The Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (APPSC IIT Bombay) called for a gathering in remembrance today, February 12, of Darshan Solanki, a former student of IIT Bombay who passed away last year.
Darshan, who was a first-generation Dalit student of engineering, died by suicide after allegedly experiencing casteism and discrimination. His death reignited conversations about caste discrimination and the plight of SC/ST and OBC students in higher education institutions.
“Assemble in remembering Darshan Solanki on his first death anniversary,” the call to gathering shared by APPSC IIT Bombay on their Instagram stories read. The announcement further directs students to assemble at the open lawn near the campus's Main Building at 6 pm today.
Speaking to EdexLive about the event, as well as the condition of students from lowered castes at IITs after Darshan’s demise, a member of APPSC IIT Bombay says, on the condition of anonymity, “IIT Bombay has introduced guidelines that prevent discrimination, like preventing students from asking each other their ranks. So a few measures are being taken on paper. However, the on-ground situation remains the same.”
The member says that this is especially apparent in how IITs have been violating reservation policies — in terms of both student enrollments as well as faculty recruitments. As per Right to Information (RTI) data obtained by the collective, 20 departments in the institute did not admit SC students, 11 did not admit ST students, and five departments did not admit OBC students in 2023.
Further, the member points to how most IITs still do not have functioning SC/ST Cells and in IITs that do, the SC/ST Cells are “useless”, and do not take any initiative to address caste-based issues on the campuses. “Even IIT Delhi got an office for its SC/ST Cell only recently,” they add.
The only initiatives and conversations around casteism have been coming from independent student organisations like APPSC, says the member.
“Soon after Darshan’s death last year, the director of IIT Bombay promised an Open House discussion on casteism. That is still yet to happen. Across IITs, the administration’s mindset and ignorance about caste has remained the same,” they add — despite two more suicides of SC students at IIT Delhi after Darshan’s death.
They further pointed out how, in all these cases, the IITs did not even mention the caste locations of the victims until backlash from the students, indicating their refusal to acknowledge the existence of casteism.
“To add to this ignorance, most IITs are also introducing segregated seating for vegetarian students, which reinforces caste divisions and legalises untouchability on campus,” says the member.