[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The IITs, like all government institutions contribute to the furthering of the constitutional mandate of inclusiveness in higher education, by implementing the policy of affirmative action for students from scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and other backward class backgrounds. In addition, students who may be from financially indigent backgrounds are awarded a range of scholarships to complete their course of study. Affirmative action is not simply in the form of ensuring representation to students from these backgrounds in UG and PG programmes, but also in the form of other diverse methods aimed at ensuring that such students go on to benefit from the educational opportunities on offer at IITs. These include concessions in fees and other financial matters, access to learning material such as books, concessions in hostel fees, additional remedial classes where needed, and an SC/ST Cell to address any issues of discrimination or harassment that may be reported.
Author: D Parthasarathy
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Making Brutes of Us All: Rule by Dehumanizing
Photo by Chitto Cancio on Unsplash.
The following article has been republished from here.
In his scathing critique of Gandhi in “What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables”, Ambedkar takes on Gandhi´s views on technology, arguing that Gandhism is suited to a society which does not believe in democracy, and hence will lead to a situation where human beings “must keep on toiling ceaselessly for a pittance and remain a brute”. For Ambedkar modern machinery is “indispensable for emancipating man from leading the life of a brute, and for providing him with leisure and for making a life of culture possible”. He goes on to conclude that the ¨ultimate goal of a brute’s life is reached once his physical appetites are satisfied, the ultimate goal of man’s existence is not reached unless and until he has fully cultivated his mind¨.