{"id":111,"date":"2023-04-20T21:51:29","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T21:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/?p=111"},"modified":"2023-04-20T21:51:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T21:51:30","slug":"monthly-update-march-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/2023\/04\/20\/monthly-update-march-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Monthly Update, March \u201823"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>Darshan Solanki<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s internal probe committee concluded that there was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mid-day.com\/mumbai\/mumbai-news\/article\/mumbai-darshan-solanki-suicide-iit-b-panel-says-no-caste-harassment-23274035\">no evidence<\/a> of caste-based discrimination, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thequint.com\/news\/education\/darshan-solanki-suicide-note-iit-bombay-dalit-student-death-case-mumbai-police-sit-education-latest-news#read-more\">suicide note<\/a> was found by the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Maharashtra government, which points to caste-based discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Readers \u2014 especially those on college campuses \u2014 interested in the issue are encouraged to consult websites such as <a href=\"https:\/\/casteoncampus.wordpress.com\/\">Caste on Campus<\/a>, which extensively document violations of reservation norms at IITs, or the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mid-day.com\/mumbai\/mumbai-news\/article\/iit-bombay-suicide-rights-group-says-solanki-had-told-his-sister-about-discrimination-he-faced-at-the-institute-23273509\">statement<\/a> from the People\u2019s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) which emphasises the institutional nature of caste discrimination at the IITs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2>More on BBC Documentary Screening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Attempts by student groups to screen the BBC documentary <em>India: The Modi Question<\/em> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/theprint.in\/india\/education\/students-protest-after-du-bars-2-from-exams-for-1-yr-over-bbc-modi-documentary-screening\/1463252\/\">barred from examinations<\/a> for a year, and <a href=\"https:\/\/maktoobmedia.com\/india\/delhi-university-students-protest-arbitrary-punishment-for-screening-of-bbc-film-critical-of-pm-modi\/\">six others<\/a> be punished. The move has been met with further protests from student rights groups.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, eleven students at the Central University of Rajasthan in Ajmer were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/india-news\/suspended-for-watching-bbc-documentary-rajasthan-university-students-101675017534483.html\">suspended<\/a> for two weeks for watching the BBC documentary. In both cases, the university administrations cited \u201cindiscipline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Protests at Punjabi University<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The last few weeks have witnessed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/cities\/chandigarh-news\/punjabi-university-grant-slash-protesting-students-teaching-non-teaching-staff-demand-more-grant-101678720305238.html\">large-scale protests<\/a> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tribuneindia.com\/news\/patiala\/varsity-students-staff-continue-stir-over-grant-488767\">work stoppages<\/a> and the university main gates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tribuneindia.com\/news\/patiala\/protesters-block-punjabi-university-patiala-gates-492415\">blocked<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Other Protests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of the Osmania University students\u2019 union have protested the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.siasat.com\/hyderabad-ou-students-protest-the-ten-time-increase-in-phd-fee-2552155\/\">ten-fold increase<\/a> in PhD fees in various departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students at the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts at Kalakshetra, Chennai have been protesting <a href=\"https:\/\/theprint.in\/features\/kalakshetra-chennai-has-a-posh-problem-students-fume-gag-order-imposed-art-world-shaken\/1461592\/\">sexual harrassment<\/a> by a senior faculty member that has allegedly been going on for years. The college has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/india\/kalakshetra-closes-college-till-april-6-as-students-protest-against-alleged-sexual-harassment-7427131.html\">announced its closure<\/a> and the postponement of examinations until 6th April in response to the protests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Darshan Solanki<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>Readers \u2014 especially those on college campuses \u2014 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\u2019s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) which emphasises the institutional nature of caste discrimination at the IITs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_ti_tpc_template_sync":false,"_ti_tpc_template_id":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[15,26,31,14,30,35,33,13,34,32,36,37],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}