[Reader-list] The Hindu : NATIONAL / NEW DELHI : Suspension of former, present Principals of Mahavir medical college demanded

[anoop kumar]

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/suspension-of-former-present-principals-of-mahavir-medical-college-demanded/article4015279.ece#.UIIcf1xgK8M.gmail

Suspension of former, present Principals of Mahavir medical college
demanded Mohammad
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Civil society groups, including medical students, protested here on Friday
against caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutions,
demanding suspension of the present and former Principals of Vardhman
Mahavir Medical College who were found to be involved in discriminating
against reserved category students.

The Prof. B. L. Mungekar Committee which was appointed by the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to look into the allegations of
caste-based discrimination indicted the administration of Vardhman Mahavir
Medical College for “resorting to caste-based discrimination and neglecting
the duties assigned to them, not by omission, but by commissions”.

The Mungekar Committee, which submitted its report to NCSC in September
this year, recommended suspension of four persons including Dr. Jayashree
Bhattachrjee and Dr. V. K. Sharma, present and former principals of the
medical college respectively. The Committee also asked the Commission to
initiate legal action against them under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

Other college officials named by the Committee included Dr. Shobha Das,
Head of the Department of Physiology, and Dr. Raj Kapoor, Professor of
Physiology and Liaison Officer.

Dr. Ajay Kumar Singh, president of Progressive Medicos Forum, said there
have been enough of enquiries and committees which have repeatedly
established caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutions.
What is missing is concrete action on recommendations of these committees,
he added.

“We had the Mungekar Committee before which there was the Thorat Committee
which have established and recognised the discrimination against students
belonging to certain castes in Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and
All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. But unfortunately there hasn’t
been any action on their recommendations,” said Dr. Singh.

Anoop Kumar, an activist, highlighted several instances where educational
institutions “deliberately” failed the reserved category students in
different subjects for years together.

“In all such cases, it has been seen that students were repeatedly failed
by just one or two marks in some specific subjects for several years in an
attempt to break their morale and brand them forever as ‘inferior’ or
‘incapable’. But whenever the examinations were conducted either under the
supervision of the court or through any other external sources, the same
set of failed students performed well and were able to clear their exams.”

The recent example is from Vardhman Mahavir Medical College where many
reserved category students were repeatedly being failed in Physiology but
when the exam was conducted under close supervision of the Delhi High
Court, surprisingly, all passed, added Mr. Kumar.

The protesting students of the medical college alleged that in the absence
of strict action against the officials involved nothing has changed for
them on the ground level and harassment of the reserved category students
at the hands of the administration continues. What has disappointed these
students is the fact that even the NCSC has not taken any action on the
Committee’s recommendation.

NCSC chairman P. L. Poonia, however, claimed that he has already written to
the Union Health Ministry and the Delhi Government regarding action against
the guilty officials. But for aggrieved students “just writing letters”
means that even the “strong” recommendations of Prof. Mungekar will meet
the same fate which several others did.

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