<p>The pain of segregation was visible in Rohith Vemula’s five-page suicide note: “The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of stardust. In every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living.”<br /><br /></p>.<p>After a few lines, he reflects on his childhood: “All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this.”<br /><br />But Rohith is not the first Dalit student to commit suicide on University of Hyderabad campus. The Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA) website stated that Vice-Chancellor Prof Podile Apparao, who was the chief warden between 2001-2004, had expelled 12 students from the hostel as they were protesting against the segregation of vegetarian students from non-vegetarians in the dining hall. “It was a clear ploy to divide Dalits and non-Dalits,” the website says. A minor scuffle at the chief warden’s office took place following which the 12 students were rusticated.<br /><br />“Including Rohith, at least nine Dalit students committed suicide on campus in the past one decade, owing to caste politics,” says K P Zuhail, president of the varsity student’s union. While providing details, Zuhail said Dalit students are discriminated and looked down as lesser human beings. “Students from marginalised communities are often laughed at by research guides for their ideas, their dependence on fellowships for maintenance and poor language skills. It is a practice here that guides pick up students from the list based on their surnames like Sarma, Reddy, Choudhary, Gupta, Naidu etc. It is very difficult for a Dalit student to get a guide, even if he gets a guide, they will not allow him to publish a paper,” Zuhail added.<br /><br />Another Dalit research scholar Senthil Kumar who committed suicide in 2008 was not provided with a guide for more than a year. Senthil was also not receiving his fellowship at the time he consumed poison and took his life. “Similar was the case with Rohith. He did not receive his fellowship for the past seven months putting him under severe financial duress. He had to send that money to his mother who earns less than Rs 3,000 per month,” pointed out Devi Prasad, a Dalit Research scholar in Sociology.<br /><br />Keshavachary and Ravula Balaraju (2009), Tejawath (2011), Pulyala Raju and Madari Venkatesh (2014) are the other Dalit students who committed suicide, the ASA stated. <br />However, Prof Vipin Srivastava, the interim vice-chancellor as Apparao has proceeded on long leave, said: “The university administration has appointed committees but none of them passed any serious strictures against anybody.” <br /><br />“My role in Senthil Kumar’s death was probed by the CID and they gave me a clean chit,” he added.<br /><br />M Venkatesh, a Dalit PhD scholar from Advanced Centre for Research in High Energy Materials with two international papers to his credit, committed suicide on November 14, 2014, after his pleas for a guide and doctoral committee went unheard by the varsity for months. This was confirmed by the Justice Ramaswamy Committee appointed to investigate his death.<br /><br />“There is no support system for Dalit students to assist them during their stint at the campus. This often forces several of them to discontinue their academic pursuits,” said Prof Ramesh Babu, Dean of Student Welfare and also member of the SC/ST Teachers Forum. He pointed out that the perpetrators often take part in the investigation under the very vice-chancellor who has been encouraging hegemony of the “upper castes”.<br />“Why kill the sceptic in the student. Why won’t they allow us to have a different point of view? After all, it is the unity in diversity we all talk about right?” questions Agnes, a Dalit research scholar.<br /><br />Story of stardust<br />At 28, Rohith was a Dalit research scholar in the Department of Science and Technology and Society Studies of the University of Hyderabad. He bagged admission into the prestigious Central university under the open category, though he declared that he was a Scheduled Caste in his admission form. Rohith also received the CSIR-Junior Research Fellowship twice and was also a core committee member of the ASA and a prominent student activist.<br /><br />On January 2, five Dalit research scholars, including Rohith, were expelled from the hostel and also barred from moving in groups within the campus following a scuffle between ASA members and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leader N Susheel Kumar on the intervening night of August 3 and 4, 2015.