Opinion: Time has come to have a Rohith Vemula Act

Why should students from the underprivileged sections be driven to commit suicide? And why are such incidents increasingly seen in Central Universities? 

The death of Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad has given rise to a demand for enactment of Rohit Law for the universities in India. What exactly the said law is intended to achieve? Though the demand is popular, the exact nature of the law is not clear. His death brought protests from all corners including from some foreign countries. His mother and brother are on a nationwide campaign for the enactment of the Rohit Law. 

Now we find Muthukrishnan had ended his last Facebook post saying, “They are going to kill many Rohiths, like us, just for eating beef, for being rational, for being intellectually productive for the country. But we are the real sons of this land and after we are all killed, there will be no nation.” It is ironical that in an internationally well- known university which has a domination of left wing ideology over the last five decades, he could not find a single sympathetic soul with whom he could open up.  

Speaking before the People’s Tribunal on caste discrimination at the University of Hyderabad, Prof. Amita Dhanda of NALSAR suggested, “The University should have affirmative action to equip the students with requisite soft skill. The burden of developing the capability should not be placed on students. The standards should not be lowered, but the time within which each student is permitted to reach the desired proficiency could be modified depending upon their background disadvantages”. 

The University Grants Commission (UGC) which is the monitoring authority of the finances of all universities in India has made a Regulation known as UGC (Promotion of Equity in High Educational Institutions) Regulation, 2012 which mandated constitution of Grievance Redressal Committee headed by an ombudsman. Such committees are almost absent from many of the central universities and totally non-existent in the state universities. 

The continuous incidences of suicides/deaths of students in premier institutions of learning has sent shockwaves throughout the country and more particularly in the academic circles. What is the way out? The university requires the formation of a broad-based “Students Counselling System”. Such system needs to be interactive involving students, teachers and parents to address common student concerns ranging from anxiety, stress, fear of change and failure to homesickness and a slew of academic worries. The University should, on a priority basis, appoint anti-discriminatory faculty advisors for SC/ST students. It is a responsibility of the advisors to work as watchdogs to protect the students against discrimination. Moreover, they should also look into the problems – personal and academic – faced by the students and advise them accordingly. They should work as counselors. 

The students in general and those belonging to the marginalised communities feel alienated in the university system. Besides class room and laboratory teaching, the teachers need to make special effort to cultivate one-to-one relationship with all the students, so that when a student needs guidance/advice, it is available. The teachers need to be more sensitive towards the students coming from rural background and of the marginalised communities.  

Universities in general and the elite universities in particular should also disseminate knowledge in such a way that it provides space to the subaltern and empower them by enhancing their capacity and self-confidence. The academic community enjoys freedom to express its views and debate on all issues without fear. Dissent is a core of critical thinking which needs to be allowed and protected within the university campus. University is not a factory to manufacture robots. It is a place to develop critical mind. Everyone has a right to dissent. To achieve these objects, the parliament must make a special enactment which should be named after Rohith Vemula who awakened the academics.