After data from the Ministry of Education revealed a lack of representation of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates in the PhD programmes and faculty positions in all 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the student organisations across various IITs have joined hands to demand proper implementation of reservations in the institutes.

“IITs are among the ‘elite’ higher education institutions in the country built with the common people’s money and undertake high quality research with huge funding from the public sector. The denial of the constitutional guarantees to the historically discriminated and marginalized groups in these institutes has significant socio-economic ramifications. Higher education and research are important means of achieving social mobility and overcoming social inequalities,” said a joint statement by the student organisations.

Some student organisations that issued the joint statement are Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), IIT Bombay, Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle (APSC) and ChintaBAR, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi for Justice, Freedom and Democracy.

“In the light of the overwhelming evidence pointing towards the failure of IIT administrations to amend their admission processes to fulfil the reservation norms, we the undersigned demand that the Honourable President of India, who is also the Visitor of all IITs, and Supreme Court of India take suo motu cognisance of the violation of legally mandated reservation for SC, ST and OBC in IITs,” read the joint statement.

The groups have made six demands. They have sought the implementation of the reservation provisions in faculty recruitment and MS/PhD admissions in all departments of all IITs at the earliest, reports Hindustan Times.

They have also sought scholarship for all MS/PhD students admitted at IIT from marginalised communities and setting up of a permanent SC, ST, and OBC Cell at all IITs.