Earlier this week, the Board of Students Publications (BSP), the official student media body of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, circulated a Caste Discrimination Survey. A few hours later, it was withdrawn by the board.
Explaining the reason behind this move to EdexLive, a source from IIT Delhi disclosed that the administration was not in the loop when the survey was circulated.
"The survey was withdrawn because the proper channel was not followed," they stated. Further, he added that the institute was not fully aware of the survey and has withdrawn it after becoming aware of it. "The execution of the survey was not done with proper permissions," they shared. And if such a step has to be taken, it has to be executed with due approvals, he reiterated.
Complaint by SC/ST cell
On the other hand, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC and ST) Cell of the institute filed a complaint on September 7 against the survey. In fact, a few screenshots of the survey form were also circulated on social media.
In a series of tweets posted by Voice of IITD account (can we give the twitter handle in brackets here) on X (@VoiceofIITD) on September 7, posted, "After an open house discussion concerning the suicide of Anil Kumar, who is a member of the SC community, the Board of Student Publication at IIT Delhi circulated a survey form. One of the striking questions on the survey, as shown below, raises several questions:
1. If the majority of students choose to abolish it, would the institute consider eliminating the reservation policy?
2. If people express a prefer not to answer, should this topic not be addressed?
3. Are they exempt from adhering to government regulations?"
In response to this, a used on X tweeted, "Is the board or administration finally acknowledging that significant number of suicides are occurring within the SC/ST community?".
Additionally, another tweet said, "Have this survey took the views of an offical institute body like SC/ST cell already working? Reservation is not about a feeling."
Official response?
When asked if there was any official response after filing a complaint, a member of the cell, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, "The administration has agreed to work on the survey in collaboration with BSP and the SC/ST Cell." However, the member of the cell said, "We can go ahead with the collaborative effort for the survey only if the data is handled by us."
The student, who is also a member of the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) at IIT Delhi, stressed that when it comes to taking any decision on such matters, or even in general, the SC/ST Cell should be looped in. The member of the cell said, "There are concerns about how the data would be handled and the anonymity of those who participate in the survey. Therefore, we demanded that the survey should be conducted by us," the student told EdexLive.
Additionally, disclosing their next decision, the member of the cell told EdexLive, "In the coming week, they will be working on coming up with a survey."
Survey's roots
To recall, in the last two months, IIT Delhi reported two student suicides of two Scheduled Caste (SC) students. While one was identified as Anil Kumar, a BTech student of the Mathematics and Computing Department, another student was Ayush Ashna of the same department.
Following this, IIT Delhi students were outraged and demanded an investigation into these alleged incidents of caste discrimination and an inquiry against the Mathematics and Computing Department.
Therefore, it is said that in the wake of these two deaths, the Board of Student Publications circulated the survey.
