Caste Discrimination against SC/STs students in IIM faculty recruitment

New Delhi: Caste discrimination has been deep-rooted in our society, with many people not agreeing with the fact that it still exists today believing it was the ordeal of the past. However, this is not it, some people also believe that reservation is a waste of seats that could be provided to ‘more valuable’ students. This is not the fault of the people but the fault of the system and how one envisions it. Casteism may not be visible in the same manner as it used to be decades before but it has changed its phases and appear to be still infecting the nation as a parasite with modernity. There has been immense history in the past of caste posing as a determining factor for who gets to study and don’t but today renowned universities and institutions are being questioned for the same. 

Caste Discrimination in Indian Institution of Management Ahemdabad-

This story is about a brilliant candidate “Anonymous” (name changed), who has surpassed all of his peers and excelled in PGDM or Post Graduate Diploma in Management from one of the old IIMs and scored a whopping 178 marks or 99 percentile enough to be qualified even in the general category in UGC-NET and he diligently scored top marks in UPSC mains with management as optional, however, he was still not able to find a place in IIM- Ahmedabad whereas less competent candidates with comparatively lower marks from general category were selected. He was not even called by the institution for an interview while the brochure of IIM-Ahmedabad clearly states that PGDM students of IIMs don’t have to appear for any qualifying tests. 

This is visible to our naked eyes but we as a society still believe to remain oblivious to the discrimination ingrained in our place of learning and let the voices of the unprivileged unheard and below our ignorance. The only place which should be teaching otherwise is the ones spreading parasites of hate, the hate which has grown to the extent that it feels superior to the constitution itself. 

Action against caste discrimination with RTI

He unlike others rose his voice against the institution and filed a petition under the right to information, to which most questions were answered vaguely. He asked the institution to disclose the qualifying marks for the PhD program at IIM-Ahemdabad for the year 2021-22 for both general and reserved categories to which the response is stated below:

General Cut Offs Applied-

*The admission for the year 2022 is yet under process and hence data can not be disclosed.

Sunil further asked the reason for denying the Ph.D. interview opportunity to a scheduled caste candidate even though he has PGDM IIM one of the old IIMs and has scored 99.9 percentile in UGC-NET and has scored top 1% marks in Management Optional in UPSC (in unreserved category) for three years. Should this not be read as a blatant example of discrimination against SC/ST candidates in the IIM-A Ph.D. admission process? The response was as anticipated “You’re seeking reason which cannot be considered as information under section 2(f) of RTI Act, 2005)”. Sunil then requested to disclose the number of SC/ST faculty members (permanently) in IIM-A, to which the response in the RTI was “we do not maintain category-wise information of our faculty members.”

This is just the tip of the iceberg, when Sunil further requested to disclose the number of Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes students, the Indian Institution of Management Ahmedabad was selected for its Ph.D. Program (area wise) during 200-2022. The response was provided in an annexure which not only is disappointing but also degrading for an institution that is always known to outshine others with its glory. The annexure is provided below:

Area | Year-2010-2021

•  AGRI/FABM- 0 candidates have been selected from both SC and ST from 2010-to 2021.
• BP - Only 2 candidates were selected from SC in the years 2013 and 2015 respectively. 
• ECO - Only 1 candidate was selected belonging to SC in 2010
• F & A - No candidate was selected from neither SC nor ST throughout 2010-2021
• IME - Introduced first time from 2014 admission - Zero selections were made from both SC and ST from 2014 to 2021
• IS/CISG - Only 1 candidate was selected belonging to ST in 2021.
• Mktg. - Only 1 candidate was selected belonging to ST in the year 2018
• OB - 1 candidate was selected belonging to SC in the year 2010.
• P&IR/HRM - 2 candidates were selected, both belonging to SC in the years 2012 and 2020 respectively.
• P&QM - Only 1 candidate was selected in 2017 belonging to SC.
• PSG - 1 SC and 1 ST candidates were selected in the years 2017 and 2018 respectively.

The bottom line is the annexure is legitimate proof of what’s clandestinely been growing as a pest inside such a renowned institution. This may come as a shock to many but we can no longer hide behind our privileged and arrogantly ignore the deep-rooted casteism that still prevails in most parts of India and some of the prestigious institutions if not all.

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