The case of Rohith Vemula and what drives Indian students to suicide
By Shriya Mohan1
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 of star dust.
- Rohith Vemula
Photo: Rohith Vemula (right) and his friend moving out of their hostel after being
suspended by the University. In weeks, unable to bear the humiliation, Vemula
committed suicide within the Hyderabad Central University.
It took three days of quiet contemplation for India’s Human resource Development minister
Smriti Irani to break her silence over a student suicide in Hyderabad that rocked the nation.
On 17th January 2016, Rohith Vemula, a 26-year old PhD scholar committed suicide within
the Hyderabad Central University (HCU). Vemula, born into the historically oppressed Dalit
caste, hung himself from a ceiling fan in his friend’s hostel room within the campus. All he
This case was written by Shriya Mohan under the guidance of Dr Adrian Kuah Wee Jin, Lee Kuan
Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School), National University of Singapore and has been funded by
the LKY School. The case does not reflect the views of the sponsoring organisation nor is it intended to
suggest correct or incorrect handling of the situation depicted. The case is not intended to serve as a
primary source of data and is meant solely for class discussion.
Copyright © 2016 by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. All
rights reserved. This publication can only be used for teaching purposes.
left behind was a poignant letter, which made it to the headlines of every national newspaper
in the country2.
The entire letter is published as an exhibit in this case study. Below are excerpts:
I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. I loved Science,
Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since
divorced from nature. Our feelings are second handed. Our love is constructed. Our
beliefs colored. Our originality valid through artificial art. The value of a man was
reduced to his immediate identity... To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a
man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of star dust. In every field, in
studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living.
My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The
unappreciated child from my past.
If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get 7 months of my
fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my family
is paid that.
For one last time, Jai Bheem I forgot to write the formalities. No one is responsible for
this act of killing myself.
In the run up to the three days that Irani waited, Vemula’s suicide had become a flashpoint
mobilizing student protests within the campus and eventually outside, demanding justice for
Rohith and scores of other Dalit students suffering discrimination within campuses3. Local
and national media blame her for Vemula’s suicide4. Her fault, media alleged was in putting
pressure on the HCU administration to take action on its Dalit students, leading to the
suspension of five students, one of whom was Vemula. Ultimately, it was the closing in of all
options that drove Vemula to suicide5.
On January 20, hoping to set the record straight, Irani called for a press meet. Draped in a
brown shawl she spoke firmly mincing no words and allowing no cross-questioning by the
media. “I am compelled to come out today because there has been a malicious attempt to
ignite passions and present this as a caste battle. It is not. This is an issue being investigated
2
TNN, “Full Text: Dalit Scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide note”, Times of India, January 19, 2016, accessed
May 16, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Full-text-Dalit-scholar-Rohith-Vemulassuicide-note/articleshow/50634646.cms
3
Vishnupriya Bhandaram, Hyderabad University Suicide: Rohith Vemula hangs himself in campus, student
unions protest, The First Post, January 19, 2016, accessed on May 19, 2016,
http://www.firstpost.com/india/dalit-phd-student-rohith-vemula-commits-suicide-hyderabad-central-universitystudents-cry-foul-2588166.html
4
FP Staff, Rohith Vemula Suicide: Why did HRD ministry write 4 letters on the ‘matter’?, The First Post,
January 20, 2016, accessed on May 15, 2016, http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rohith-vemula-suicide-why-didhrd-ministry-write-4-letters-on-the-matter-to-hyderabad-central-university-2590846.html
5
Sudipto Mondal, Rohith Vemula: an unfinished portrait, Hindustan Times, accessed on May 18, 2016,
http://www.hindustantimes.com/static/rohith-vemula-an-unfinished-portrait/
2
by local police and is sub judice at high court. I have complete faith that the judiciary and
police investigation shall ensure justice for all,” she said to the media6.
“I would also like to point out that the suicide note of the student does not mention any
political organisation or MP except Ambedkar Student Association of which he was himself a
member,” she said.7
A historical snapshot of the Indian caste system
India's caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification. The
origin of the caste system in India is generally accepted to be about 3000 years old8.
