UGC Data On Caste Discrimination: '142' Complaints From Universities Last Year, BHU Tops The List
As many as 102 complaints had been received related to discrimination against Scheduled Castes (SCs) while 40 such complaints had been received related to Scheduled Tribes (STs) by the University Grants Commission (UGC) from various universities for the year 2015-16, the government said yesterday in the parliament. Of the 102 complaints related to SCs, 81 have been settled while of the 40 related to STs, 33 have been settled, says the UGC data presented in the Parliament. This information was provided to the Lok Sabha in a written reply by Minister of State for Human Resource Development Mahendra Nath Pandey.
"The UGC has intimated that it has compiled information on cases related to caste discrimination in universities only for the year 2015-16. As per the information provided by UGC, 102 and 40 complaints, respectively on SC and ST, caste discrimination have been received by it from various universities," the minister said, as reported by Press Trust of India.
After the suicide of Rohith Vemula, caste discrimination in Indian universities and educational institutions became a national debate and students from various institutes came out publicly regarding the problems they face in the higher education sector of the country.
According to the data Human Resource Minister shared in the parliament yesterday, the maximum 19 complaints related to discrimination against SCs have been received from Banaras Hindu University and all of them have been settled.
A maximum of 10 complaints related to discrimination against STs were received from Gujarat University and all the 10 have been settled, the minister said.
Various students groups and political parties were pitching for framing of Rohith Act to end discrimination against SC/ST students on the premises of central universities. A 12-point recommendation from the Ministry of Human Resources and Development on how to prevent campus suicides came last year in which HRD Ministry added six points to Roopanwal Commission's six recommendations. The Justice A K Roopanwal Commission was formed by the HRD Ministry to look into the death of research scholar Rohith Vemula.
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