Set up panel to study UoH problems

Hyderabad: The university of Hyderabad (UoH) forum of teachers representing SC/ST members requested Union HRD Ministry to set up a committee to study varsity-specific problems in the backdrop of suicide by a research scholar and sought a law to make caste discrimination a punishable crime.

The SC/ST Faculty Forum blamed Rohith Vemula's suicide last month on social atmosphere of discrimination and exclusion faced by the Dalit students on the campus.

"A separate committee for UoH should be set up to study the University-specific problems and undertake reforms in consultation with students, faculty and administrators," the Forum said in a letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani.

"We believe some temporary measures here and there will not serve any purpose. We need some basic reforms and steps to address the problems of discrimination and related issues of the Dalit students. The Forum said MHRD/UGC should immediately enact a law to make caste discrimination a punishable crime," it added

Rohith, a PhD student at the central university, was found dead in a hostel room on the campus on January 17.

Source: PTI