Mumbai: A month after the unfortunate demise of IIT Bombay’s 18-year-old Darshan Solanki, the institute has not held an open house meeting as promised. On February 13, 2023, the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Bombay held a prayer meeting in memory of 18-year-old Darshan Solanki who allegedly jumped to death from his hostel building.
At the end of IIT’s condolence meeting, various student groups demanded solutions for alleged caste discrimination issues persisting within the campus which could have led the student to take the extreme step.
IIT Bombay Director Subhasis Chaudhuri noted that the administration was open to discussion at another time rather than at the prayer meeting in remembrance of Darshan. The Director then agreed to meet with the protesting students within a week to address their concerns. The promised meeting has still not been conducted after a month. “The IIT took no initiative from its end and the students stopped pushing due to mid-semester examinations so the meet never happened,” said a Ph.D. scholar from IIT Bombay.
SC/ST cell's survey reports point towards caste bias
This comes after the findings of surveys conducted by the SC/ST cell at IIT Bombay were released by the media. The Cell conducted two voluntary surveys that were sent to a total of 2,000 IIT- B SC/ST students in 2022, of which 388 participated in the survey conducted in February and 134 took part in the June survey the same year.
The February survey revealed that nearly one-third of all participating students could not talk openly about their caste identities while the June survey showed students remained apprehensive about both student welfare bodies on campus, namely the SC/ST student cell and the Students Wellness Centre (SWC).
“Since we have not heard back from the administration, we might connect with the police team constituted to prove the death . We have several plans of action for the coming days,” said a member of the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle(APPSC), a student collective at IIT Bombay.
The survey findings, however, have still not been officially released by the institute.
IIT Bombay's SC/ST Cell releases a statement
While talking to The FPJ, a spokesperson from IIT Bombay's SC/ST cell stated, "The SC/ST cell has conducted two informal surveys to explore the most urgent needs as well as what types of caste bias students may be facing. The cell used the inputs to take up several tasks on priority basis to make the campus more inclusive. These included a mentorship program, creation of various channels to provide help in scholarship-related matters, financial matters as well as public talks by well-known experts to create awareness. The cell has also used the inputs to create a caste sensitization course, which is under development since several months.
Since the surveys were voluntary, and only a fraction of the students filled the survey, although the results are very useful qualitatively, they are harder to interpret quantitatively.
Thus, while the SC/ST student cell took up several steps to address issues identified in the surveys, which was the key purpose of conducting the survey, the specific survey results were not shared earlier with the IIT senior administration.
It may also be noted that the SC/ST student cell surveys were taken before the current 1st year batch entered IIT, and thus provide no specific inputs on the experiences of the current 1st year batch.
IIT Bombay remains committed to ensuring that our students do not face any form of discrimination. It has already taken several steps, and will continue to take more steps in this direction.
For specific issues related to the case of Mr. Darshan Solanki, we request everyone to wait for the SIT report and avoid unnecessary speculation."
