Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
SC/ST Joint Action Committee's statement
The SC/ST Joint Action Committee, University of Hyderabad, wishes to bring to your notice the gruesome death of a Dalit, Mr Senthil Kumar, a first year Ph.D research scholar in the School of Physics on Febraury 24. Mr Senthil Kumar was found dead in his hostel room and is stated to have committed suicide due to non-allotment of Supervisor and withdrawal of fellowship.
Mr Senthil Kumar hails from a very poor family and his parents have been surviving on pig rearing. He was a first generation educated person and he completed his MSc from American College, Madurai and Mphil from Pondicherry Central University. He joined University of Hyderabad as a Research Scholar in 2007 and failed in one of the subjects in the course work. He gave a supplementary examination and it appears that he feared that he may fail again in the supplementary exam and that his PhD registration may be terminated once for all. It was this fear that he would go back home without a PhD which seems to have been the reason for taking his life.
It has to be pointed out that it is only School of Physics in Sciences arbitrarily introducing course work in order to harass Dalit students. The School introduced course work in 2006, which incidentally coincides with the introduction of exclusive scholarships known as Rajiv Gandhi Fellowships given to SCST students. We believe that the extreme arbitrariness of admission and evaluation procedures including the allotment of Research Supervisors has led to this very gruesome incident. The School of Physics has always been a hostile place for students from belonging to rural and lower caste communities.
The SC/ST Joint Action Committee brought this incident to the notice of our Vice Chancellor and he has so far not adequately responded to the situation. Infact, despite several requests, he has avoided meeting the Dalit organisations on the campus. Our Vice Chancellor has been extremely insensitive to issues concerning SC/STs on the Campus. During his two year Vice Chacellorship, the University has been in the public attention for very controversial reasons including the alleged illegal allotment of land to a private party and a recent Central Bureau of Investigation raid on the University administration premises.
Though the University has constituted a committee to probe into the circumstantial details relating to Senthil's death, we think it has not taken the issue seriously because:
a. Firstly, as various Dalit bodies on the campus and Dalit leaders from outside the campus have alleged ill-treatment from the teaching fraternity at large, it is inappropriate to constitute a committee comprising of teachers from inside the university to probe into the death of Senthil.
b. Secondly, it is a medico-legal case; the committee is not adequately equipped to handle the case.
c. Therefore, the SC/ST Joint Action Committee strongly express displeasure regarding the terms of reference and constitution of the committee and demand that the University should invite a sitting judge to probe exclusively into the affairs of the School of Physics and fix responsibility along with the Principal Secretary , Ministry of Human Resources
The University of Hyderabad rusticated 10 Dalit students in 2002 and caused untold misery to their future. We had represented the matters regarding the organised suppression of SC/ST's by the University Authorities since very long time but unfortunately the University authorities never looked into the matter and were very casual in dealing with the harassment and discrimination against our community.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Times of India report
Caste guides your fate at HCU
Dalit Student’s Suicide Brings Caste Bias In Central Varsity Out In The Open
Nikhila Henry TNN
Hyderabad: It took the death of a Dalit student to bring out caste conflicts on the University of Hyderabad (HCU) campus to the fore. After the shocking suicide of Ph D scholar P Senthil Kumar, Dalit students are up in arms against the varsity administration alleging foul play in allotment of guides. According to sources, many Dalit and minority students in the School of Science do not get guides even two years after they join PhD and M Phil programmes. However, academics claimed the students were not allotted guides as many of them do not match up to the standards of the department and it takes almost a year to train them in basics.
“We did make personal recommendations with the academic council to not include students who are not up to the mark. We insist on course work as it is very necessary to learn the basics,” dean of School of Physics Vipin Srivastav told ‘TOI’. However, many students are not happy with the course work proposal. Of the eight schools, only Physics and English departments insist on course work. Incidentally, Senthil Kumar was from the School of Physics. “Though the administration quotes rules, according to which students will have to complete the first year without a guide, it should not be forgotten that the rule was introduced in 2007. There are several students who had joined three years ago and are yet to be allotted a guide,” T Nageshwara Rao, a former student of School of Physics, told ‘TOI’.