The caste system, believed to have emerged from different parts of the Hindu god of creation
Brahma’s body, divides Hindus into four main categories – Brahmins (intellectuals),
Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (traders) and the Shudras (menial taskforce). The main castes
were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their
specific occupation9.
Outside of this Hindu caste system were the outcastes also known as the Dalits or the
untouchables.
For centuries, caste dictated almost every aspect of Hindu religious and social life, with each
group occupying a specific place in this complex hierarchy and living in segregated colonies
and marrying only within one’s caste.
As a result caste only perpetuated, with each community getting trapped into occupations
validated by their caste and fixed social orders that either bestowed privileges or sanctioned
repression. The lower-caste Shudras and the Dalits are constitutionally denoted as Schedule
castes (SC) and India’s aboriginals or tribal communities are denoted as Schedule tribes (ST).
The SCs and STs consistently fare the lowest in all socio-economic and human development
indicators.
The recent socio-economic caste census showed that fewer than 5% of SC and ST households
have a main earner who makes more than Rs10,000 per month (150 USD), as opposed to
twice as many in other households10.
Dalits or SC/ST, and Other Backward Castes (OBCs) together comprise 69% per cent of the
Indian population, according to the last Government survey11.
6
Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s Press Conference, DD News, January 20, 2016, accessed on May 15, 2016,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dp64s3E7vQ
7
Ibid
8
What is India’s caste system?, BBC News, February 25, 2016, accessed on May 15, 2016,
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35650616
9
Ibid
10
Shriya Mohan, Why the Socio Economic caste census might carpet bomb India’s poor, Catch News, July 4,
2015, accessed on May 17, 2016, http://www.catchnews.com/india-news/why-the-socio-economic-caste-censusmight-carpet-bomb-india-s-poor-1435996290.html
3
Ambedkar and constitution safeguards to ensure equal opportunity in education
It was only in the 1930s that Bhimrao Ambedkar, himself an exceptionally bright Dalit, got
educated in London School of Economics and Columbia University, and returned home to
become an economist, jurist, lawyer, politician and social reformer. In him, the Dalits found a
modern thinker and revolutionary leader to fight for their right to equality. Organizations like
the Ambedkar Student Association sprung up much later in different universities offering
support and giving a direction to students’ daily struggles for equality. In HCU, ASA was
first formed in 199312.
Ambedkar authored independent India’s constitution in 1947, which continues to remain the
bedrock of Indian democracy even today.
The following Articles were crafted to ensure equal opportunity in education to historically
disadvantaged groups like the Dalits:
Article 46 promotes educational and economic interests of SC/ST and other weaker sections
of society. Under the 1950 constitution, 15 per cent of educational and civil service seats were
reserved for “Schedule Castes” and 7.5 per cent for “Scheduled Tribes”.
Article 17 of the Constitution abolishes untouchability and enforcing any disability on the
basis of so-called low and high caste discrimination.
Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, made the offence of violating Article 17 punishable13.
In 1979, the Mandal Commission, set up by the Janta Party recommended 27 per cent quota in
public sector and in higher educational institutions over and above the existing 22.5 per cent
reservation for SC and ST.
Hostility towards beneficiaries of affirmative action
Reservations helped Dalits enter academic institutions, but the environment they encountered
within them was far from welcoming – if anything, reservations had increased casteist
hostility14. Across Indian Universities and colleges faculty discriminated against students in
11
TNN, OBCs form 41 per cent of the population: Survey, The Times of India, September 1, 2007, accessed on
May 17, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/OBCs-form-41-of-populationSurvey/articleshow/2328117.cms
12
Aarefa Johari, How Hyderabad’s Ambedkar Student Association grew to establish a national footprint,
Scroll.in, January 21, 2016, accessed on May 19, 2016, http://scroll.in/article/802184/how-hyderabadsambedkar-students-association-grew-to-establish-a-national-footprint
13
Ram Madhav, What Dalits want, The Indian Express, April 13, 2016, accessed on May 17, 2016,
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ambedkar-dalit-status-equality-justice-discrimination-whatdalits-want/
14
Praveen Donthi, From Shadows to the Stars, The Caravan Magazine, May 1, 2016, accessed on May 17, 2016,
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/from-shadows-to-the-stars-rohith-vemula
4
admission interviews even when they had done well in the written entrance exams. The same
was true for HCU.
