Notice to IITs regarding placement of students after caste bias | Mumbai news

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued notices to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT-Delhi and the Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, directing them to submit an action-taken report within 15 days.

The notice comes after a complaint filed by Dhiraj Singh, an IIT-Bombay graduate, alleging discriminatory practices against Scheduled Caste (SC) students during campus placements.

The complaint, filed in November 2023, highlights concerns about alleged institutional discrimination against SC students.

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The NCSC has warned institutions that failure to comply with the directive will result in a summons for an in-person hearing.

In his letter to the commission, Singh alleged that both IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi require SC students to disclose their caste category and category rank in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) during the placement process. Singh argued that the practice promotes profiling and discrimination.

The letter states, “IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi are directly involved in discriminatory practices against 300 SC students participating in campus studies. Students are required to disclose their JEE category and rank, which is a blatant attempt to enable discrimination by placement officials. Feedback from several students corroborating this profiling has raised concerns that private sector recruiters could eliminate candidates based on information about their categories.”

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In the letter, Singh called for an immediate end to such caste-based discriminatory practices and for those responsible for perpetrating and abetting them to be brought to justice.

Singh added evidence, including placement forms, to substantiate his claims.

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In this message, he said that private sector companies, which are not bound by the reservation policy, often force students to provide caste-related information, which increases the risk of bias. Singh questioned the appropriateness of using four-year-old JEE ranks as a selection criterion, saying, “Why don’t recruiters rely on academic performance while pursuing a degree? Does this show a lack of confidence in the academic rigor of the IITs?”

Singh also criticized educational institutions for failing to protect SC students from discriminatory recruitment practices in the private sector.

Attempts to contact the administrations of IIT-Bombay and IIT-Delhi for their comments on the matter did not yield a response.