All these universities seem to be following the same playbook on how to exclude Dalits. The academic performance of the students seems to be less important than their lower caste status. Ragging, institutional bullying and lack of support for Dalit students causes many of them to commit suicide, and discourages other Dalits from applying to these important centres of learning, leading them to be excluded from these fields. This sends a clear signal to young Dalit aspirants that these prestigious colleges have no place for them, regardless of what the reservation policy dictates. The toxic belief that ‘quota students’ are innately less able or talented than ‘mainstream students’ is at the heart of this exclusion.
The IIT-JEE exam, which aims to test a student’s aptitude for engineering, is not only tough but also vastly different from the central or state board exams that high school students clear in school. The problems challenge logic and theory in a way that makes it almost impossible for anyone who is unfamiliar with its ‘code’ to solve them. The coaching institutes, including the one that I attended, teach the patterns, codes and techniques to finish the examination paper in three hours. About 82 per cent of Indian students either take additional coaching for IIT-JEE and other science-based competitive exams at the numerous coaching institutes that dot every small and big town or directly go to Kota, Rajasthan, to study at one of the 150 ‘cram schools’, which pretty much guarantee you a spot on the list if you are admitted and follow their instructions. Even local coaching is expensive, costing about Rs 2,000-3,000 per month nearly sixteen years ago in 2001- 03 when I took these classes. The fees for the Kota schools can go up to Rs 1 lakh a month, which doesn’t include the cost of living—making it prohibitively expensive for students from marginalized backgrounds. It’s not that students can’t clear these exams without coaching; many SC/ST students in fact do, but since they come from marginalized backgrounds, they lack other support structures. That, along with their government school education, often leads many SC/ST/OBC students to drop out or be expelled for low grades. In 2015, 90 per cent of the students that IIT Roorkee dismissed on account of low grades were SC/ST/OBC. Added to this is the distress, discrimination and systemic failure that ‘quota students’ face at these prestigious institutions. Nearly 80 per cent of student suicides in IITs till 2011 were of Dalit students.
IIT students have a long history of opposing constitutional reservation and several members of YFE in 2006 were from its various colleges. Many used the IIT Roorkee dropouts incident to argue that ‘quota students’ are inherently talentless and don’t belong in the colleges, instead of examining the conditions that led to their dropping out. IITs across the country admit a disproportionately high number of upper-caste students in the general category, which Harvard-based anthropologist Ajantha Subramanian argues isn’t as casteless or ‘meritorious’ as it seems. Using IIT Madras as a case study, she examines how when the number of European engineers in India decreased at the beginning of the twentieth century, Tamil Brahmins were the single largest group in Madras Presidency to replace them. They also filled over 70 per cent seats in regional engineering institutes despite forming only 3 per cent of the population, and were disproportionately represented in most modern professions along with other upper castes. At IIT Madras, not only the students but also the faculty are overwhelmingly upper caste, with 464 professors drawn from the ‘general category’, 59 OBCs, 11 SCs, and 2 STs. She argues that association of ‘general category’ with merit is biased because the students from that category are assumed to be upper caste. During her interviews with several former IIT students, she discovered that many believed that while general category students got bad grades because they were ‘having fun’, reserved category students simply didn’t have the intellectual capability to do well. Unsurprisingly, the administration supports that idea, especially former director P. V. Indiresan who believed that ‘the talented’ upper castes deserved ‘rights of their own’ compared to the ‘socially deprived’ who demanded special privileges.
The idea that upper castes are inherently ‘talented’ while the reserved category SC/ST/OBC students are meritless is as hollow as it is casteist. In an anonymous study on the state of female Dalit students in a prestigious Indian university, PhD candidates and research fellows complained that they were discouraged from applying to the generous Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for SC/ST students. They were told that they didn’t ‘deserve free fellowships’. And the faculty impose their casteist ideas in the universities in many ways. The University of Hyderabad’s ‘Brahmin well’ which was dug in the 1980s for Professor V. Kannan is a ridiculous example of that. Kannan only allowed other upper-caste students and professors to access it and lower-caste students and faculty couldn’t come anywhere near it till he retired in 2014. Upper-caste professors not only discriminate against their lower-caste colleagues but also question their ‘merit’ and their right to their careers. Professor Vasant Tarade, a former principal of Mumbai’s Sydenham College, recalled that a Brahmin professor refused to use his chair after he retired.
Years of being accused of caste-based discrimination have had some impact and institutes have created some systems to support the reserved category students. The AIIMS website informs us that the campus has a SC/ST grievance cell, while Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has a personalized academic support system and the IITs have English language classes to help students from vernacular language backgrounds. Yet, as Professor Thorat notes, these institutes ‘lack the will to implement them in full’. Universities and colleges should be centres for learning new ideas and questioning the status quo. Instead, they become places of discrimination, exclusion and institutional harassment. Young minds are bred with hate, ready to assert their caste hierarchy over the next generation. Students are not taught why reservation is essential for those from the lower castes, who have been excluded from education, art, culture and even owning property, to reach a somewhat level playing field. Without reservation, Dalits will remain on the fringes, unable to access even the most basic opportunities.
