Representative image for discrimination
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Bengaluru: Students who face caste-based discrimination in higher education institutions will be entitled to receive a compensation of up to Rs 1 lakh, according to the draft Rohith Vemula Act.
Going by the draft, persons guilty of discriminating against SC, ST, OBC and minority students will face a jail term of one year and pay a fine of Rs 10,000. The government will hold heads of higher education institutions liable for caste-based discrimination. Plus, such institutions will lose government aid or grants.
The Karnataka Rohith Vemula (Prevention of Exclusion or Injustice) (Right to Education and Dignity) Bill has been drafted after top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi nudged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to enact the law.
The law is named after Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad who died by suicide in January 2016. His death led to nationwide protests.
The Bill seeks to prevent "exclusion or injustice and to safeguard the right to education and dignity for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBC and minorities; to provide equal access and right to education in all universities under the purview of the department of higher education".
Karnataka has 41 public universities and 28 private universities. There are 24.36 lakh students pursuing higher education, which includes 3.35 lakh SCs and 1.25 lakh STs as per the latest All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE).
IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge, who provided inputs to the draft Rohith Vemula Act, said the law was the Congress' manifesto promise. "The Union government brushed the incident under the carpet although it was clear that Rohith Vemula was targeted because of his (Dalit) caste," he said.
"The US, too, has a similar law. In fact, some states there have declared that caste-based discrimination is as bad as racial discrimination," Priyank said, adding: "Our biggest export must be human resources and not the caste system."
On April 16, Rahul Gandhi wrote to Siddaramaiah urging the state government to enact the Rohith Vemula Act to ensure that "no child of India has to face what Dr BR Ambedkar, Rohith Vemula and millions of others have had to endure." The CM responded saying his government would enact the law at the earliest.