Discrimination Against SC/ST Students and Professionals in India, Including All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Delhi

The word “Hindu” is a foreign with Persian and Arabic origins. The word “Hinduism” is a Persian/Arabic word that stands for the medieval forms of Brahmanical religion. Brahmanism is based on the Vedic religion, the main principle of which is sacrificing (Yajna). Sacrifice was the hallmark of ancient Indo-Aryan civilization, and the origin and end of this culture lay in the idea of Yajna. Violence and cruelty to living beings were involved in their sacrifices. It is difficult to imagine anything more brutal and material than the theology of the Brahmanas; morality finds no place in the Vedic system. This gospel of violence was justified as late as 200 AD. In fact, the moral doctrine of Ahimsa (nonviolence) is unknown to the old Vedic texts. Early Indo-Aryan—or old Brahmanical—ideals were diametrically opposite to early Buddhist ideals.

The caste system is to the Hindu religion what the Vedas are to Brahmanism. In the Hindu caste system, every human is NOT equal. The caste system discriminates among people by birth. The majority of people (85%) are Sudra (servant to 15% upper caste). According to the 2001 Indian Census, the Scheduled Caste (SC) made up 16.2% of the population, while Scheduled Tribe (ST) made up 8.20%, Other Backward Caste (OBC) made up 41.1%, and Upper Caste (i.e., Brahmin, Shatriya, and Vaishya) made up 15%. There are no differences in skin color or other physical features among people in these castes.

Even in the 21st century, students and professionals belonging to Sudra communities are victimized by the Manuwadi teachers, bureaucrats, ministers, judges, doctors, and all other professionals. Brahmin, Shatriya, and Vaishya castes make up 15% of the population, yet claim about 65% of the upper-level jobs. In the first-ever statistical analysis of its kind, a survey of the social profile of more than 300 senior journalists at 37 Hindi and English language newspapers and TV studios found that "Hindu upper-caste men"— who form 8% of the country's population—hold 71% of the top jobs in the "national media." Hence, the media is biased and does not report the truth of suffering and discrimination by those in the scheduled castes and tribes. When SCs/STs asked members of the media to lodge a formal complaint, they said that "if we do that, our whole career will be finished by these professors who treat us worse than animals." Such is the terror of these Manuwadi professors. The SC/ST students prefer to swallow these insults and suffer silently.

Inequity has existed for thousands of years for the SCs/STs and has included educational discrimination, housing segregation, physical harassment and abuse, economic suppression and disenfranchisement, discrimination in medical care, religious discrimination, and violence (e.g., torture, murder, rape). Despite several Indian laws enacted for the protection and empowerment of the SCs/STs, Indian society still treats them as outcasts. The Indian government has passed laws to protect the Sudras, but failed to promote democratic principles, secular thinking, and progressive ethos. For instance, despite a constitutional mandate, India has repeatedly failed to fulfill the reservation quota for SCs/STs in faculty positions (saying suitable candidates are not available).

Recently, the Indian government created a committee—headed by Prof. S. K. Thorat—to investigate discrimination in the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Delhi. The committee found widespread discrimination, harassment, torture, and abuse against SC/ST students and professionals, including examination assessment (theory and practical papers), consultation and interaction, discrimination in teaching, segregation in residential hostels, mess and dining discrimination, social isolation in cultural and sports events, ragging, anti-quota agitation, and hiring and promotion discrimination.

The AIIMS is a 100% grant-in-aid institution of the Indian government and should comply with all rules, regulations, and directives of the government to provide constitutional guarantees to the SCs/STs. According to the Thorat committee report, more than two-thirds of SC/ST students did not receive adequate support from teachers, which resulted in poor performance and psychological problems. A student at the AIIMS lost his eye due to ragging by upper-caste students, but had no forum in which to complain. There is no student representation for the Sudras.