This excerpt was taken with permission from the book ‘Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir’ by Yashica Dutt. It was published by Aleph.
Do you know why most cases are from sc/st? why not obc since they were too discriminated in past? because obc has creamy layer but sc/st dont. they restrict their own community to grow up. I bet 90 % of these sc/st student do not deserve to take reservation becausee theyy are from rich family
Unlike the author, the IITs teach you to construct arguments on fact and logic. I was was at IITK when the first batch of SCST students was admitted in 1974 based on a separate merit list. There was a total ban on ragging them, and the institute accommodated them by setting up a separate dining hall to cater to their unique dietary preferences (the rest of us were not indulged with parathas and achar). They were provided remedial classes in summer to help them catch up in language and other schools. Sadly, most of them never managed to get past the first year courses. Even students who came in through regular channels from privileged homes routinely struggled at IIT, so the theory of systematic discrimination is utter nonsense. And yes, some of them committed suicide, usually because they couldn’t handle the pressure. Sad but true.
All of this predates the coaching class era, and the virtually zero probability of success for poorly prepared students, was as true then add it is now. Sociologists from JNU, Harvard, and other prestigious think tanks should actually try to come up with a solution for once, instead of quoting each other and perpetuating conspiracy theories.
Thank you Bharat
I agree with you fully. But you may be on the minority side. but those who argue that ‘the SC and st are less hard working or less meritorious ‘ should be ashamed to learn that their forefathers , Including my folks, were the ruthless oppressors of these hapless servant classes for millennia in this ‘sacred’ land
Time now to look deep into one’s past history.
According to me, the problem was instigated by the politician. The reservation was/is necessary for the deprived class of people but not in the way it was formulated.
All the teachers must hve been given inbuilt orders to take special tutorial classes for the deprived class of people when they were given appointment letters. Their annual increments & promotion must hve been on the basis of the performance. Confidential report of the concerned teacher must hve been earmarked for red markings. Backward community students must hve been given free books, clothing, food & lodging, conveyance allowance, pocket expenses, monthly stipend but not the special passmark category.
This type of consideration has developed a sense of superiority complex among general class of students & inferiority complex among reserved class of students.
My point is- give them (SC, ST, OBC) all economic facilities duly guaranteed by the Constitution but for God’s sake don’t give them special preferences in passmark category nor give them special consideration for getting a job. They must hve been brought at par with the general category students by giving them all economic benefits but not making them stamped as beggar class of people to be looked after by the general community giving their share of benefits.
Our procedure of helping them made them an undignified class of people with inferiority complex of very low moral strength to face the world. Upliftment must hve been of the entire human being as a high quality human soul.
Prof Thorat Committee Report on Caste Discrimination in AIIMS, New Delhi (2007)
Towards our efforts in exposing rampant caste-discrimination that is prevalent against Dalit and Adivasi students, in country’s premier institutions, w
The committee was set up by Government of India, in September 2006, to enquire into allegations of differential treatment of SC and ST students in the above campus.
Had you spent time studying hard in school, you’d be in an IIT instead of a failed journo that you are now. Leave IITs from your caste rubbish. Very funny with below average IQ mediocre people peddle lies about the conduct of the smarter ones.
Why don’t you write how journalism in India is in the hands of a few upper castes too? No gooda. 🙂
Haha, The public is dumb in India . If you start talking sense to them they lose their shit. Bcuz har koi guru h idhrr.
Absolutely rubbish from Yashica Dutt. I am from an IIT and never see any discrimination from professors or anyone. When you’re mentioning how SC/ST people cannot afford expensive coaching, are you sure that most general people can do that too? I never had the privilege of taking a coaching, I cleared the entrance just by my hard work. One thing I find is that general people are more hardworking than their usual SC/ST classmates (doesn’t apply to all of them). If an institute dismisses students because of poor grades and they turn out to be “Dalits”, there is no sympathy for them because they share all the same facilities with the general castes, if they don’t work hard enough, how are they going to manage grades?
This article should be publicly criticized on the social network.
Useless Article .
