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Hindustan Times
03-08-2025
- Hindustan Times
22-year-old student found dead on IIT Bombay campus
MUMBAI: A 22-year-old student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay was found dead at the Powai campus in the early hours on Saturday. He is suspected to have fallen from the terrace of a hostel building, from the tenth floor. Police said the cause of death is not clear and investigations are still underway. Mumbai, India - February 20, 2023: Posse of policemen deployed outside IIT Bombay after students protest seeking justice for 18-year-old Dalit student Darshan Solanki, who died by suicide on February 12 inside IIT Bombay, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, February 20, 2023. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo) (HT PHOTO) The deceased, who hailed from Delhi, was a fourth-year student and was waiting for the placement process to begin. 'The incident was reported at 2.30am by the hostel authorities,' said deputy commissioner of police (zone 10) Datta Nalawade. Powai police said the deceased and a few other students had ordered dinner and took it up to the terrace of a hostel building on Friday night. After they had dinner, all of them left, except for the deceased. At around 1.00am, his colleagues found his body at the base of the building. He appears to have fallen from the terrace, police said, adding that his colleagues took him to a nearby hospital but he was declared dead on admission. Police are recording the statements of the hostel mates of the deceased and the teaching staff, to assess his state of mind. They say preliminary investigations have found no evidence of foul play. No suicide note has been found but police are investigating the case as a possible suicide or accidental death. The body has been sent to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar East for post-mortem examination. IIT-B has posted a message on social media, saying: 'The untimely death has shocked us to the core and we share the grief. It is very unfortunate that a promising career came to a premature end in such a manner. His death has saddened the entire community on IIT campus. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.'
Hindustan Times
02-08-2025
- Hindustan Times
Survey of IIT-B seniors reveals many prefer the job market over further studies
Mumbai: Insight, the official student media body of the Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, conducted its annual 'Senior Survey' to understand the sentiments of the graduating batch. The survey revealed that many students had begun using ChatGPT and online platforms to learn new skills and enhance their portfolios before entering the job market. Mumbai, India - February 20, 2023: Posse of policemen deployed outside IIT Bombay after students protest seeking justice for 18-year-old Dalit student Darshan Solanki, who died by suicide on February 12 inside IIT Bombay, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, February 20, 2023. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo) (HT PHOTO) The survey was completed by 282 students, a subset of the 2,400 graduating student population. Of these, 183 said that they had used AI tools and online learning platforms to take additional courses beyond their coursework. This is the first year that AI related questions have featured in the survey. One of the chief editors of Insight, Shivam Agarwal, said, 'The use of ChatGPT and AI has increased immensely in the last year.' However, he added that the survey had no other purpose than to capture the thoughts of graduating students. As per the results of the survey, among the respondents, very few students are choosing to go for their higher studies. Only 35 students plan to pursue a master's degree or a PhD, and 5 plan to do a masters in business administration. The remaining students intend to start working immediately. From 278 students who responded to a question about the importance of attending classes, 128 said that attending classes was important if 'the professor and the course are interesting'. 16 students felt that they did not need to attend classes since there was enough material available online. Regarding how well IIT-B had prepared students for life after college, 151 students claimed that IIT-B has prepared them well, 'ready to rock', and 33 said that they feel exceptionally well prepared, 'master of the universe level'. In questions pertaining to their social lifestyles, 27% of respondents said that they had used dating apps for fun.
Indian Express
31-07-2025
- Indian Express
Dear Editor, I Disagree: ‘Campus mothers' initiative must be seen for what it is: A displacement of responsibility
Have India's educational institutions always been sites of silent, systemic violence? Spaces meant for learning, for nurturing questions, and for producing knowledge are turning into graveyards of unrealised dreams. From student suicides to institutional apathy, from unaddressed harassment to symbolic initiatives like 'Campus Mothers', the violence remains constant, structural, and often deadly. The recent suicide of a student in Odisha who set herself on fire after being denied justice for sexual harassment, the tragic case of Darshan Solanki at IIT Bombay, and the long, painful list that includes names like Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi, are not disconnected events. These are not isolated tragedies, but a reflection of systemic violence. They show how institutional spaces can push students to the brink, and then respond with symbolic gestures instead of accountability. Academic spaces continue to be shaped by patterns of violence that define the everyday lives of students. There are countless students whose names will never be known. Those who live and study within institutions that shame, isolate, and silence them. Those who endure relentless academic pressure, wait months for fellowships to be released, face discriminatory behaviour from faculty, or are punished for simply demanding dignity. Women students who are moral-policed, students from marginalised communities who are made to feel they do not belong and students struggling with mental health who are offered no support. They are made to carry these burdens quietly, as though suffering is an expected part of their education. In this context, the editorial 'Mum's not the word', (IE, June 14), argues that though the intention behind the initiative may be good, its gendered framing is problematic. However, it stops short of questioning the logic of such initiatives. The issue is not only about who is being assigned the task of care but also about what this task is meant to replace. The editorial narrows its critique to the gendered framing of the 'Campus Mothers' initiative — it fails to confront a deeper concern that such gestures of care are being used to substitute structural accountability with symbolic empathy. This initiative at IIT Kharagpur must be seen for what it is: A displacement of responsibility. The institution, in assigning women such as faculty or non-teaching staff as emotional points of contact, has not created support structures. It has rebranded care as an individual act, rather than a systemic responsibility. The burden of care is both feminised and depoliticised. It is taken away from structures with the power to change conditions. It is reinforcing a gendered logic in which women are made responsible for tending to emotional wounds, regardless of where those wounds come from. Their academic expertise, institutional authority, and professional roles are sidelined to make room for a more palatable identity: The ever-giving, ever-listening, ever-available mother. To imagine care differently, we need to turn to political frameworks that have treated it as a collective right, not a personal burden. Feminist thinkers like Kristen Ghodsee have shown how collectivised care systems, especially under socialist frameworks, allowed women greater freedom, dignity, and autonomy. Care cannot be a temporary plaster over structural wounds. Students need care. They need to be seen and heard. But modelling it into motherhood turns care into something private, emotional, and feminine, rather than collective, political, and structural. It is a redistribution of institutional neglect. The editorial recognises this. It notes that 'a more inclusive and thoughtful model that invites faculty, staff and residents of all genders to serve as trained campus mentors would reflect the span of empathy, equality, and shared responsibility'. But a truly empathetic care system hinges on listening to the student. The editorial overlooks this imperative. Student movements have already imagined what collective care can look like. Through peer support networks, anti-caste collectives, and demands for institutional changes like functioning grievance bodies, these students have built spaces of care grounded in solidarity. Student organisations and collectives are often the only ones demanding structural change. Yet, in several institutions, they are the first to be surveilled, vilified, and punished. This is part of a broader refusal to engage with dissent, to treat students as stakeholders, or to acknowledge the violence embedded in campus hierarchies. Care, if it is to be meaningful, cannot come from silencing those who resist. It must come from listening to them, learning from them and building with them. To truly reimagine care, institutions must first learn to listen. It is students who have already begun to show what solidarity, support, and resistance can look like. Institutions must follow their lead. It is through their vision that campuses can imagine something better — structures of care rooted not in symbolism, but in justice and shared responsibility. The writer is a research scholar at the Department of Political Science, AKDC, affiliated to the University of Allahabad