This antipathy affected the students’ performance. The faculty blamed the students for being
inadequate. Most Dalit students in HCU used to drop out after two, three months15. The
Progressive Student’s Forum (PSF) a student body within campus, consisting radical Marxist
and Dalit students representing marginalised sections of society, raised questions. “If 90 per
cent Dalits are dropping out, it is the failure of the institution and the faculty. Is the university
only for the public school educated, English-speaking students? Have you become only a
certifying agency?”16 They filed a case in the high court asking them to put in place an SC/ST
Cell in the university. Today, the cell is in place, but is overseen by the assistant registrar, and
so lacks the autonomy it needs to function effectively17.
After the Vemula suicide lead editorials in newspapers like The Indian Express began
contemplating where India was going wrong with the reservation. One editorial published in
April 2016 said:
We assume that the Dalit discourse is all about more reservations and more jobs. No
doubt, reservations are important and so are jobs. But the hunger today is for four
things: Samman (respect and dignity), sahbhagita (participation and partnership),
samriddhi (progress and prosperity) and, finally, satta (empowerment). The
government can take care of the last two, but the first two are the responsibility of
society. Social and religious organisations have to take responsibility for addressing
the Dalit hunger for samman and sahbhagita. That is when social equality is
achieved18.
Je suis Rohith
Rohith Vemula was born into a poor family in Guntur, a small town of Andhra Pradesh. His
mother was a tailor and his father a security guard. His mother was a Dalit while his father
belonged to a higher caste. Through Vemula’s life he saw his mother be made to work like a
slave and be beaten by his father, all because he wasn’t aware of her caste when he married
her19. Eventually they separated and Rohith completed his BSc in Guntur and arrived at HCU
in 2010 after having gotten admission into the school’s prestigious PhD programme.
15
Ibid
Ibid
17
Ibid
18
Ram Madhav, What Dalits want, The Indian Express, April 13, 2016, accessed on May 17, 2016,
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ambedkar-dalit-status-equality-justice-discrimination-whatdalits-want/
19
Sudipto Mondal, Rohith Vemula: an unfinished portrait, Hindustan Times, accessed on May 18, 2016,
http://www.hindustantimes.com/static/rohith-vemula-an-unfinished-portrait/
16
5
Rohith was selected on merit20. Although he had a caste certificate that proved his Dalit
identity he never had to use it. His friends recall him as being exceptionally bright and
articulate21.
Rohith was never political. But upon arriving at HCU and getting exposed to various political
ideologies the one that appealed to him were the Ambedkarites. The ASA was a magnet for
Dalit students like Rohith who discovered a deep resonance in Ambedkar’s teachings,
political theory, and vision for young rearing Dalits like himself22.
The impact of the ASA was so profound in Rohith’s life that eventually he changed his PhD
department from pure sciences to social sciences. From wanting to solve people’s problems
through science and technology he began to see it through a lens of social justice and equity23.
When terrorist Yakub Memon, convicted for the 1993 Mumbai blasts was sentenced to death
in August 2015, Vemula along with his fellow ASA members held a prayer meeting,
campaigning against death penalty in general24.
To other student groups like the ABVP, a student wing of India’s ruling political party in the
Centre this event marked the beginning of branding the ASA as an “anti-national”.
This and some other events such as ABVP instigated hooliganism at the ASA screening of
Muzzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai, a documentary film about the communal tensions unleashed by
the ruling BJP government, sparked off an ugly spat between the two student groups. There
were verbal abuses exchanged and also some degree of some physical violence.
