The protest by a section of students at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras on Monday appears to be born of fear and confusion.
“All of us are confused and affected by what has happened,” admitted an alumna who studied in the institute for five years. “Little attention is being paid to the [issue of] lack of a proper system to address students’ issues; or why there have been so many suicides and what IIT-M has done to help students. Students have been raising concerns from my time, through the years, but the Dean of Students is adamant that he won't listen,” said the alumna. Students belonging to a forum called Chinta Bar staged a protest on the campus on Monday. “We are asking the department to conduct a fair investigation. Every time a student commits suicide, we point out how ineffective the present mechanisms are,” she added.
Chinta Bar, which has launched a hunger fast, has made a list of 20 persons since 2006, including a postdoctoral fellow, a faculty member and the spouse of a faculty, who committed suicide on campus.
The names of as many as five students from Andhra Pradesh, three each from Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, two from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Puducherry, Jharkhand and Rajasthan feature on the list.
The students and alumni this reporter spoke to unanimously declared that they had not faced discrimination on the basis of religion on campus. Nor were the professors mentioned by Ms. Latheef prejudiced, in their experience, they said.
The protesters’ demand is a reiteration of a representation given to the institute director Bhaskar Ramamurthi in February. They want an external survey into issues faced by students inside the institute and complaint and grievance redressal committees in all departments. One of their concerns is the attitude of the Dean of Students Sivakumar Srinivasan, who oversees the functioning of the student organisation Saathi. “Saathi is the present system to help with students' issues, but it has been proven ineffective in many situations. General sadness can be solved by student mentors, but what if issues are worse — depression, for example, needs proper help, not motivational words,” pointed out an alumnus.
(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available at 104 - the State’s health helpline and at 044 2464 0050 - Sneha suicide prevention helpline.)
