the death of merit

This documentary is second in the series of our efforts to document caste-based discrimination prevalent in Indian higher education system resulting in large number of suicides of Dalit students in Indian campuses.
It is based on the testimonies of parents and family members of Dr Jaspreet Singh, 22 years, who was a student of Final Year, MBBS at Government Medical College, Chandigarh. He committed suicide on 27th January, 2008, by hanging himself on the 5th floor of his college’s library.

go watch the the testimonies of jaspreet's family and others on how a certain professor, and the indifferent administration of the college, drove him to death.

also watch, in the same post, the earlier documentary on dr.bal mukund bharti of all india institute of medical sciences, delhi, who was hounded by five, not one, casteist professors until his death in march, last year.

or, don't watch. if you don't wish to know that they didn't die of 'academic pressure', 'failed love affairs' or 'depression'. 

Echoes of stillborn histories

What can we learn from this documentary, ’The Death of Merit’?

Bal Mukund Bharti was determined to become a doctor. And his teachers were also very determined: ‘you’ll never pass MBBS’, they told him.

Bal Mukund didn’t give up, nor did his family. Father, mother, married sister, uncle, aunt– they were all determined to support him in his ardent journey, which was steadily converted into an uphill struggle by AIIMS, to become a doctor. They scraped, pooled together whatever meagre resources they could to send him to AIIMS.

Uncle says they invested everything they earned in his education. Sister who made only 2,500 rupees a month helped whenever father, who worked in a job which sometimes made him wait 3 long months for wages, couldn’t. It wasn’t a small dream; if realized, it could have become a source of hope and pride for many more people outside the immediate family.

As Bal Mukund’s proud father says, ‘he was the first one from our community to become a doctor in fifty years!’. Bal Mukund’s intelligence and superior scholastic record instilled that kind of confidence in the family, stoked such high hopes.

Imagine: the first doctor from a community in fifty years, or in two millennia, possibly. Also imagine Rakesh Sharma or Kalpana Chawla, people of the ‘wrong’ race, being told by the Russians or the Americans: ‘you’ll never go into space’.

But AIIMS was determined it would see Bal Mukund only as a ‘harijan’, as a person from the ‘wrong’ caste. Imagine history being snuffed out in the womb. That shouldn’t be very difficult to imagine if you step two years back into history and think of Senthil Kumar of the University of Hyderabad.

please read the rest here. 

yet another savanur

now, outside the vidhan soudha in bengaluru. a more plush, yet much more appropriate setting to stage such a protest.

brahminized india might think the stink will die down as more and more protesters adopt such means (notice how the newspaper very coyly refers to shit as 'faecal matter' now, unlike the tone of shock seeping through the reports of the earlier incident), and the media would stop noticing, one day. allowing you to reclaim your caste-earned privilege of forgetting.

imagine such a protest outside an office building, outside a favourite cinema, club or mcdonalds. or at the most crowded traffic junction during rush hour. or anypublicwhere. if one of the most imposing buildings in the so-called silicon valley of india could almost always trigger the memory of a bucket of shit in your mind from now (at least for a few, or many), just as jallianwala bagh will always remind one of the massacre, imagine what associations all those other places could excrete in the future.

the manual scavenger is never allowed to forget shit, unlike everyone else on earth. you might think he's trying to take away your liberty to do so now. but no. he's questioning your right to inequality: go ahead, live off my inequality.

the s$#t in our minds

can't get this horrifying story out of my mind. can anyone suggest any ways of contacting those protesters? comment here or write to any insight member.

the language of hate

the separatists, led by prof. kodandaram reddy of osmania university don't want telangani students' exam papers to be evaluated by andhra professors:

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Lecturers’ Forum along with the Telangana Joint Action Committee staged a protest at the Board of Intermediate Education office at Nampally here today demanding answer sheets be evaluated regionwise.

With the BIE officials making it clear that there is no question of evaluating the answer sheets on regional basis unless the State Government issues orders, protestors under the aegis of Prof Kodandaram said that it is against the interests of the students from Telangana region.