It was when ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar, used his family’s political influence to
write a complaint to the Union minister of Labour Bandaru Dattatreya that the issue was
forwarded to Irani’s office in the HRD ministry.
On 17 August 2015, without trying to independently verify claims, Dattatreya wrote to Irani
alleging that the university campus was being used by ‘anti-national’ and ‘casteist’ groups.
Irani forwarded this letter to the university, and, over the next two months, her office followed
up with several reminders. Suddenly, the ASA and its members found themselves pitted
against the might of the central government25.
A probe was initiated by the then Vice Chancellor RP Sharma. On 31 August, the Proctorial
Board of the university submitted its final report recommending that the five PhD students,
including Rohith, all members of the ASA, be suspended for six months on grounds of
20
TNN, Merit and not SC status got Rohith Vemula into university of Hyderabad, The Times of India, January
20, 2016, accessed on May 18, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Merit-and-not-SC-status-gotRohith-Vemula-into-University-of-Hyderabad/articleshow/50647174.cms
21
Ibid
22
Praveen Donthi, From Shadows to the Stars, The Caravan Magazine, May 1, 2016, accessed on May 17, 2016,
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/from-shadows-to-the-stars-rohith-vemula
23
Ibid
24
Ibid
25
Ibid
6
indiscipline26. Dontha Prasanth, Rohit Vemula, Vijay Kumar, Sheshaiah Chemudugunta and
Velpula Sunkanna, all Dalits, were banned from entering hostels, the administration building
and other common places in groups, and were restricted from participating in the Students'
Union elections27.
Student groups alleged that the report was self-contradictory because the final report too could
not corroborate the claim of physical violence. On 12 August, the board issued an interim
report that said it “could not get any hard evidence of beating of Mr Susheel Kumar”. Yet the
decision to suspend these students was taken by an Executive Council, the highest body of the
University, without conducting a proper inquiry.
To the students, this was a humiliating punishment, almost a recreation of the power structure
in their villages, which consigned Dalits to specific ghettos to enforce what sociologists
describe as “social death.”
On 15 September, the VC constituted a new committee to look into the matter and revoked
the earlier suspension demanding a fresh inquiry.
But the HRD ministry had other plans. Unfortunately, on 21 September, the order for a new
VC came. The new VC was Appa Rao Podile, a professor in the department of plant sciences,
who had a history of antagonising the university’s Dalit students28.
After a brief withdrawal of the suspension and no proper enquiry still, the decision to suspend
them was again announced on 16 December, following which the chief warden placed
additional locks on the latches of the doors of the five students’ hostel rooms. Some
professors argued that the collective ostracisation smacked of caste-based punishment.
The committee had decided to issue what it termed a “lenient” punishment to the ASA
students: for the rest of their time at the university, they were to be barred from the hostels
and the administration building, as well as from “other common places in groups.” They were
also banned from contesting elections. “They are permitted to be seen only in the respective
schools/departments/centres, library and academic seminars/conferences/workshops,” the
order said.
Poignant pictures appeared on Facebook, of three students walking out of their hostels
carrying their meagre belongings—a mattress, a mat, a box, towels. Vemula, among them,
was pictured clutching a large portrait of Ambedkar.
26
Vikram Chukka, The chain of events leading to Rohith Vemula’s suicide, The Wire, January 19, 2016,
accessed on May 18, 2016, http://thewire.in/2016/01/19/the-chain-of-events-leading-to-rohith-vemulas-suicide19580/
27
Vivek Surendran, What happened at Hyderabad Central University that led to Rohith Vemula’s suicide?, India
Today, January 18, 2016, accessed on May 18, 2016, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/what-happened-athyderbad-central-university-that-led-to-rohit-vemula-suicide/1/573316.html
28
Praveen Donthi, From Shadows to the Stars, The Caravan Magazine, May 1, 2016, accessed on May 17, 2016,
http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/from-shadows-to-the-stars-rohith-vemula
7
By then it had been seven months since the scholarship of Vemula was stopped. The
University owed him Rs175,000 (USD 2589), which he mentions in his suicide note. Vemula
and his friends were starving, broke and lived on the sidewalk. The humiliation was too much.
