By Deutsche Welle (World News) | Created at 2025-04-02 12:51:10 | Updated at 2025-04-05 01:01:04
2 days ago
When Amit (name changed on request) was admitted to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), he was elated.
"I was excited to learn at such an elite institute and the opportunities it would give me," he told DW.
With tough entrance exams and lucrative high-paying job offers for graduates, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) are among India's most coveted schools.
The IITs are a network of 23 universities known for their excellence in research, science and technology studies. Their acceptance rate is infamously competitive, falling between 0.5 and 2.5% across the network of institutes.
"What I was not prepared for was the ingrained casteism on campus. In my first year, I lost a lot of weight and constantly felt like I did not belong there. I decided to stick it out, but it hasn't been easy," Amit said.
"After coming to know that I am from the reserved category, my classmates started treating me differently," he added, referring to affirmative action policies enshrined in the Indian constitution to uplift the communities that are historically part of the lowest rungs of the country's caste hierarchy.
Caste determines a person's social status in many South Asian societies, and those considered to be from "lower" castes face systemic discrimination.
"The upper caste classmates had their own cliques, and I felt excluded and isolated. People made passing comments on how there were more deserving candidates, and I only got admission due to my caste."
Caste discrimination on campus
Amit's experience is not unique. A 2019-20 study from the IIT Delhi — the most recent available — found that 75% of students from historically disadvantaged caste groups faced discrimination through caste-based remarks.
The same study found that about 59% of students from the "General Category" — which lumps together those from historically privileged castes — either agreed with or were indifferent to these caste-based remarks.
Government-funded institutions in India reserve a percentage of seats for historically disadvantaged groups as part of affirmative action. However, many upper-caste and general-category students and faculty say that this undermines meritocracy.
"IITs are high-value institutions where traditional upper caste, middle class people want to go. They want these places to be their monopolies, and they were until some time ago when reservations were not really implemented," Surinder S. Jodhka, professor of sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, told DW.
He added that students from underprivileged groups "are seen being entitled on the basis of reservations whereas students from the general category see it as an achievement because of their merit."
"This binary is constructed in a strange way, but it has come to be institutionalized. It has been taken for granted, and it goes all the way from admission to job recruitment," Jodhka said.
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What discrimination do students face?
A student from IIT Bombay, who did not wish to be named, told DW that caste status can often be seen in students' surnames. Many Indian surnames are associated with caste background and identity.
"There is a sort of segregation among students on caste lines. Even if some upper caste classmates are friendlier towards you, they still make casual casteist remarks, call us 'reservation kids' or share posts against reservations on social media," the student told DW.
"Lately, IIT campuses have started having chain restaurants and coffee shops inside the campus. These places are unaffordable to a lot of us from reserved categories, and further creates an atmosphere of segregation," he added.
The case of Darshan Solanki, an 18-year-old first year student who died by suicide in 2023, is still fresh in the minds of many of the students.
His family and friends reported him facing caste discrimination on campus in the days leading up to his death. However, a report by the university found "no specific evidence" of caste-based discrimination.
"There is often the narrative that these students took their own lives due to academic pressures or other problems. They never want to look into our experiences that make it so hard to focus on academics," Amit said.
N Sukumar, professor of political science at Delhi University, told DW that "whenever there is a suicide on campus, the administration will try to pacify the parents and say they will take care of everything."
"They will not allow any kind of protests within the campus. Even if you try to organize any such agitations, the administration tries to penalize the students. There is a complete silencing of voices," said Sukumar, who has published a book studying caste discrimination and exclusion in Indian universities.
How have universities responded to caste discrimination?
In recent years, several IITs have set up so-called Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) cells to tackle caste discrimination. These bodies are supposed to address student complaints and ensure reservation policies are properly implemented in admissions and hiring.
Some institutes, like IIT Bombay, have gone further — introducing caste awareness courses and conducting surveys to understand discrimination on campus.
The Ministry of Education directed government-funded universities, including IITs, to fill all reserved faculty positions by September 2022.
However, data from a right to information document obtained by the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student advocacy group, showed that 14 departments at IIT Delhi and eight at IIT Bombay had no faculty members from reserved categories as of 2023.
In response to this, IIT Bombay's director Shireesh Kedare released a statement saying the institute was making efforts to hire top quality candidates, and often candidates applied from the general category instead of reserved.
"Yes, having a diverse faculty will really help. However, the change must happen at the top as well. More IIT directors need to be aware and proactive about caste issues. The SC/ST cell should ideally work for the students, but it works for the university," said Sukumar.
*Editor's note: If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://www.befrienders.org
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
