The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, on November 15, said it is looking into complaints that companies recruiting from the campus were discriminating against students hailing from a reserved category (Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Other Backward Class) by making it mandatory to reveal their entrance test ranks, and have put them at risk of having to disclose their socio-economic status.
The IIT’s Students’ Placement Office had received a complaint regarding such recruitment practices from an alumnus of IIT, Kanpur — who has for the last few months been counselling SC/ST students across IITs to help get them better job opportunities.
The former student, Dheeraj Singh, had then on Tuesday sent a discrimination complaint to the institute, the Education Ministry, the Social Justice Ministry, and the National Commissions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.
According to the complaint, several private companies like Merilytics, Navi, and Jaguar Land Rover, were making it mandatory for students to disclose their “General” ranks for JEE-Mains and JEE-Advanced in the application forms posted on the IIT, Kanpur placements portal.
Notably, the institute has for a while now, prohibited the asking of entrance test ranks of students — for fear that it may identify students of reserved categories — thereby putting them at risk of exclusion and discrimination.
Responding to the complainant, the Chairperson of the Students’ Placement Office said on Wednesday, “We pride ourselves on maintaining a non-interventionist approach during the selection procedures conducted by companies. With regards to your communication, we will look into this and take necessary steps accordingly.”
The Chairperson, Professor Raju Kumar Gupta, added that he appreciated the concerns raised in the complaint, saying that the Students’ Placement Office was committed to “ensuring equal career opportunities for all students, devoid of any discrimination”.
After having sent the complaint to the concerned authorities on Tuesday, Mr. Singh had told The Hindu that this has been a common practice at IITs. “While we were counselling the students, we have learnt that these companies are employing similar recruitment practices at other IITs too,” he added.
Mr. Singh said that, ideally, the SC/ST Cells, mandated by the University Grants Commission, should have been apprised of these practices and run interference. “But that has not happened,” he said.
Mr. Singh, along with a network of SC/ST alumnus of IITs, this year started running a mentorship programme for SC and ST students at the premier institute. The group, Global IIT SC/ST Alumni Support Group, started the initiative in a bid to help SC/ST students get targeted counselling that their campuses were not able to provide.
The programme came up after a string of death of students by suicide across IITs in the country this year, most of whom were from marginalised backgrounds.