“The new punishment of the universities is to cut the fellowships and economically hit you,”
his friends told the media29.
Vemula wrote a letter to the vice-chancellor of the university in December. Reflection quiet
desperation and bitter sarcasm he requested that a "nice rope" should be supplied to rooms of
all Dalit students. "Please give us poison at the time of admission itself instead of humiliating
us like this," he had written in his letter. Many believe this to be Vemula’s first suicide letter.
But Podile made no effort to reach out to them or address the issue. Vemula soon grew
disheartened by the lack of response.
Vemula called his friend Riyaz a week before he died.
“He told me he was afraid he would have to discontinue his PhD. He said the opposition
ABVP was too strong as they had the support of MPs and MLAs, ministers as well as the
university management. He had given up hope of victory... He gave up when he realized he
could go no further,” his friend Riyaz said to the media.30
Student suicides: Why they really happen
This was not the first time that the University of Hyderabad found itself in the centre of a
controversy regarding its treatment of those from the backward minorities. In 2013, P Raju, a
21-year-old student of the Integrated MA (Linguistics), committed suicide at the university
premises.
His suicide led to strong reactions from the academic community as a group of teachers came
together to file a Public Interest Litigation in the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2013 on his
behalf as well as on behalf of students from Osmania University and English and Foreign
Languages University, which had seen multiple suicides in the same year. The petition
detailed systematic failures on part of the institutions in managing various pressures on
students and provided a blow-by-blow account of how lack of empathy from the teachers as
well as the university authorities was aggravating the situation31.
While Raju had done well academically after entering the university, his grades slipped in the
seventh semester. He reportedly also chatted with one of his friends in Australia about his
depression and when she asked him to seek help, he said there was nobody in the university
willing to help.
29
Ibid
Sudipto Mondal, Rohith Vemula: an unfinished portrait, Hindustan Times, accessed on May 18, 2016,
http://www.hindustantimes.com/static/rohith-vemula-an-unfinished-portrait/
31
Mayank Jain, Student suicides in Hyderabad: lessons learnt from a three-year-old-PIL, Scroll, January 19,
2016, accessed on May 17, 2016, http://scroll.in/article/802057/student-suicides-in-hyderabad-lessons-unlearntfrom-a-three-year-old-pil
30
8
The university, meanwhile, blamed the incident on a love affair gone wrong, even though a
fact-finding committee constituted soon after Raju’s death countered this suggestion. The
report, which took cognisance of at least 24 reported suicides in various colleges in
Hyderabad till 2013, concluded that caste and financial background of students had a strong
role to play in feelings of alienation among them.
Most of these students belong to marginalised classes and communities: i.e., SC, ST, OBC
and Muslims. The presence of this factor in the perception of mainstream culture is an
unmitigated disadvantage to these students, who are seen as an ‘atrocious presence’ and
‘irritants’. The study noted a very real rural-urban divide in the campuses and cited "lack of
English skills" as an "additional handicap".
The report also found that withdrawal of existing support measures such as scholarship
stipends and fellowships, promoted a sense of instability and anxiety among students from
marginalised communities. The fellowship amount, which may not be significant in
comparison with a well-funded student’s mobile phone bill, would make a significant
difference to the life of an economically marginalized student who is also trying to support a
family that has pushed him to this stage, the report elaborated.
Similarly, lack of training in computers led to students from marginalised communities not
doing well in online tests because of their non-familiarity with the medium. More striking was
the revelation that none of the students or teachers on the campus reported any knowledge of
any advisory or guidance committee where they could voice their academic problems and
seek help. “Interpreting these suicides as the expression of individual difficulties which need
no systematic response is likely to have no mitigating effect on such suicides in the future,”
the study concluded.
Responding to the petition, the High Court asked the universities to implement a series of
measures in an interim order dated July 1, 2013 but little changed thereafter.
