‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’
– French critic, journalist and novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808-1890)
The Parliamentary Panel headed by Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, which looks into issues of caste discrimination in specific institutions has come out with a damning report about the functioning of the AIIMS, and how there exists discrimination against SC/ST professors and students at the Institute. It talks about students from this category being repeatedly failed in their exams or posts remaining vacant at the institute supposedly for the ‘absence of suitable candidates’ – a usual euphorism underwhich reserved seats are not filled for years together.
As per its findings of the 1,111 faculty positions at the institute, 275 posts for assistant professors and 92 for professors remained vacant there.
Noting how the percentage of students from the deprived sections – across different AIIMSs – is below the required 15 percent for SC and 7.5 per cent for ST, it also mentioned how students from the depressed sections are denied admission to Super Speciality courses as there does not exist reservation for them turning all such courses ‘monopoly of upper castes’. Another important observation of the committee is regarding the great hiatus between performance of the SC/ST candidates in theory papers and practical papers which according to it was a clear manifestation of ‘biasness towards SC/ST students’
12/08/2022