Darshan Solanki
Last month, news of the death by suicide of first-year undergraduate Darshan Solanki at IIT Bombay was met with widespread protest in academic campuses across the country. While IIT Bombay’s internal probe committee concluded that there was no evidence of caste-based discrimination, a suicide note was found by the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Maharashtra government, which points to caste-based discrimination.
Readers — especially those on college campuses — interested in the issue are encouraged to consult websites such as Caste on Campus, which extensively document violations of reservation norms at IITs, or the statement from the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) which emphasises the institutional nature of caste discrimination at the IITs.
More on BBC Documentary Screening
Attempts by student groups to screen the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question at Delhi University have been met with a swift and heavy-handed response: a committee formed by the University has recommended that two PhD scholars be barred from examinations for a year, and six others be punished. The move has been met with further protests from student rights groups.
Similarly, eleven students at the Central University of Rajasthan in Ajmer were suspended for two weeks for watching the BBC documentary. In both cases, the university administrations cited “indiscipline.”
Protests at Punjabi University
The last few weeks have witnessed large-scale protests of a united front of teaching, non-teaching, and student members of the Punjabi University. The protests were triggered by a slash in the funding allocated to the cash-strapped university, and have seen work stoppages and the university main gates blocked.
Other Protests
Members of the Osmania University students’ union have protested the ten-fold increase in PhD fees in various departments.
Students at the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts at Kalakshetra, Chennai have been protesting sexual harrassment by a senior faculty member that has allegedly been going on for years. The college has announced its closure and the postponement of examinations until 6th April in response to the protests.