India's youth suicide rate is among the world's highest. A report says the stresses of economic
and social transition are killing the country's young people. According to the National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB) each year, 30-40 people per 100,000 Indians aged 15 to 29 kill
themselves. This accounts for about a third of all suicides in the country. In 2013 alone, 2,471
suicides were attributed to "failure in examination"32.
The clash of values within families is an important factor for young people in their lives. As
young Indians becomes more progressive, their traditionalist households become less
supportive of their choices pertaining to financial independence, marriage age, premarital sex,
rehabilitation and taking care of the elderly. It is probably for these reasons that, according to
the NCRB, the most common reason cited for a suicide was "family problems".
32
Vasudevan Mukunth, Four charts show why India’s youth suicide rate is among the world’s highest, Scroll.in,
December 12, 2014, accessed on May 17, 2016, http://scroll.in/article/694364/four-charts-show-why-indiasyouth-suicide-rate-is-among-the-worlds-highest
9
What the Fact Finding Committees unearthed
The fact finding team sent by Irani’s Human Resource Development Ministry in January 2016
found that a "dysfunctional" student grievance redress process to be "responsible for
enhancing the feeling of deprivation and discrimination among students from socially and
economically weaker sections".
Not satisfied with the Ministry’s finding, the Indian Peoples Tribunal, an independent civil
society body formed a fact-finding team the same month to investigate into the death of
Rohith. The report formed the core arguments on the grounds on which the Vice Chancellor
was eventually charged with abetment of suicide and under relevant sections
of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act33. Below are excerpts34:
Ø The death of Rohith Vemula was caused by the acts of omission and commission of
the authorities.
Ø The prohibition by the Proctoral Committee against students associating in groups
transgresses on fundamental protection of association provided within the
Constitution.
Ø The call of the Proctoral Committee to ban all associations on the basis of ideology,
Caste, Religion reflects a deep rooted prejudice against politically active students and
their associations and goes to root of the matter that ails this university.
Ø That the University of Hyderabad failed to take cognizance of recurring suicides by
students from rural and marginalised communities is horrifying. That comprehensive
investigations were taken up only in some cases is disturbing. That the
recommendations of these investigations were ignored, strengthens our resolve that the
disregard for students from rural and marginalised communities seems to be a concern
that will require systemic correction.
Ø That students from Rural and Marginalised Communities are denied timely payment
of their fellowships, runs contrary to the purpose and objective of the fellowships.
That there is no effective administrative oversight to ensure timely payments to
students from rural and marginalised communities, has allowed systemic bias to be
perpetuated without any redress.
The relevance of the Rohith Law and Thorat committee recommendations
In early February 5000 protestors consisting of Rohith Vemula’s family, friends and student
supporters visited New Delhi demanded the immediate arrest of Union Labour Minister and
33
PTI, Dalit scholar’s suicide: Despite VC going on leave, students unhappy with interim charge, DNA, January
24, 2016, accessed on June 12, 2016, http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-dalit-scholar-s-suicide-despite-vcgoing-on-leave-students-unhappy-with-interim-charge-2169870
34
Indian peoples tribunal, Death of Rohith Vemula: caused by acts of omission and commission of the
authorities, finds Indian Peoples Tribunal, Countercurrents.org, January 30, 2016, accessed on June 12, 2016,
http://www.countercurrents.org/ipt300116.htm
10
Vice-Chancellor of UoH. They demanded that HRD ministry Smriti Irani be sacked. But an
important demand was also for the state to enact the ‘Rohith Act’ to safeguard students from
falling off the brink.
“We demand that a Rohith Act be introduced and implemented which will ensure legislative
protection for students from marginalised communities in higher educational institutions,”
said the protestors to the media.
Meanwhile suggestions came into the HRD Ministry asking it to at least accept the far older
Thorat committee recommendations.
Sukhadeo Thorat, former UGC chairperson, present chairperson of ICSSR and Professor
Emeritus at JNU, had been pushing certain recommendations to ease caste discrimination
within university campuses. Key among those was the legislative reform to make caste-based
discrimination a punishable offence35.
