Dalits get helping hand
Jun 21st, 2010 -- Swati Vishnoi(Age Correspondent)
In a bid to help students from weaker sections of society with regard
to higher education, career choices and discrimination, a telephone
helpline and a Dalit and Adivasi Students' Portal has been recently
launched by the Insight Foundation, a non-profit trust comprising
students and professionals. Although the website will address issues
relating to Scheduled Castes/Tribes student community studying all
over India, the maximum cases addressed by the foundation are from
Delhi, informs Anoop Kumar Singh, national co-coordinator, Insight
Foundation,
Anoop adds, "We are getting maximum response from students from as far
as Nagaland, Hoshangabad, Kutch, studying or planning to take
admissions in Delhi colleges. The telephone helpline will help link
first-year college and university students with faculty members and
senior students who can provide guidance. Counselling will also be
given to students facing discrimination and prejudice in campus."
He also cited several cases, the foundation addressed like that of Bal
Mukund Bharti, a final-year medical student from AIIMS, who allegedly
committed suicide because of alleged constant harassment, he received
from teachers and fellow students. "To bring forward his plight, we
have made a documentary The Death Of Merit, based on the testimony of
his parents and are planning to screen it in Delhi this July," says
Anoop. The website is also planning to launch its mentorship
programme, were students and aspirants will be linked to mentors
enrolled with the group, mostly SC and ST, who are now themselves
successful members of our society.
Students in the city are quite upbeat about the move. Amit Sonkar,
ex-student, JNU, says, "Students from these communities, who come from
small villages, have a hard time during admissions and studies, since
they are often humiliated. They feel alone and many in their peer
group do not accept them. If they get a platform where they can share
their grievances, I'm sure, caste discrimination would be soon erased
from society."
Rakesh Kumar, a reserved category student from Punjab and a regular
caller to this helpline says that counselling really boosted his
confidence.
"As I belong to a small town in Punjab, I've always been subjected to
humiliation in school and have faced harsh comments from my own
batchmates. Initially, I was really scared about getting into DU. But
the helpline guided me about career choices and also made me believe
that even I have the potential to study in esteem institutes like IIT
and JNU. Now I've applied for political science in DU and want to be
professor in the university so that I can be of help to Dalit students
later."
But many want the government to come up with more such specific
initiatives. Sana Zehra Jafri, a PhD student from Jamia Millia
Islamia, sums up, "I feel more than students and professionals, taking
up the issue, the Indian government should show serious responsibility
and address the problems of Dalit students."
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