<br /><br />These Dalit scholars then sat out in the open near the campus shopping complex and named it “Velivada,” a Dalit ghetto. All they had was their baggage, posters of Ambedkar and other Dalit leaders. They refused to leave the campus and continued with their protest for almost 14 days. The sit out was harsh and the nights were cold. The five research scholars made the open space their home. “We are not new to segregation, all Dalit students face discrimination at some stage of their life. In our case, the silence of the university authorities is the cruelest of all,” said P Vijay Kumar, one of the five research scholars.<br /><br />Rohith was not new to the ghetto either. Along with his mother Radhika, a tailor and daily-wage earner who was separated from her husband Mani Kumar, Rohith and his two siblings have lived in several Dalitvadas. “Rohith was the elder son, after the birth of the third child, I moved to my mother’s place in Gurajala, Guntur, and saw to it that they all grew in the Dalit atmosphere as per our customs,” said Radhika. <br /><br />But it all came to an abrupt end on January 17. Fifteen days into the protest, Rohith went to a friend Umamaheswar Rao’s room in the New Research Scholar’s hostel, spent the day and hung himself from the ceiling fan using the blue ASA banner. Around 7:30 pm, Rohith’s friends found him hanging, lifeless.<br /><br /> ---------------<br /><br />The suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula at University of Hyderabad has gone a long way to highlight the discrimination that students belonging to the most deprived classes face not just in pursuit of their education, but in their life itself. Unlike the previous suicides by Dalit students on the same campus, Rohith’s death has triggered–and rightly so–widespread protests across the country. <br /><br /> ----------------<br />EVENTS THAT LED TO ROHITH VEMULA’S SUICIDE<br />August 4, 2015: ABVP leader Susheel Kumar files police compliant that ASA activists in University of Hyderabad (UoH) manhandled him for opposing eulogising Yakub Memon<br />August 17: Union Minister Bandaru Dattareya writes to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on the issue<br />September 9: Five Dalit students of named by ABVP suspended; students protest and demand revocation of the decision<br />September 11: Then VC R P Sharma limits suspension to hostels and curbs taking part in campus elections and public gatherings<br />September 21: Prof Apparao Podile takes over as VC <br />December 18: ASA files Writ Petition in the Hyderabad HC challenging Sharma’s decision<br />December 21: UoH, reportedly under pressure from MHRD, reverses its decision and throws out 5 students<br />January 3, 2016: Expelled students refuse to leave campus, pitch tents at Dalit ghetto and form a Joint Action Committee of all unions except ABVP, condemn Bandaru Dattareya’s letter to MHRD<br />January 13: JAC blocks Administrative building<br />January 17(Morning): JAC calls for indefinite strike<br />January 17 (Evening): Rohith Vemula was found hanging in one of the rooms in New Research Scholars wing<br />January 18: Protests erupt. Cases booked against Bandaru Dattareya and four others for abetting Rohith’s suicide. MHRD sends two-member fact finding committee to UoH<br /><br />Other Dalit students’ suicides at UoH <br />2014: M Venakatesh and Pulyala Raju <br />2011: Tejawath <br />2009: Keshavachary and Ravula Balaraju<br />2008: Senthil Kumar<br />Venakatesh committed suicide after his pleas for a guide and doctoral committee went unheard by the varsity for months. This was confirmed by Justice Ramaswamy committee, appointed to investigate into his death.<br />Senthil Kumar was not provided with a guide for more than a year He was also not receiving his fellowship. <br /><br />INCIDENTS RELATING TO DALITS IN OTHER INSTITUTIONS<br /><br />IIT-Madras: Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, a students' organisation, was derecognised by IIT-Madras following complaint forwarded by HRD Ministry that it was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After outrage, IIT-Madras lifts the ban on the outfit.<br /><br />JNU, Delhi: Dalit researcher accuses his department of discriminatory practices. Threatens to commit suicide if his research grant is not extended next year. Nine other Dalit students also accuse JNU administration of caste bias.<br /><br />Rajasthan Central University: FIR filed against VC A K Pujari and seven professors on court orders after complaint by a student, who claimed that one of the professors was demanding money from him.<br /><br /> -------------------<br /><br /><br />Complaints of harassment to SC/ST students in AIIMS, New Delhi(2007). Then UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat committee, which went into the complaints, found:<br /><br />80% of student respondents reported differential treatment being faced in distribution of instructions, in informing schedule of examination or rescheduling of classes, class trips and cultural activities.<br /><br />69% of the SC/ST students reported that they do not receive adequate support from teachers.</p>
