse to meet the students??????????
March 23, 2009 at 2:41am

Manpreet Singh Well , at KGP I got jaundice and had to spend a horrendous night at the Hospi. My parents came the next day and took me away. The place was sub human. We need to do something. How about the alumni taking the matter up.
March 23, 2009 at 3:24am

Anurag Shrivastava I spent some 15 days in this hospital after contracting chicken pox. they put me in the isolation ward and was served food just like a prisoner would be in solitary confinement - food was pushed below the door. There would be times you wou...See More
March 23, 2009 at 3:47am

Satyajit Sahu I find this news very disturbing! All these years, they merely fed Calpol to people regardless of the disease. And now overdosage of Calpol has taken its toll. And what kinda irresponsible stmt that was from the Deputy Dyro?
March 23, 2009 at 4:50am

Raj Shekhar Singh let's see wat hapens tomorrow .. will not leave these ass holes !!
March 23, 2009 at 7:02am

Ahmed Aslam The director was eventually forced to resign, the DD is the acting-director now. Later in the Open House Discussion (which took place in a completely FULL TOAT), the Dean, Student Affairs as well as The Chairman of BC Roy Hospital (who apparently was the DD himself) resigned from their posts.
An 'external' committee is supposed to be created tomorrow to look into the matter.
March 23, 2009 at 7:17am

Anshu Sharma I myself nearly died 17 years ago. So I feel quite strongly that KGP has substandard medical facilities and care. I had hoped things got better in last several years, but apparently not.

Hope we learn and provide not only good medical care but also offer psychological and psychiatric services to students who are often under grave stress.
March 23, 2009 at 10:22am

Bharti Sinha Sahay To highlight the difference an effective administration makes:
A student emergency occurred in 1992 in Kgp ...as soon as the Diro was informed. well within the hour 2 students were already accompanying the student to a high-tech hospital in...See More
March 23, 2009 at 3:32pm

Nirav Sampat Now why am I not surprised ....Has anybody thought of asking the HRD Minister to resign?
March 23, 2009 at 3:54pm

Sid Choudhury Very sorry to see that after so many years nothing much has changed at BC Roy :(
March 23, 2009 at 3:58pm

Uday Shankar Dutta Can we as alumni do something about it? Like donate to equip BC Roy as a state of art hospi with arrangement of visiting specialist who knows about their profession rather than fully depending on the Docs selected by IIT system and paid miserly.
March 23, 2009 at 6:12pm

Bharti Sinha Sahay A good idea ... however any effort in this direction would need water-tight specifications & a fully hands-on selection/ procurement process to ensure that the 'lowest-bid' contract/ specialist was indeed providing the required goods ..... the way to go would be to possibly set up an external-trust fund ... which any central govt (present/future) could not claim as their own .... too complicated to note down here.
March 23, 2009 at 6:57pm

Nitin Singla I understand that most of us share common views on this issue...The problem is quite a prominent one and the number of students and other people that depend on a medical facility inside the campus.... Request the alumni to take up this issu...See More
March 23, 2009 at 7:53pm

Uday Shankar Dutta Bharti, very well thought, we can work in that direction.
March 23, 2009 at 8:15pm

Kaushik Brahma Our MD is the Chairman of IIT KGP Board of Governors. Have put in a big word. He is visiting KGP tomorrow - lets see wat happens. Will keep you all posted.
March 23, 2009 at 9:38pm

Sunil Kumar It is a disgrace! I was admitted there few times and I used to get better just to avoid being there... first the doctor who refused to touch should be shot ! heck! they must all be shot ... they are a dangerous menace to kgp!!
March 23, 2009 at 11:53pm

Giridhar Rao Cannot believe that KGP diros have been sitting over a time bomb like this and let it happen. I guess its time that things changed... what i don't understand is - why did the faculty not push BC Roys shortcomings at Senate meetings. If i am not mistaken it caters to faculty and all other people on the campus as well.
March 24, 2009 at 12:09am

Peeyoosh Chadda Shocking. BC was always a disaster, but the callousness displayed by others is very saddening
March 24, 2009 at 12:12am

