There are only
a handful of Dalit students and faculty members at the elite institute,
but they face widespread discrimination and harassment
PC Vinoj
Kumar
Chennai
 |
Cast-off:
activists demanding the filling of the reserved quota
for Dalits describe IIT Madras as a modern day ‘agraharam’
— a Brahmin enclave
Photos J. Shankar |
| |
Sujee Teppal, who had
scored 94 percent in her intermediate exam, was failed in her
‘preparatory’ course |
All the noise against
extending reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in centrally-funded
institutions might be a little irrelevant given that an institute like
IIT Madras has parted with only a fraction of the 22.5 percent quota
for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled
Tribes (STs). According to information provided by the institute’s
deputy registrar, Dr K. Panchalan, in September 2005, Dalits accounted
for only 11.9 percent of the number of students. They were even fewer
in the higher courses — 2.3 percent in ms (Research) and 5.8 percent
in Ph.D. Out of a total of 4,687 students, Dalits made up only 559.
Activists who have
been fighting for proper implementation of reservations for Dalits describe
IIT Madras as a modern day agraharam — a Brahmin enclave. Located
on a 250 hectare wooded campus in the heart of the city, the majority
of the 460 faculty members and students here are Brahmins. According
to WB Vasantha Kandasamy, assistant professor in the Mathematics department,
there are just four Dalits among the institute’s entire faculty,
a meagre 0.86 percent of the total faculty strength. There are about
50 OBC faculty members, and the rest belong to the upper castes, she
says.
Vasantha says Dalit
Ph.D scholars are routinely harassed. “They are forced to change
their topic of research midway. They are unduly delayed, and are failed
in examinations and vivas. It is a stressful atmosphere for them.”
She says her support of Dalit students got her into the bad books of
the management. (See Box)
There have been
many agitations against the management in the past over not filling
the Dalit quota and the alleged harassment of Dalit students. Activists
say there were even fewer Dalit students and faculty members in the
institute some years ago, and it was only because of efforts by parties
like Paatali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), Viduthalai
Chiruthaigal (VC) and Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK) that the situation
improved. In 1996, K. Viswanath, general secretary of the IIT SC/ST
Employees Welfare Association, remarked in a letter to the institute’s
director that the institute was yet to have a professor from the SC/ST
community even after 37 years of its existence. There were only two
Dalits of the rank of assistant professor and there was just one Dalit
scientific officer, he noted.
 |
Shunned:
Vasantha Kandasamy has remained an assistant professor
for the past 17 years |
| |
IIT
director MS Ananth is an Iyengar Brahmin. So are four of the
six deans in the institute,
says former
MP
Era Anbarasu
|
In 2000, the PDK
published a book based on a study it did on the anti-Dalit attitude
in the institute. The study noted that there were several departments
at the institute where even after 41 years, “not a single Dalit
student has been selected for doing Ph.D or has successfully completed
his degree”. The study also stated that, “almost all M.Tech
and ms Students in IIT were Brahmins.” The PDK is now demanding
that the institute come out with a white paper providing details of
the total number of Dalit students who have completed postgraduate and
doctoral programmes. “The National Commission for SC/ST should
closely monitor if reservation policy for Dalits is being strictly followed
in student admissions,” says Viduthalai Rajendran, PDK general
secretary.
The PDK is not alone
in levelling such charges. Retired ias officer V. Karuppan, who is state
convener of the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), recalls
that in 2005 a “meritorious” Dalit student was denied admission
to the Ph.D course in the Mathematics department. “They didn’t
call him for an interview initially. But he was asked to appear for
the interview after we argued his case with the authorities. But in
the interview, they asked him irrelevant questions and failed him,”
he says.
There have been
many complaints of discrimination against Dalit students in the campus.
The PDK study cites the case of a Dalit student Sujee Teppal, who had
scored 94 percent in Maths, Physics, and Chemistry in the public intermediate
exam. Sujee had also secured admission in bits, Ranchi and bits, Pilani
but chose to attend IIT Madras, where in spite of her meritorious track
record she was made to join the mandatory one-year “preparatory
course” for Dalit students. According to the PDK study, “at
the end of the course in which she only re-learnt her 12th standard
syllabus, she was declared failed.” The institute refused to reverse
its decision in spite of the intervention of the National Commission
for SC/ST and the then state SC/ST minister Selvaraj in her favour.
Another serious
charge against the institute is that successive directors have flouted
rules in appointing faculty members, and do not advertise vacancies
in newspapers. Former Congress MP Era Anbarasu has brought the issue
to the notice of Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh in
several letters. In the memorandum submitted to the minister on September
2, 2006, he states: “The ambiguity is apparent because even the
number of vacancies is not announced. In order to broaden this arbitrariness,
applications to the entry level position of assistant professor are
invited for all the 15 departments at the same time. Norms and guidelines
for selection are wilfully abandoned by the respective departments.”
Anbarasu wants a
high-level committee to probe irregularities in appointments and the
violation of reservation policies by the IIT management. He has levelled
charges against director MS Ananth, whom he calls a “highly casteist
man”. He says that disregarding all norms, Ananth has mostly chosen
faculty members from his own community of Iyengar Brahmins. Of the six
deans in the institute, four are from the Iyengar community.
In his memorandum
to Singh, Anbarasu has demanded that the present director be replaced
with someone from the OBC/SC/ST community as the institute has had only
Brahmins as directors so far. “I met the minister (Arjun Singh)
three or four times and discussed with him these issues. He promised
to order a probe, but nothing has happened till now,” he says.
A PIL filed by Karuppan
last year against the allegedly flawed selection process in IIT Madras
was dismissed by the High Court. Karuppan has now filed a review petition.
He also met the IIT director along with a senior leader of the CPI to
discuss the reservation issue, and says the director told him that no
policy of reservation for SC/ST was applicable to IIT Madras. Karuppan
says there are several cases pending in courts against the institute’s
selection and reservation policy. They include writ petitions by the
IIT Backward Classes Employees Welfare Association, and the Vanniar
Mahasangam.
An angry Thol Thirumavalavan,
general secretary of the Dalit Panthers of India, says, “Dalits
are only working as sweepers and scavengers in the institute”.
He wants the IIT management to release a white paper containing details
of appointments and admissions given to Dalits and OBCs. “The
Tamil Nadu government should demand this information from the institute,”
he says.
When Tehelka tried
to meet IIT Director MS Ananth to get his views on the allegations against
him and the institute, his secretary wanted this correspondent to send
a mail stating the purpose for the interview. In the mail to the director,
it was stated that the interview was needed “on the issue of SC/ST
reservation policy in IIT, Madras.” His reaction on Anbarasu’s
memorandum to the Union hrd minister levelling charges of corruption
against him was also sought. However, his secretary said the director
was not available for comments.
