CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: IIT Madras alumnus recalls ‘invisible campus caste system’ of 1980s
New Delhi. IIT Madras alumnus and entrepreneur Ramesh Srivats has shared his experiences at the institute in the 1980s, referring to an informal “caste system” on campus. However, he did not use the word “caste” in the sense of birth or social background, but to describe changing academic and professional hierarchies among students.
According to Srivats, students’ status at IIT Madras was initially determined by their JEE rank. A better rank was treated almost like a higher social status. About six months later, this hierarchy shifted on the basis of branch, with informal distinctions felt among Computer Science, Electronics, Electrical, Mechanical and other branches.
Recalling one experience, he said that after failing Physics in the first year, he met a professor who asked him which branch he belonged to. When he said Computer Science, the professor expressed surprise, while a different remark was made about the Metallurgy student accompanying him. Srivats shared this example to explain the branch-based mindset of that time.
According to Srivats, in the second and third years, GPA became more important than branch. By the final year, achievements such as higher studies, admission abroad and jobs became informal measures of social status among students.
He said the distinctive feature of this system was that it changed every year and was not determined by birth or family. His remarks have come amid the ongoing debate over caste discrimination on IIT campuses in the present day.
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