<p>The pain of segregation was visible in Rohith Vemula’s five-page suicide note: “The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of stardust. In every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living.”<br /><br /></p>.<p>After a few lines, he reflects on his childhood: “All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this.”<br /><br />But Rohith is not the first Dalit student to commit suicide on University of Hyderabad campus. The Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA) website stated that Vice-Chancellor Prof Podile Apparao, who was the chief warden between 2001-2004, had expelled 12 students from the hostel as they were protesting against the segregation of vegetarian students from non-vegetarians in the dining hall. “It was a clear ploy to divide Dalits and non-Dalits,” the website says. A minor scuffle at the chief warden’s office took place following which the 12 students were rusticated.<br /><br />“Including Rohith, at least nine Dalit students committed suicide on campus in the past one decade, owing to caste politics,” says K P Zuhail, president of the varsity student’s union. While providing details, Zuhail said Dalit students are discriminated and looked down as lesser human beings. “Students from marginalised communities are often laughed at by research guides for their ideas, their dependence on fellowships for maintenance and poor language skills. It is a practice here that guides pick up students from the list based on their surnames like Sarma, Reddy, Choudhary, Gupta, Naidu etc. It is very difficult for a Dalit student to get a guide, even if he gets a guide, they will not allow him to publish a paper,” Zuhail added.<br /><br />Another Dalit research scholar Senthil Kumar who committed suicide in 2008 was not provided with a guide for more than a year. Senthil was also not receiving his fellowship at the time he consumed poison and took his life. “Similar was the case with Rohith. He did not receive his fellowship for the past seven months putting him under severe financial duress. He had to send that money to his mother who earns less than Rs 3,000 per month,” pointed out Devi Prasad, a Dalit Research scholar in Sociology.<br /><br />Keshavachary and Ravula Balaraju (2009), Tejawath (2011), Pulyala Raju and Madari Venkatesh (2014) are the other Dalit students who committed suicide, the ASA stated. <br />However, Prof Vipin Srivastava, the interim vice-chancellor as Apparao has proceeded on long leave, said: “The university administration has appointed committees but none of them passed any serious strictures against anybody.” <br /><br />“My role in Senthil Kumar’s death was probed by the CID and they gave me a clean chit,” he added.<br /><br />M Venkatesh, a Dalit PhD scholar from Advanced Centre for Research in High Energy Materials with two international papers to his credit, committed suicide on November 14, 2014, after his pleas for a guide and doctoral committee went unheard by the varsity for months. This was confirmed by the Justice Ramaswamy Committee appointed to investigate his death.<br /><br />“There is no support system for Dalit students to assist them during their stint at the campus. This often forces several of them to discontinue their academic pursuits,” said Prof Ramesh Babu, Dean of Student Welfare and also member of the SC/ST Teachers Forum. He pointed out that the perpetrators often take part in the investigation under the very vice-chancellor who has been encouraging hegemony of the “upper castes”.<br />“Why kill the sceptic in the student. Why won’t they allow us to have a different point of view? After all, it is the unity in diversity we all talk about right?” questions Agnes, a Dalit research scholar.<br /><br />Story of stardust<br />At 28, Rohith was a Dalit research scholar in the Department of Science and Technology and Society Studies of the University of Hyderabad. He bagged admission into the prestigious Central university under the open category, though he declared that he was a Scheduled Caste in his admission form. Rohith also received the CSIR-Junior Research Fellowship twice and was also a core committee member of the ASA and a prominent student activist.<br /><br />On January 2, five Dalit research scholars, including Rohith, were expelled from the hostel and also barred from moving in groups within the campus following a scuffle between ASA members and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leader N Susheel Kumar on the intervening night of August 3 and 4, 2015.