Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras resigns citing caste discrimination

An professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras resigned on Thursday citing caste discrimination. during a strongly worded but unverified email leaked to the media, Vipin Pudiyadath Veetil said he was moving to a different institution primarily due to the discrimination he faced at the humanities and social sciences department since joining the institute in March 2019. “The discrimination came from individuals in position of power, regardless of their claimed political affiliations and gender.”

He added he would take appropriate action to deal with multiple instances of caste discrimination and suggested the institute found out a committee of members from the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Class commissions. He added the panel should even have psychologists to review the experiences of college members from these communities.

Veetil features a PhD in economics from the Mason University. He was a postdoctoral fellow in Paris, consistent with the school page on IIT-M’s website. He completed his bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi in 2006.

In a statement, IIT Madras said the institute has no comments to form . “Any complaint received by the Institute from employees and students is attended to promptly through the established process of redressing grievances.”

S Venkatesan, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) Parliament member from Tamil Nadu , on Friday involved a National Commission for Backward Classes probe into the alleged caste. “Why is IIT shrouded in secrecy,” he tweeted.