HYDERABAD: In June 2016, six months after Rohith Vemula committed suicide, the University of Hyderabad (UoH) appointed for the first time an Anti-Discrimination Officer (ADO). It also constituted the advisory committee for the Equal Opportunities Cell (EOC) to tackle the issue of discrimination on campus. This was in compliance with the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations of 2012.
While on paper the roles and responsibilities of the ADO and EOC are admirable, on the ground they leave a lot to be desired. For instance, the EOC is currently headed by an in-charge officer.
A major stumbling block in the implementation of regulations continues to be a lack of awareness among students regarding the mechanisms available in the university to fight discrimination.
Unlike many other central universities, UoH does not even have a separate page on its website informing students about the presence of EOC or ADO, let alone contact details of the officer in question if someone wanted to lodge a complaint.
When cases are lodged, students say the slow progress in dealing with them is a deterrent to lodging complaints. Case in point is the pending inquiry on the issue of alleged discrimination raised when Moses Abraham, a PhD scholar, tried to commit suicide in his department in November.
"There is a separate office of Anti-discrimination Officer where Equal Opportunities Cell is also located. There are committees at the departmental, school and central level for addressing grievance of students. However, very few students are aware regarding the presence of these committees or of the presence of officer appointed by the university for tackling discrimination cases. We are working on spreading more awareness and also urging the university to do the same," said Kuldeep Singh, President of the Students Union, UoH.
C Seshaiah, a member of Ambedkar Students Association and one of the students who was suspended along with Rohith Vemula has a different take. "Sometimes it is not so easy for a student who has faced discrimination to just walk into the office of Anti-discrimination Officer and lodge a complaint. There needs to be an alternate effective mechanism to file a complaint with the officer without exposing oneself. There is also a need for having student representatives in the Equal Opportunities Cell so that transparency is maintained regarding the progress of a complaint," he said.
The EOC members, when contacted, said they were yet to get acclimatised to the guidelines and procedures to be followed when a case of discrimination is reported. "The university along with Students Union is working towards increasing awareness among students regarding the mechanisms in place to report discrimination cases. To report such cases anonymously complaint boxes have been set up at each school on the campus," Dean of Students' Welfare, Prakash Babu said. He added that till now no case of discrimination has been reported to the EOC or ADO.