With reference to the article, "The Republic at 66" (January 25), so long as caste reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, and religion as vote bank continue, the notion that all are equal before the law will elude us.
Recent incidents at Sabarimala shrine and the University of Hyderabad are reminders that discrimination based on gender and caste continue to take place 66 years after India became a republic. While we commemorate B R Ambedkar on his birth anniversary and celebrate Constitution Day, we have failed to take his legacy forward and stand by the principles of the Constitution that he framed.
When two student groups clash on campus, suspending members of only one group on the intervention of a Union minister is unfair. The incident in question is the alleged clash between members of the Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on the University of Hyderabad campus, following which Rohith Vemula and four others, all of the ASA, were suspended. After a 14-day strike by students demanding that the suspension order be revoked, Vemula committed suicide.
While HRD Minister Smriti Irani admitted the issue had been on the boil for four years, her remark that Vemula's death had nothing to do with his caste belies the truth. The Union minister, who accused Vemula of being casteist, belongs to a party that owes its allegiance to a religious outfit, which acts as a political powerhouse and source of inspiration for political bosses.
Caste discrimination against backward classes in academic institutions is a monster that has increased inequality. We are good at firefighting, not at taking pre-emptive steps, but there's a need to take a pragmatic approach to end this malice. As lawmakers, people's representatives should get rid of discrimination. Even though we are a secular country mandated to provide equal opportunities to all faiths, we often pay lip service to this principle.
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Recent incidents at Sabarimala shrine and the University of Hyderabad are reminders that discrimination based on gender and caste continue to take place 66 years after India became a republic. While we commemorate B R Ambedkar on his birth anniversary and celebrate Constitution Day, we have failed to take his legacy forward and stand by the principles of the Constitution that he framed.
When two student groups clash on campus, suspending members of only one group on the intervention of a Union minister is unfair. The incident in question is the alleged clash between members of the Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on the University of Hyderabad campus, following which Rohith Vemula and four others, all of the ASA, were suspended. After a 14-day strike by students demanding that the suspension order be revoked, Vemula committed suicide.
While HRD Minister Smriti Irani admitted the issue had been on the boil for four years, her remark that Vemula's death had nothing to do with his caste belies the truth. The Union minister, who accused Vemula of being casteist, belongs to a party that owes its allegiance to a religious outfit, which acts as a political powerhouse and source of inspiration for political bosses.
Caste discrimination against backward classes in academic institutions is a monster that has increased inequality. We are good at firefighting, not at taking pre-emptive steps, but there's a need to take a pragmatic approach to end this malice. As lawmakers, people's representatives should get rid of discrimination. Even though we are a secular country mandated to provide equal opportunities to all faiths, we often pay lip service to this principle.
R Prabhu Raj Mumbai
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number