Introduction

We have been protesting against ruining of higher education because of Caste Based Politics, especially in IITs, for the last five years. But minutes of the latest IIT Council meeting show that rather than thinking about lessening the effect of Caste Based Politics in IITs, the IIT Council is trying hard to come up with new ways to increase it (details below). It’s time that we intensified our protest.

Our Demand

A written permission to allow at least one person nominated by us to present himself/herself in person before the IIT Council well before any further action is taken on outcomes of the latest IIT Council meeting. The appearing person will explain our concerns in Detail.

OR

Immediate scrapping of the two proposals of the latest meeting of IIT Council given in the Our Immediate Motivation Section below.

Our Way of Peaceful Democratic Protest

We organized a 1 Day Fast on 2nd October in IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi and IIT Kharagpur. This marked the beginning of our nation-wide protests.

Logic behind the Demand

The IIT Council takes decisions without involving the two biggest stakeholders, namely the students and the alumni of the IITs resulting in ineffective and even dangerous proposals (details below).

The reason we are only asking for permission to present our case before the IIT Council is that we want to adopt a 100 % Gandhian approach and so we want to trust the IIT Council for as long as we can. Furthermore, we have highest regards for the eminent people who are part of the IIT Council.

Our Immediate Motivation

  • In its latest meeting, the IIT Council has come up with a proposal for fee hike wherein General Category students (50 % of total strength) will have to pay to subsidize fees for the reserved category students (remaining 50 % of the total strength). This is an extremely unfortunate proposal for the simple reason that it is burying India deeper into Caste Based Plunder. Even more unfortunate is the fact that it is ruining one of the greatest asset that India has, namely the IITs. Whatever Caste Based Perks have been given since Independence, not one has been re-considered. We feel that it is time to say ‘Enough is Enough’. The deeper we bury this great nation into Caste Based Politics, more the difficulty for us to come out. We are for Subsidy based on Financial Status, not one Based on Caste.
  • Another proposal that the IIT Council has come out with in its last meeting is the proposal of considering Class 12 marks in entrance to Institutions of Excellence. While we are for single entrance examination (it should seek excellence like the JEE), this is an equally unfortunate proposal for the simple reason that Class 12 Education is in sorry state in India and marks are easy to get through rote memorization without analytical skills. Considering Class 12 marks to make the merit list would ruin India of its precious talent. Furthermore, we hereby present a challenge that no statistical system, however complex, can ever normalize the infinite number of variables that affect the Class 12 Examinations of different State Boards. Thus, the proposed system would be partial towards students of some State Boards conducting Class 12 Examinations.

Contact: Ritesh Singh at yashvant.ritesh@gmail.com or +91 9093761704