Ragging was a serious issue in Indian colleges some years ago. But the UGC and concerned
ministries legislatively made into a crime, subject to punishment. This brought more fear
within institutions and India immediately saw a decline of such incidents. According to
Thorat, the same was needed for caste discrimination within educational institutions.
But Thorat warned that merely enacting a law would not help. The law was merely
prevention, not a cure. For a cure, one needed to bring about a change in attitude and
understanding among youth from diverse social upbringing. Whether they were Hindu,
Muslim, Sikh, belonging to upper or lower castes, or from urban or rural areas, Thorat
recommended that India needed to develop pedagogy to sensitise students, make them
develop sympathy and believe in equality and fraternity. “Nothing else can better replace the
feeling of isolation that sets into a student's life right from the start,” he said36.
The Thorat pointed that civic learning is a compulsory course in American Universities.
Christians, Jews, Muslims, black and white students sat together and developed respect. Yet
there was racial discrimination. India needed this and more.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani knew that her time was ticking. The next parliament session was in
the last week of February. Rohith had become a flashpoint in unearthing the rot within India’s
education system and how little her Government did to address the woes of the students. She
had to make a promise to her country that the suicides would stop. She had to apply herself to
think of immediate redress and more long-term measures her ministry would strive to put in
place.
35
Shriya Mohan, #Rohith Vemula: 4 things that should shape our debate, Catch News, January 20, 2016,
accessed on June 12, 2016, http://archive.catchnews.com/india-news/rohithvemula-4-things-dalit-intellectualsbelieve-should-shape-our-debate-1453289038.html
36
Ibid
11
Questions:
1. Draw out the similar inherited structures that are subtler than the caste system in your
respective countries and the challenges in trying to reform them.
2. If you are HRD Minister Smriti Irani, what are the short-term and long-term public
policy measures you would ensure your ministry took to fix the situation of student
suicides in India?
3. What are the problems with affirmative action to settle historical injustices such as
caste? What policy measures can ease the hostility faced by beneficiaries?
4. Can you think of better alternatives to affirmative action to fix inequality? Draw from
real examples across the world such as Singapore’s meritocracy. How can such a
system be made to work, over time, in India?
12
Exhibit 1 - Full transcript of Rohith Vemula’s suicide letter37
Good morning,
I would not be around when you read this letter. Don't get angry on me. I know some
of you truly cared for me, loved me and treated me very well. I have no complaints on
anyone. It was always with myself I had problems. I feel a growing gap between my
soul and my body. And I have become a monster. I always wanted to be a writer. A
writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write.
I loved science, stars, nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people
have long since divorced from nature. Our feelings are second handed. Our love is
constructed. Our beliefs coloured. Our originality valid through artificial art. It has
become truly difficult to love without getting hurt.
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 very field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and
living.
I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive
me if I fail to make sense.
May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love,
pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a
life. 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.
People may dub me as a coward. And selfish, or stupid once I am gone. I am not
bothered about what I am called. I don't believe in after-death stories, ghosts, or
spirits. If there is anything at all I believe, I believe that I can travel to the stars. And
know about the other worlds.
If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get seven months of
my fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my
family is paid that. I have to give some 40 thousand to Ramji. He never asked them
back. But please pay that to him from that.
Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone. Do not
shed tears for me. Know that I am happy dead than being alive.
37
TNN, “Full Text: Dalit Scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide note”, Times of India, January 19, 2016, accessed
May 16, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Full-text-Dalit-scholar-Rohith-Vemulassuicide-note/articleshow/50634646.cms
13
"From shadows to the stars."
Uma anna, sorry for using your room for this thing.
To ASA family, sorry for disappointing all of you. You loved me very much. I wish all
the very best for the future.
For one last time,
Jai Bheem
I forgot to write the formalities. No one is responsible for my this act of killing myself.
No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act.
This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this.
Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone.
14