Rajnil Mallik Very sad and shameful. A dark day in Kgp's history. Does anyone know pay/ perk/ incentive structure of medical "professionals" at BC Roy?
March 24, 2009 at 5:57am

Ajit Sutar This is not the first. In my second semester (1995), there was a fatality due to lack of proper care and the director had promised us (who were protesting outside the director's office) that there will not be a repeat.
March 24, 2009 at 9:51am

Kaushik Mandal B C Roy hospital has always remained a shame for IIT KGP. It's another shame that students still need to protest - the authorities haven't yet managed to add to the infrastructure....continuous death of bright students !
March 24, 2009 at 10:14pm

Anand Prakash Now Police is doing its job of distorting the fact. According to one report : "Police said Rohit Kumar, a third-year Electrical Engineering department student who had a history of epilepsy, was admitted to B.C. Roy Hospital on the campus after he met with an accident two days ago. "
It is about time for authorities to accept the truth and fix the problem , instead of running away and hiding from it.
March 24, 2009 at 10:57pm

Shahnawaz Karim This incident has once again bought home the need to improve our health care facilities . Given the state of B C Roy hospital ,such incidents can very well happen in future.What is needed is better infrastructure, recruiting full time doctors and a well equipped emergency.
March 28, 2009 at 1:41am

Nitin Dhawan In my first year, a student was blinded due to wrong medications by the "Technology" Hospital. Interestingly it is very easy to compare us to lab-rats.
March 28, 2009 at 6:45pm

Sourav Chatterjee Very good initiative, specially on engaging the alums. The KGP campus desperately needs a well-equipped hospital, specially given the fact that there is a basic lack of medical facilities within the town itself . I recollect a personal hor...See More
March 28, 2009 at 7:44pm

Abhinav Bana This is a very ood initiative. I would suggest that IIT Foundation alumnis should take this up directly with the Dean, and that future funding for the Institute, from IIT Foundation should be linked to the progress on providing even the bas...See More
March 28, 2009 at 9:31pm

Rajwinder Singh Utterly unacceptable. The hospital seems to be stuck in time with a lack of basic facilities as well as physician care.
June 5, 2009 at 3:57am

Abhishek Gupta wats happening thr on this issue, whr can I get updates..
and above all, wat can I do.. is thr any one to lead or guide??
June 9, 2009 at 12:34am

Susmita Cheruvathoor i wonder where are we heading....i was born in this hospital...and just cant digest that people are dying out there ....guys its time to act ....have dharnas..slogans...hartals....all you guys out there....your life is not in safe hands....please react...jago...inefficient doctors ko nikalo....
June 17, 2009 at 10:23pm

Saurabh Mittra any updates on this?? i just heard about the suicide in MMM a few days ago??

where are the people who said they would be pursuing this matter with the Governors? did anything come out of it?
June 26, 2009 at 10:05pm

Sunil Linux Karthik Gopal, no one likes to waste their lives fighting with a sick system and society. Take one good example, what happened to that IITian's report on busting the EVMs? Everyone played politics on that but was there any concrete result? ...See More
August 9, 2009 at 6:14pm

Sunil Linux Coming to the point, I would like to say "Arm Chair" speech is very easy to do. Please come to the ground and face the problem! I would like to ask, is there any hospital or institution which is free of incidents/accidents/negligence? Did a...See More
August 9, 2009 at 6:25pm

Mahavir Jagdev The quality of the Direcors at KGP has deteriorated since our times in 70's with Brig. Bose being a Director, he had an Aura around him ... and then a guy came in from BHU ... a political appointee who couldn't even give a speech in English...See More
September 26, 2009 at 5:44am

Mahavir Jagdev Well the Tech hospital was good enough for those times in 70's but it seems to have stagnated in time .... but during our times the boys too were no less ...... they wanted to get admitted there only to hook the nurses and apply the ointmen...See More
September 26, 2009 at 6:01am

Vandana Mishra its good and informative
January 7, 2010 at 2:08pm

Jayanta Mandal Its very unfortunate! I would recommend BC Roy hospital for day-to-day diseases, e.g. fever, cold etc. Since for those cases, I got good results after consulting doctors from the hospital.

But definitely my heart aches in pain for Rohit. Ma...See More
February 11, 2010 at 8:07pm