The one-year course work rule was introduced in 2007 as some departments found it difficult to accommodate many students recommended by a committee for admissions for reserved category. According to the current rules of the university, a student will be taken under a guide only after they finish their course work which will be regular classes for six months and an examination at the end of the semester. However, this system was introduced during the 2007-08 academic year. In the 2006 batch, six students who were pursuing PhD programmes were not allotted guides.
“I had no reason to stick on as there was nothing to be done even after six months. Hence, I went back to my home town,” said a girl student hailing from Guntur district. Meanwhile, Vipin Srivastava stated many faculty members had taken in as many students as possible. “There is no discrimination on the basis of caste,” he added. “There is a great demand for experimental physicists whereas there are no takers for Theoretical Physics as it is tough. Students who did not get a guide were not capable to take up theory courses though it was offered to them,” Srivastava said. Anyhow, it seems the castebased conflicts are swept under the carpet. In most cases, the students were afraid to come out in the open as they feel it would eventually hamper their future. “In many cases, students who are not liked by the faculty do not get references to pursue research at institutes abroad,” a student of the chemistry department, requesting anonymity, told ‘TOI’.
According to the students, many faculty have issues in referring names of ‘quota students’ for admissions in foreign universities. “In the department of chemistry, students are allotted guides only when the admission formalities are completed. However, we have a selection process on the basis of interviews which will filter only good students,” School of Chemistry dean M Periaswamy said. “We will not allow the course work policy to continue in the university, especially when it indirectly led to the death of a student. The students will have to be allotted guides immediately,” an Ambedkar Students’ Union representative told ‘TOI’.
Dalit Student’s Suicide Brings Caste Bias In Central Varsity Out In The Open
Nikhila Henry TNN
Hyderabad: It took the death of a Dalit student to bring out caste conflicts on the University of Hyderabad (HCU) campus to the fore. After the shocking suicide of Ph D scholar P Senthil Kumar, Dalit students are up in arms against the varsity administration alleging foul play in allotment of guides. According to sources, many Dalit and minority students in the School of Science do not get guides even two years after they join PhD and M Phil programmes. However, academics claimed the students were not allotted guides as many of them do not match up to the standards of the department and it takes almost a year to train them in basics.
“We did make personal recommendations with the academic council to not include students who are not up to the mark. We insist on course work as it is very necessary to learn the basics,” dean of School of Physics Vipin Srivastav told ‘TOI’. However, many students are not happy with the course work proposal. Of the eight schools, only Physics and English departments insist on course work. Incidentally, Senthil Kumar was from the School of Physics. “Though the administration quotes rules, according to which students will have to complete the first year without a guide, it should not be forgotten that the rule was introduced in 2007. There are several students who had joined three years ago and are yet to be allotted a guide,” T Nageshwara Rao, a former student of School of Physics, told ‘TOI’.
The one-year course work rule was introduced in 2007 as some departments found it difficult to accommodate many students recommended by a committee for admissions for reserved category. According to the current rules of the university, a student will be taken under a guide only after they finish their course work which will be regular classes for six months and an examination at the end of the semester. However, this system was introduced during the 2007-08 academic year. In the 2006 batch, six students who were pursuing PhD programmes were not allotted guides.
“I had no reason to stick on as there was nothing to be done even after six months. Hence, I went back to my home town,” said a girl student hailing from Guntur district. Meanwhile, Vipin Srivastava stated many faculty members had taken in as many students as possible. “There is no discrimination on the basis of caste,” he added. “There is a great demand for experimental physicists whereas there are no takers for Theoretical Physics as it is tough. Students who did not get a guide were not capable to take up theory courses though it was offered to them,” Srivastava said. Anyhow, it seems the castebased conflicts are swept under the carpet. In most cases, the students were afraid to come out in the open as they feel it would eventually hamper their future. “In many cases, students who are not liked by the faculty do not get references to pursue research at institutes abroad,” a student of the chemistry department, requesting anonymity, told ‘TOI’.
According to the students, many faculty have issues in referring names of ‘quota students’ for admissions in foreign universities. “In the department of chemistry, students are allotted guides only when the admission formalities are completed. However, we have a selection process on the basis of interviews which will filter only good students,” School of Chemistry dean M Periaswamy said. “We will not allow the course work policy to continue in the university, especially when it indirectly led to the death of a student. The students will have to be allotted guides immediately,” an Ambedkar Students’ Union representative told ‘TOI’.
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