![Months before Dalit student’s death, IIT-Bombay surveyed caste-discrimination on campus](https://th-i.thgim.com/public/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/tp-others/wih0se/article66287068.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/IIT-Bombay-to-h%2BG6PALH360.3.jpg.jpg)
Months before Dalit student’s death, IIT-Bombay surveyed caste-discrimination on campus
The Hindu
Surveys documented caste discrimination faced by students and mental health issues related to it
Months before the 18-year-old Dalit student, Darshan Solanki, killed himself inside the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay barely three months into his Chemical Engineering course, the institute’s Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Cell (SC/ST Cell) had conducted two campus-wide surveys about caste discrimination and mental health issues faced by SC/ST students, The Hindu has learnt.
Sources who have seen the survey results have said that the two surveys collected information about the caste discrimination experiences of Dalit and Adivasi students on campus and the consequences of these experiences in the forms of mental health issues that they faced.
According to internal documents seen by The Hindu and the sources aware of the survey, the institute knew of issues faced by SC/ST students and the need for “affirmative counselling for marginalized communities”. The institute was working to introduce certain measures to address them based on the results of the surveys, among other things. However, as of February 1, 2023, these measures were still a work in progress, the documents showed.
The institute, in an official statement issued on Tuesday, said, “While no steps can be 100% effective, discrimination by students, if at all it occurs, is an exception.”
The first of these surveys was conducted in February 2022, which collected information about experiences of caste discrimination faced by SC/ST students inside IIT-Bombay and from whom they faced these issues. The survey was circulated amongst all SC/ST students in the institute - numbering around 2,000. Around 20% of the SC/ST students had responded to this survey, sources said.
According to the personal experiences of SC/ST students that the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle has collected, the most common way of caste discrimination within the institute manifested in the form of anti-reservation sentiment. This came in the form of SC/ST students being made fun of and being looked down upon for their reserved category status, faculty “blaming” them for lowering the quality of IITs, and not many mechanisms to address these issues.
A lot of these experiences also made it to the survey conducted by the institute’s SC/ST Cell in February 2022, the sources confirmed.
![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20240611003910.jpg)
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20240610192527.jpg)
Almaya Munnettam (Lay People to the Fore), group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church opposed to the synod-recommended Mass, rejected a circular issued by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur on June 9 to implement the unified Mass in the archdiocese from July 3.
![](/newspic/picid-1269750-20240610183344.jpg)
Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten stated that “not so great decision making” contributed to his side’s defeat to India in the Group-A T20 World Cup clash here on Sunday. The batting unit came apart in the chase, after being well placed at 72 for two. With 48 runs needed from eight overs, Pakistan found a way to panic and lose. “Maybe not so great decision making,” Kirsten said at the post-match press conference, when asked to explain the loss.