SHIFTING OF GOAL POST

The outburst against the KIIT incident and the subsequent demand to apprehend the real culprits seems to have been forgotten by the ‘so-called’ media houses. Now, the focus has been shifted to malign KIIT founder Achyuta Samanta. In this witch-hunt, the goal post seems to have been shifted from getting justice for the victim to crucify Achyuta Samanta and destroy a reputed university.

It was very unfortunate that a young girl student from Nepal was forced to die because of her soured relation with a boy who blackmailed and threatened her. The university officials could not judge the gravity of the situation and some officials made racist comments, and evicted the Nepali students from the hostel. It was definitely a condemnable irresponsible act of some staff members for which the founder unconditionally apologised taking some corrective steps by suspending the erring officials. Even the state government has constituted a high level committee to investigate the whole matter.

The Government of India through its diplomatic channel is doing everything possible to assure Nepal of a fair probe into the incident. However, some self-styled journos from social media are trying to vitiate the situation through personal attacks on Achyuta Samanta who established two world-class institutions in Odisha. The canards now spread by some people opposed to KIIT have forgotten the suicide of the girl and are now focussing on maligning the institution and its founder Samanta.

In this country, we have been seeing people with criminal background, charge-sheeted goons, and murderers getting elected as public representatives. They just swallow public money without even our knowledge and nobody complains, but here Achyuta Samanta is branded as a person alleged to be grabbing government land. He is being hounded. Samanta could get the alleged land or money under due process of law at that point of time. It is not Samanta but the erring system that regularised the whole thing for the cause of the university, who should be penalised.

Some news channels allege that KISS children are given ‘chuda’ and ‘chini’ as breakfast. Yes, this is for a day in the week. Why the self-styled journalists do not say that in other days, the children are given Idli, Bara, cornflakes and milk, toasts and butter etc. Every middle class family in India takes the ‘chuda’ and ‘chini’ or ‘chuda’ with salt as breakfast some times.

It is said by a section of people that Odia pride and hospitality were hurt by the incident. Yes, it definitely was unfortunate which should not have happened, but why doesn’t anyone remember how more heinous crimes have been committed earlier. Incidents of student suicides in India have grown at an alarming annual rate, surpassing the population growth rate and overall suicide trends, according to a new report.

Based on the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the ‘Student suicides: An epidemic sweeping India’ report at the Annual IC3 Conference and Expo 2024 revealed the cases of suicide and sexual harassment in universities, which highlighted how universities are microcosms of the existing social hierarchies in society.

According to the UGC, 378 cases of sexual harassment were reported in universities from April 2022 to March 2023. This does not include other kinds of harassment. One can only imagine the magnitude of other forms of harassment and the unreported cases of sexual harassment that happen within these campuses. According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), women are outnumbered by men in engineering and technology programmes, especially in private universities. According to UGC rules, HEIs are required to have policies to prevent sexual harassment and committees to combat violence against women. But filing complaints still remains a daunting task for the affected women as they are often judged and shamed for what they go through. This seems to have been true for the KIIT case. Suicide cases linked to casteist and racist practices have rocked several campuses of the Indian Institute of Technologies, National law universities, IIMs as well as central universities.

The Odisha government has assured that a thorough investigation would be conducted in response to the Nepal govt’s demands for an impartial investigation. Arrangements have also been made for the safety and security as well as the protection of academic interests of the Nepali students. It is said that the incident has set off a diplomatic row but such incidents have become common in HEIs. The bias that exists against other nationals is not uncommon. The mind-set of some people will never change unless rigorous punishment is given. In countries like US, UK, there is racial overtones against Indian and South Asian students.

Our foreign minister justifies the inhuman deportation of Indians with chains and hands tied denied of any basic human right. Why there have been no protest. In Odia we say ‘Marmar, bhandariaku mar’, meaning only hit the person who is helpless and too much in self-remorse for such a terrible incident. Terms like Nigerian and Chinky, Chinese, etc. are used to derogate Africans and north-east Indians respectively in universities in Delhi. Students from these communities, too, have faced racism, not just on university campuses but also in residential spaces. Racism and gender-based discrimination is still prevalent.

There is a need to focus on building special cells for foreign students. These can become spaces for them to raise their issues and concerns. Unless the special needs of marginalised sections are well taken care of, universities cannot really call themselves inclusive. And such cases of concern will continue to make headlines.

In the KIIT incident as well, one can see how Nepali students were bothered in the aftermath of the suicide. In response to protests by students from the Nepali community, some irresponsible members of the university asked them to vacate the campus premises and even drew comparisons between India and Nepal’s budgets. Eventually, widespread backlash made the university suspend some of its staff members as well as withdraw the decision to evict the protesting students. Apologies for the offensive comments have also been rendered. Some of the staff as well as the suspected ex-boyfriend have been arrested. A thorough investigation would be conducted in response to Nepal’s demands for an impartial investigation. Arrangements have also been made for the safety and security as well as the protection of academic interests of the Nepali students. The fact-finding committee set up by the Odisha has also been asked to probe why the government was not informed about KIIT’s treatment of its students.

Several reputed colleges in India have opened their doors to students from African countries for arts, science, and engineering programmes. However, many of these students tend to avoid interacting too much with Indians because they complain of being mocked for their skin tone and hair, which is a hypocritical and shameful action by us Indians, and a sign of how colour-conscious we are.

With seven months in 2023, the government has recorded at least 20 cases of students who were studying in central educational institutions and died by suicide. The statement was issued by the Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar in the Parliament. As many as 61 students, including 11 females, from premier educational institutes such as IITs, IIMs and NITs have died by suicide over the past five years. As many as 24 cases of suicides by students of central universities were reported since 2017, Union Minister of State for Education Raj kumar Ranjan Singh said in Lok Sabha recently.

These examples do not absolve the culprits tarnishing the image of the university, creating mistrust amongst the students and causing to break the centuries’ old bond between the people of Odisha and Nepal.

Considering all these, is it fair to blame just one person Achyuta Samanta squarely for everything? Everyone seems to be forgetting the vital issue of getting justice for the unfortunate girl but to damage and destroy the academic atmosphere and reputation of Achyuta Samanta, which amounts to politicising the entire issue. The protest by the students and the steps taken by the university and the burning issues like how to bring the confidence back have been relegated to a backseat, since the entire focus is now the witch-hunting of Samanta.

The vilification of Samanta who must be having remorse seeing the turn of events and the propaganda machine to malign him make it clear that the people with vested interests are now shifting the goalpost.