Author is absolutely right in her observations. She may be wrong in some facts but its true that higher institutions constantly restrain and even discourage sc St and obc people. Most of Upper caste students always find one way or another to disrespect sc St and obc students just like in comment section since they cannot find any strong argument to counter her so they start talking about abolishion reservations and merit which i highly doubt that they are better than one. They are like apne muh miya mithu. In order to satisfy their stupid caste identity and false sense of merit tand superiority over others they constantly keep praising themselves. Not every sc St and obc student fails in higher students. Look at the other universities where sc St and obc people performance cannot be considered bad at all. Infact they many times scores better than general category students. What upper caste students fails to understand is that if these sc St and obc students are really so untalented then why some gets admission even without taking coaching. On the other hand coaching institutions are crowded with upper caste students. If they are really so talented and intelligent then why do they need it at the first place. general category students also fail. How will they explain this? By using their logic they must be very untalented and meritless. Poor performance of sc St and obc can be due to higher level of English and many other reasons could contribute in this like caste discrimination within these institutions, financial problems etc. Many of the sc St and obc students who get admission in these institutions have government schools hindi medium or some other regional language background. We all know the pathetic conditions of government schools when it comes to education especially English. By the way they are crowded with svarnas teachers so argument that its because of reservation is not going to survive in this case. Upper caste people don’t want to understand the problems and struggle of sc St and obc people because upper caste people, s struggle is struggle but sc St and obc people, s struggle doesn’t matter. Reservation is actually good for the country. Although it is not meant to abolish the caste hierarchy in the society but to provide representation to these people so that they could study and raise their voice regarding their problems which they face in everyday life. You abolish caste, caste based reservations will die automatically. This is very thing but tiny brain upper caste morons cannot understand this simple thing may be their claim being meritorious is as hollow as their claim to 10% reservations. lol. Article was written from the dalit perspective instead of stupid svarnas perspective which is biased and stupid and anti national.
The feeling has developed because of creamy layer not used correctly.
No creamy layer hurting more to people who really require a quota .
And general people thinks well-off people using the quota instead of deserving one .
If people see most famous city’s doctor son uses quota, they will not like it .
I am a physician and a researcher. You can google me. I am very well aware of scientific research methods. I am neither from the Suvarna castes nor from the downtrodden Dalit castes and I do not have reservations. Until independence, most of my caste were illiterate farmers and there are many such castes throughout the country who have studied in government schools, competed without reservations, had their struggles and succeeded. During my MBBS, I have also had classmates from well to do families of Punjab who studied in Punjab medium schools since they grew up during the Punjab terrorism upheaval. They did not know English but they spent their time with a medical textbook, an Oxford English dictionary and a Stedman Medical dictionary to understand the subject without any additional coaching.
So, I can only say one thing about this article.. It is unscientific and is a form of reverse discrimination.
Holy shit, a completely biased and fully useless article. Author’s are great because they just don’t t stop by knowing one side of a scenario rather they dig deep on the another side. I am from IIT and I don’t see any discrimination here, lack of support my foot. All are treated equally all are taught equally and most important all ger equal opportunities some use them some don’t. Just don’t blame a part of society to gain sympathy or popularity.
Thank you
Lol…..I request author to get some better research as he/she said coaching are “cram schools” that’s the stupid statement .As coaching have quality + quantity study materials with the best possible faculties. Wherein most of the schools there are teachers who just explain bookish language. Ya coachings have fees very high but in my opinion if you want to go through the subject and you believe in more concept learning then do join a coaching.
NOW IITs have seats reserved for SC,ST,OBC that’s ok why their cut off is very less .I think the cut off must be same as generals off .It doesn’t matter they are less in population . Atleast they also need to qualify the same cut off .
Thank You
Author says that every year 80% of students suiciding in IITs are “dalits”. Do you have any idea how many General caste students suicide every year because they dont get into IITs or NITs even after dropping for a year??
I think the no. is much bigger than the no. Of students suiciding in IITs because they are not able to cope up with toppers.
This article is rubbish..
They take a seat in IITs by the help of reservation and when they were not able to handle so much stress they suicide. This makes no sense.
If the number of upper caste students are disproportionately high in IITs, why can’t the lower caste students compete with them? The possibilities are, either they are inherently dumb or they don’t work hard to achieve their goals. It is absurd to complain about the caste system when the students are not hard working.
Now, you may say that they can’t afford tution fees. Then, I have to ask you that, where are the children of those people who had got reservation when they were studying? Doesn’t those people can afford tution?
I have many Dalit classmates who simply don’t focus on their academics. How the system can be blamed if they take zero effort?
Very poor research done by the author. Totally biased towards Dalits. What do you mean by marginalization? There are many general caste students who live in extreme poverty, are extremely talented without basic amenities. They don’t get the benefits of reservation. I am working in one of the IITs. I know, if anybody scores well in exam, he/she will get his/her due credit. Markings are never based on cast. No professor asks your caste and then give marks
Cracking an exam, able to complete a course is dependent on ones ability. There are many students who unfortunately are unable to complete a course, but no one makes such a fuss. Suicides are always unfortunate. But there might be some other causes completely unrelated to academics. Who knows.?