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The institutional murder of Rohith Vemula in HCU sparked discussions nationwide on the exclusionary nature of public higher education. But a new story emerges outside government-funded universities. MHRD data shows that 78% Indian colleges were already privately-owned, as of 2015-16. Privatization always hits the marginalised hardest. Instead of Constitutionally-mandated reservations, a new language of ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ is being propagated in private and aided universities. This updated edition of the Manusmriti deserve ruthless exposure.
Women in IITs
Only nine out of a hundred IITians were women in 2017. The experience of ‘including’ women in IITs shows that the terms on which parity is attained are significant. IITs have a long history of resisting reservations, on grounds of preserving ‘merit’. Seats were reserved for SC/ST candidates only in 1972 and for OBC in 2006, leading to a situation where almost half of all students now come from marginalised groups while, as per RTI replies in 2021, 95% faculty come from upper castes. This has led to an unique language of ‘inclusion’ and meritocracy being promoted on campus, which affects gender dimensions as well.
‘Diversity’ in APU, Ashoka
The top-tier of the emerging private higher education ecosystem is giving rise to different forms of discrimination. These institutes have been built on heavily subsidised land with tax concessions, such as the Special Education Zones recommended by NEP 2020, with the aim of gradually replacing the few premier public-funded central universities functioning today. Liberal arts universities like Ashoka in Sonepat, Haryana and Azim Premji University near Bangalore seek to provide an ‘Ivy League’ education to the Indian elite, charging upward of ₹11 lakhs per year at the UG level for the full experience. Diversity is a heavily-publicised affair in their prospectus documents. This takes in the form of sliding-scale fee waivers and stipends offered to ‘needy’ students on a discretionary basis.
The dehumanisation faced by students taken in through such ‘diversity quotas’ is different from what we have seen in public universities and deserves attention. This distinction is widely-reported across campuses, whether well-meaning or otherwise. It is institutionalised in APU, where students with at least three years of ‘work experience’ receive a 50% fee waiver and need-based stipends. In most cases, the elaborate admission process itself is beyond reach for students from marginalised backgrounds and a handful of Ambedkarite NGOs assist several students who reach APU through the ‘work experience route’—an unofficial name for their diversity quotas. However, once inside, the classroom learning environment is alienating and divided. Students on such scholarships are dependent entirely on the faculty’s discretion for additional attention, remedial classes, writing training etc. to survive alongside their better-off counterparts. A PG student in APU, describing his experience of studying under such a fee waiver scheme, said, “I feel like a circus animal in class. Everyone listens to me with ‘extra-sensitivity’ at all times, I also play the part. I have been brought in to speak of my experiences and illustrate the reality of caste and class for my more privileged classmates.” It is not for the benefit of those who make it through such exceptional waivers, rather it is for their paying peers to get a more ‘holistic’ education.
Do not bless us with this weaponized diversity! We do not want to be ‘included’ in your oppressive machine. Our struggle is against oppression itself.
