First-year IIT-Bombay student Darshan Solanki’s suicide raised questions of caste-based discrimination in central institutions in the Lok Sabha. S Venkatesan, a member of Parliament from CPI-M, quizzed the Ministry of Education about student suicides, especially by pupils belonging to SC and ST communities. He also asked the MoE for details of SC/ST students’ cells in Central Institutions of Higher Education. In a written response to the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Education, Dr Subhas Sarkar, said that 19 out of 23 IITs, 14 of 25 IIITs, 26 of 32 NITs, and all IISERs and IIMs have SC/ST students cells.
He said that the remaining institutions “have set up mechanisms such as Equal Opportunity Cell, Student Grievance Cell, Student Grievance Committee, Student Social Club, Liaison officers, and Liaison Committee to address any grievances of SC/ ST students.”
Dr Sarkar further told the Lower House of the Parliament that in the last five years, there have been a total of 61 suicides in such institutions. His reply read, “33 suicide cases from IITs, 24 cases from NITs and 4 cases from IIMs have been reported.”
Darshan Solanki, a chemical engineering student hailing from Ahmedabad, reportedly died by suicide on February 12, the day following the conclusion of his semester exams. According to authorities, Solanki allegedly leapt from the seventh floor of his hostel block on the IIT premises. In a subsequent development, his family claimed that Solanki had been a victim of caste-based discrimination during his time on campus.
The IIT-Bombay established a 12-member committee that investigated the events surrounding Solanki’s death, however, did not give credit to that. The committee’s interim report, submitted on March 2, stated that no “specific evidence of direct caste-based discrimination” had been found.
According to Indian Express, on March 6, one Professor Sharmila sent an email to all faculty members, claiming that the committee had failed to address “systemic causes for the deathly prevalence of academic anxiety in this campus.”
The minister, too, did not make a mention of the alleged systemic discrimination in his reply, addressing only “psychological stress”. “The institute is further strengthening its existing mechanism for prevention and early detection of psychological stress,” his reply said.
In one of the questions, Venkatesan wrote about one of the head counsellors of the Student Wellness Centre at IIT Bombay. He claimed that the institution had admitted this person had signed an anti-reservation memorandum. He asked if this would not affect “the confidence of SC/ST students to approach [said person] for their grievances”.
Dr Sarkar said, “After the issue came to the notice of the institute in 2022, the person has been removed from the head counsellor position at the Student Wellness Centre. IIT Bombay has appointed a new in-charge for Student Wellness Centre. The institute has initiated the recruitment of one counsellor each from the SC and ST communities so that students can approach them for their grievances.”
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