Rathod Raghuvardhan In the final report submitted by the Telangana Police to the High Court of Telangana, a pivotal question regarding Rohith Vemula’s identity arises. Despite implicating the former Vice Chancellor and BJP leaders in the case, the police absolved them of any wrongdoing. They asserted that Rohith Vemula was cognizant of not belonging to …
Caste-based Discrimination and Suicides in Navodaya Vidyalayas: A Grave Concern
Neeraj Bunkar Navodaya Vidyalayas, established under the vision of the former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi, were conceived to ensure holistic development of underprivileged children from rural areas and promote social justice. Presently, there are around 700 such residential schools across India, aiming to provide quality education to marginalized students. However, instances of caste-based discrimination …
When will the suicides of Dalit, Tribal students stop?
Vikas Parashram Meshram Referring to the recent incident of the alleged suicide of Darshan Solanki, a Dalit student in their first year of B.Tech at IIT Bombay, the 50th Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, said suicide incidents among marginalized students are on the rise, and research has proven it. In February, there was the …
Are IITs safe for Dalit Students?
The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), IIT Bombay Aniket Ambhore, a student of electrical engineering, had fallen to his death from the sixth floor of hostel 13 on September 4, 2014. An SC student, he was alleged to have committed suicide. After his parents wrote to the IIT director, a three-member committee was set …
Systematic Dismantling of Social Justice & Equity in Higher Education by the Modi Government
Dr. Magilan Karthikeyan In the Indian union of states, the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are considered the most socially and educationally disadvantaged groups among the other disadvantaged sections, namely other backward castes (OBCs) and religious minorities.1 Despite several policy interventions, the number of OBC/SC/ST/Minority students enrolled in higher education continues to remain …
How to turn a murder into suicide: Sumitra Bhave’s ‘Kasav’
Rahul Gaikwad Every now and then one comes across some or the other celebrated so-called progressive leader/writer/activist who turns out to be absolutely shallow, superfluous and even hypocritical upon closer examination. This has been the case with Vijay Tendulkar and his Kanyadaan drama; or Pandit Anand Patwardhan’s Jai Bhim Comrade where he portrayed Ambedkarite assertion …
Say No to Dowry
Bushra Afreen We celebrate Women’s Day every year with different themes. This year, the theme is #chooseTochallenge so I #chooseTochallenge. If marriage is a vehicle, where male and female are two equals, why is dowry given by the bride’s family? While both males and females make equal efforts to nurse their families; in married life, …
Asserting voices of marginalized youth in university space
Sudarshan Kasbe In 2017 two dalit students pursuing higher education committed suicides in premier institutes of India which really shook the nation. These suicides cannot be looked at as independent events but are subject to critical scrutiny by researchers in the wake of the hierarchical structure present in Indian education system. After 73 years of …
Let’s move on from this simplistic debate of nepotism in Bollywood
Anurag Minus Verma For the last few weeks, nepotism and insider/outsider has become the trending topic. As an outsider who is working in the Mumbai industry for more than 5 years, I would like to add that the debate of nepotism is a simplistic debate. There are much deeper issues which are plaguing the industry …