Speaking to reporters outside the BIE office, Kodandaram said that they are not questioning the integrity of the evaluators or the transparency system of the BIE but are demanding region-wise evaluation in the interest of the students. ``It is just a matter of adjustment for the BIE officials. Even as they are repeatedly assuring that the identity of the students would not be revealed, students are a worried lot,’’ he said and informed that they are getting enquiries every day from the students regarding the method of evaluation. [emphasis mine]

the students are a worried lot? then the professors should reason with them and tell them not to worry about the 'integrity of the evaluators or the transparency system of the BIE'.

When asked whether it is right to press for region-wise evaluation at a time when the Centre mooted a common curriculum, Kodandaram replied that this is not the time for a debate on the issue.``The BIE must heed to the demand. Otherwise the students would not be able to appear for the exam with the right mindset,’’ he remarked.

Telangana Lecturers’ Forum (TLF) members said that it is very easy to identify Telangana students by the language they write in the answer sheets.

i wonder if it is very easy to identify dalit, obc and adivasi students by the language they write in their answer sheets. is that the reason why they keep proving themselves to be less 'meritorious'? because upper caste professors like kodandaram reddy and his fellow conscientious protesters can spot them by the language they use?

reminds me of a petition (filed in the andhra pradesh state human rights' commission) i'd read in a mailing list a few days ago:

Petition filed under section 12 of the Human Rights Protection Act 1995

Respected sir

We the applicants of the petition are students of Potti Sri Ramulu Telugu University, Nampally, and residing in Triveni Hostel here by submitting this petition on behalf of all the SC ST Students of Triveni Hostel, Located in Osmania University, Hyderabad,

It is respectfully submitted to you that we want to bring to your kind notice about the caste based discrimination and harassment that we are facing in Triveni Hostel, On January 7th 2010 at 11am the above mentioned four students gathered at our hostel mess hall and caught hold of the Applicants and threatened by saying “SC ST – Mala, Madiga, Erukala Lanja kodukulu evaru maa prakkana kurchovaddu meeru pandulu, aavulanu thintaru evadaina kurchunnatlaithe Champutham” (You SC ST Mala, Madiga, Erukala Bastard should not come and sit in the same bench where we sit in the mess hall, as you are Beef and Pork eaters, if anybody dares to sit beside us we will kill them)

We opposed the words of the four upper caste students and asked them why they are using filthy language and abusing in the name of caste, then they again scolded us in the name of caste and threatened that they will do it again and again, they also said “Is it not true that you SC STs are beef eaters and pork eaters? And further said you bastards should approach the Hostel authorities to arrange separate mess hall for you, don’t come to this mess hall

We informed this incident to the university SC ST cell on 7th January 2010 and they brought it to the notice of the Vice Chancellor, but nothing has happened; as the registrar of the university and the Vice chancellor are also belong to upper castes and are supporting the upper caste students. This silence of the authorities is further encouraging them to harass the SC ST students in the name of caste. The Vice chancellor had tried to implicate SC ST students in the false cases alleging that the students insulted him and with the intervention of some elders he withdrawn the cases, so it is crystal clear that the vice chancellor is biased and supporting to the upper caste students to harass SC ST Students in the hostel

The registrar too in support of the upper caste students and is instigating the upper caste students that he will take care of them, in case if SC ST students files any cases, through the help of high rank police officers known to him and some of them are his relatives also. ,With the help of the both registrar and vice chancellor the upper caste students continued to behave in the same fashion

We feel that including the Vice chancellor, registrar and the upper caste students are not in a position to recognize and accept the SC ST students as equals with the other upper caste students. Hence they are not allowing the SC/ST students to sit in the same benches where upper caste students are also sitting. That’s why they are encouraging upper caste students to harass SC ST students. With this background the above named upper caste students are regularly harassing us and other SC ST students in the name of caste and insulting our food habits

In addition to the above on 7th march 2010 again the four above named upper caste students came to the mess hall and shouted loudly that “we have told you SC ST Bastards should not sit in the mess hall but why you are sitting, and threatened us by saying that if we sit on the same benches in the mess hall they will bring their people from outside and they will thrash us

It became a regular phenomenon that the above named four students are harassing each and every SC ST student whenever they found them single. Also if they see any SC ST student on the way they are loudly shouting that “see! See Beef eater is ..…” it is a humiliation to every SC ST student on the campus and in the hostel.