<br /><br />These Dalit scholars then sat out in the open near the campus shopping complex and named it “Velivada,” a Dalit ghetto. All they had was their baggage, posters of Ambedkar and other Dalit leaders. They refused to leave the campus and continued with their protest for almost 14 days. The sit out was harsh and the nights were cold. The five research scholars made the open space their home. “We are not new to segregation, all Dalit students face discrimination at some stage of their life. In our case, the silence of the university authorities is the cruelest of all,” said P Vijay Kumar, one of the five research scholars.<br /><br />Rohith was not new to the ghetto either. Along with his mother Radhika, a tailor and daily-wage earner who was separated from her husband Mani Kumar, Rohith and his two siblings have lived in several Dalitvadas. “Rohith was the elder son, after the birth of the third child, I moved to my mother’s place in Gurajala, Guntur, and saw to it that they all grew in the Dalit atmosphere as per our customs,” said Radhika. <br /><br />But it all came to an abrupt end on January 17. Fifteen days into the protest, Rohith went to a friend Umamaheswar Rao’s room in the New Research Scholar’s hostel, spent the day and hung himself from the ceiling fan using the blue ASA banner. Around 7:30 pm, Rohith’s friends found him hanging, lifeless.<br /><br /> ---------------<br /><br />The suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula at University of Hyderabad has gone a long way to highlight the discrimination that students belonging to the most deprived classes face not just in pursuit of their education, but in their life itself. Unlike the previous suicides by Dalit students on the same campus, Rohith’s death has triggered–and rightly so–widespread protests across the country. <br /><br /> ----------------<br />EVENTS THAT LED TO ROHITH VEMULA’S SUICIDE<br />August 4, 2015: ABVP leader Susheel Kumar files police compliant that ASA activists in University of Hyderabad (UoH) manhandled him for opposing eulogising Yakub Memon<br />August 17: Union Minister Bandaru Dattareya writes to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on the issue<br />September 9: Five Dalit students of named by ABVP suspended; students protest and demand revocation of the decision<br />September 11: Then VC R P Sharma limits suspension to hostels and curbs taking part in campus elections and public gatherings<br />September 21: Prof Apparao Podile takes over as VC <br />December 18: ASA files Writ Petition in the Hyderabad HC challenging Sharma’s decision<br />December 21: UoH, reportedly under pressure from MHRD, reverses its decision and throws out 5 students<br />January 3, 2016: Expelled students refuse to leave campus, pitch tents at Dalit ghetto and form a Joint Action Committee of all unions except ABVP, condemn Bandaru Dattareya’s letter to MHRD<br />January 13: JAC blocks Administrative building<br />January 17(Morning): JAC calls for indefinite strike<br />January 17 (Evening): Rohith Vemula was found hanging in one of the rooms in New Research Scholars wing<br />January 18: Protests erupt. Cases booked against Bandaru Dattareya and four others for abetting Rohith’s suicide. MHRD sends two-member fact finding committee to UoH<br /><br />Other Dalit students’ suicides at UoH <br />2014: M Venakatesh and Pulyala Raju <br />2011: Tejawath <br />2009: Keshavachary and Ravula Balaraju<br />2008: Senthil Kumar<br />Venakatesh committed suicide after his pleas for a guide and doctoral committee went unheard by the varsity for months. This was confirmed by Justice Ramaswamy committee, appointed to investigate into his death.<br />Senthil Kumar was not provided with a guide for more than a year He was also not receiving his fellowship. <br /><br />INCIDENTS RELATING TO DALITS IN OTHER INSTITUTIONS<br /><br />IIT-Madras: Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, a students' organisation, was derecognised by IIT-Madras following complaint forwarded by HRD Ministry that it was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After outrage, IIT-Madras lifts the ban on the outfit.<br /><br />JNU, Delhi: Dalit researcher accuses his department of discriminatory practices. Threatens to commit suicide if his research grant is not extended next year. Nine other Dalit students also accuse JNU administration of caste bias.<br /><br />Rajasthan Central University: FIR filed against VC A K Pujari and seven professors on court orders after complaint by a student, who claimed that one of the professors was demanding money from him.<br /><br /> -------------------<br /><br /><br />Complaints of harassment to SC/ST students in AIIMS, New Delhi(2007). Then UGC chairman Sukhadeo Thorat committee, which went into the complaints, found:<br /><br />80% of student respondents reported differential treatment being faced in distribution of instructions, in informing schedule of examination or rescheduling of classes, class trips and cultural activities.<br /><br />69% of the SC/ST students reported that they do not receive adequate support from teachers.</p>