Ashoka University row: How prevalent is casteism in Indian universities?

A video of students at Haryana’s Ashoka University purportedly making casteist slogans has stirred a row on social media. In the footage shared by a user on X, the students, who have been demanding a caste census on campus, can be heard shouting the slogan “Brahmin-Baniyawaad Murdabad”.

Former Infosys Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mohandas Pai retweeted the post, asking why there was “so much caste hatred” at the varsity. He also tagged Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to “look into” why “such hatred prevails”.

This is very very shocking if true why is there so much caste hatred in @AshokaUniv ? Will @sbikh Pl take action to stop such hatred, if true? @dpradhanbjp Govt should look into why such hatred prevails? How can universities keep quiet? https://t.co/7hEGtcNfvv

— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) March 27, 2024

Following the uproar on social media, Ashoka University said in a statement on Wednesday (27 February) that it “attaches great value to freedom of expression and vigorous debate, but it also attaches great importance to mutual respect”.

“The University will take all measures necessary to ensure that peace and harmony in the campus is not disturbed,” it wrote on X.

Ashoka University attaches great value to freedom of expression and vigorous debate, but it also attaches great importance to mutual respect. The university deplores expressions of hatred directed against any individual or group.

Ashoka University's Guidelines on Protecting…

— Ashoka University (@AshokaUniv) March 27, 2024

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As per an Indian Express report, the Social Justice Forum (SJF), an independent student body advocating the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, was leading the protests to press for the demands of a caste census on campus and an anti-discrimination cell. The varsity in a statement on Tuesday agreed to set up an Equal Opportunity cell to recommend policies on improving inclusion and diversity on campus, the report added.

The incident has put the spotlight on the alleged rampant casteism existing in India’s higher education institutions.

Let’s take a closer look.

Caste bias in higher education in India

The Indian education system has not been exempt from caste biases. The deaths of students Rohith Vemula, Dr Payal Tadvi and Darshan Solanki by suicide due to alleged caste discrimination in recent years have put the spotlight on the menace.

A study titled Caste Identities and Structures of Threats: Stigma, Prejudice, and Social Representation in Indian Universities published last May highlighted the casteism existing in Indian higher universities.

As per the paper, students from the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities face prejudices, differential treatment and social exclusion in education spaces, reported Mooknayak.

The study found that during the MPhil admissions exam at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), “lower” caste students who had gotten good marks in the written portion were “unfairly” marked in vivas.

The data shared by the Union government last December revealed that about 13,626 students from the SC, ST and OBC communities had dropped out of Central varsities, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) since 2018.

The data came in the wake of a string of student suicides, most of whom were from marginalised communities, at IITs in Mumbai, Delhi, and Madras in 2023. These tragic incidents had led to hundreds of students coming up with stories of caste-based discrimination at their varsities, reported The Hindu.

The underrepresentation of faculty from marginalised communities is also a stark concern. As per data presented by the education ministry in Lok Sabha in 2019, out of 6,043 faculty members at the 23 IITs, only 149 were SCs and 21 belonged to the ST community.

Similarly, out of the 642 faculty members across 13 IIMs, only four were from SC and one faculty member was ST. A similar pattern was visible at the University of Delhi.

In 2022, the education ministry told Parliament that only 30 per cent of identified vacancies for reserved category posts were filled at IITs and Central universities.

Earlier in February, Right to Information (RTI) data obtained by a student outfit Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC) revealed that IIT Kanpur has no ST faculty across 14 of its 19 departments, reported Mooknayak. Moreover, eight departments of IIT Kanpur have no SC faculty and three departments have no OBC faculty.

Students face caste bias

Many students have opened up about the biases they face at their educational institutes allegedly because of their caste.

“When I was enrolled for an undergraduate course, I was vocal about Dalit identity and vouched for the rights of Dalits and marginalised sections. Most of my upper-caste mates were against reservation. I was always typecast, stereotyped and even labelled with derogatory nicknames,” Nishat Kabir, the then student at Ambedkar University in New Delhi, told Anadolu Agency (AA) in 2022.

Caste discrimination is not always overt but manifests in covert ways. At premier engineering colleges, asking the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) rank of students is allegedly a way to find out their caste.

An internal survey at the IIT Bombay conducted in 2022 found that over 37 per cent of Dalit and Adivasi students claimed they were inquired about their entrance examination ranks by fellow students with the intention to know their caste, The Hindu reported last year.

Speaking to Article 14 in 2023, a PhD scholar from IIT-Bombay said, “On campus, if a student has a rank around 8,000, it is easy to figure out that he or she belongs to a reserved category. Your social category, class, and caste are determined by your ranking”.

“Once other students find out about a student’s caste, they eventually start excluding him/her from social and academic circles.”

From facing taunts like “quota students” to isolation by peers and “subtly critical” remarks about academic performance, students from marginalised communities are subjected to biases at universities, noted Article 14.

A study, The Steady Drumbeat of Institutional Casteism, released in September 2021 by civil society groups stressed on caste discrimination in medical education in India.

“Candidates from marginalised communities who get admission through reservation are accused of securing special favours from the government and the authorities,” the report had said.

Some students from marginalised communities who come from remote areas often witness a language barrier as it is difficult for them to converse in English, reportedly leading to social exclusion on campuses.

“The reason institutions do not accept caste bias on campus is that if they accept it, then they have to act on the discrimination and implement the policies. The directors in higher institutions are anti-reservation, hence anti-Constitution,” Delhi University professor N Sukumar told Article 14 last year.

What can be done?

There is a lot that needs to be done to get rid of caste discrimination in education spaces.

“Caste discrimination in higher education is unquestionably a problem,” former chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Sukhadeo Thorat told Article 14 last year. He said that though the UGC has norms against caste discrimination in higher education, they are not being followed in reality.

The 2021 study on casteism suggested there was a need to treat caste-based discrimination and institutionalised caste-based discrimination as a violation of the constitutional rights of students, especially those belonging to marginalised castes, tribes and minority communities, and not just ragging, reported AA.

“The inadequacies of the current legal frameworks and colossal gaps in their implementation warrant a separate legal framework to prevent and respond to caste-based discriminatory practices in educational institutions,” the report had said.

Prakash Raj, a doctoral candidate at the University of Hyderabad, wrote for The News Minute in 2023 that the UGC “must enact a law that makes caste discrimination in educational institutions a criminal offence”.

Introducing caste and gender awareness programmes in academia is also the need of the hour, according to Raju Kendre, the founder of Eklavya India Foundation, reported ThePrint. He also recommended setting up an autonomous body by the government to ensure faculty posts from marginalised communities are being filled.

With inputs from agencies