So we request your kind self to protect our human rights, dignity and self respect and relieve us from this mental trauma by directing concerned authorities to take action against the above said respondent Students, Vice Chancellor and registrar

And we pray this honorable authority to direct the police concerned to register a case against the above said students, Vice chancellor and registrar according to the provisions of the SC ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989

Applicants

SC ST Students of Triveni Hostel, Osmania University Campus, Hyderabad -7

the hostel is located in the osmania university campus where prof. kodandaram reddy holds court now, like a jagirdar or paigah of the good old days. how can this happen in his jagir? i guess he'd probably say: this is not the time for a debate on the issue.

he doesn't like andhra capitalists, and doesn't trust andhra bureaucrats. he has asked telanganis to boycott 'products' made or sold by andhra businessmen. he has called for a 'social boycott' of andhraites, big businessmen or politicians or anyone, who oppose separation. now he finds andhra professors and teachers untouchable.

what's happening in triveni hostel, is also happening right now in hostels across campuses in telangana and andhra pradesh and india, in less or more heinous forms, but you can rest assured that it's happening. and it'll keep happening as long as professors like kodandaram reddy find more and more reasons to distrust, hate and ostracize their fellow human beings. in less complicated societies they call it racism. here, they call it 'democratic' protest.

wear a black badge in your mind, please

JNU to spread wings to SAARC countries

such an evocative headline- conjures up images of an institution of learning so brave, so noble that it refuses to bow down to man-made divides. the news report goes on to say:

'We want to attract students from all over the world to study in our university. Hence we are planning to open our entrance examination centres in Pakistan, and consecutively in all the SAARC countries soon,' H.B. Bahidar, chief proctor of JNU, told IANS.

and, it looks like, jnu does welcome students from all over the world:

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) attracts students from all over the country and abroad, and from diverse strata of society. JNU has come to be deemed the best University in the nation today and is among the better- known Universities of the world. In the academic year 2001-2002, JNU had 186 foreign students from 34 countries from all over the world, a fair chunk of them coming from South- East Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Europe and the USA.

students from 34 countries! jnu has, from the very beginning, reached out to the world. is there a nation or wanna-be nation in the world where jnu hasn't opposed imperialism or neo-imperialism or colonialism or neo-colonialism or fascism or neo-fascism or capitalism or neo-liberalism or apartheid...? a people that jnu hasn't embraced and empathized with or a 'people's struggle' that it hasn't endorsed or taken out marches to 'express solidarity' with?

and it's not just the jnu, many other 'premier' indian institutions have- through their research, students, faculty- scaled borders and oceans and let the world know, they're with them. be it nasa or the world bank or citibank or aereated beverage makers or universities or hospitals or governments or ..human rights organizations.

but the only people students/teachers/researchers etc from jnu and other premier institutions find it very difficult to reach out to, embrace, empathise with are indians themselves. other indians. students, teachers, researchers etc from communities other than those represented in one form or the other at jnu and the other institutions. of the 6000 castes/communities/tribes in india i do not think any aspirant who wasn't from a select group of 100-200 communities had ever stepped into any of these institutions other than by sheer accident. i do not think jnu has students, researchers, teachers from even 34 indian communities, right now.

nations are mostly endogamous, so are these indian communities. next time you take out a march or express solidarity with a nation at the other end of the atlas, you bloody hypocrites, remember that you never ever raised your hand in anything resembling a decent wave to even acknowledge the existence of these nations outside your gates. never ever uttered even a decent squeak of protest whenever they were stopped from entering. tomorrow, when you attend a class, teach a class, write a paper, read, debate, work in a lab, wear a black badge in your mind, at least. because i'd like to retain my humanity, because i'd like to be able to express my solidarity with you, some day.