 "Judicial Commission to inquire into Rohit Vemula's death")
Union Human Resource Development Ministry has decided to appoint a judicial commission to inquire into the events and causes that led to the suicide of Rohit Vemula, one of the five Dalit students suspended by University of Hyderabad (UoH) in December last year.
The commission would submit its report in three months, according to a statement issued by the Ministry on Friday. Union HRD Minster Smriti Irani spoke with the mother of the deceased research scholar, Rohit Vemula, and expressed condolences to her son's death, it said.
Apart from appointing the commission on the current incident, the Ministry has also decided to put in place a set of measures in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in future and also to help address the problems of socially, economically and educationally backward students in the educational institutions, according to the statement.
These measures include the launch of orientation programmes to academic administrators, a special mechanism to redress the grievance of those students, besides the declaration of a special charter for all the educational institutions aimed at the elimination of any kind of discrimination against the students in the university campuses.
The Ministry would also extend the Peer group Assisted Learning (PAL) programme, which is being implemented at IIT-Gandhinagar, across all the higher education institutions besides appointing the mentors for socially, educationally and financially backward students on the campuses.
Meanwhile, the joint action committee of the UoH students on Friday reiterated its demand for the removal of the University vice chancellor P Apparao apart from asking for the resignation of Union HRD Minister and Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bhandaru Dattatreya.
Well-known Dalit academician Kancha Ilaiah on Friday announced the formation of a National Committee for Moral Responsibility to fight against the discrimination of Dalits in educational institutions. The committee has also backed the demands of the student JAC.