Read Letter | IIT Madras Professor Quits Job Citing Caste Discrimination At Institution

The faculty of the Economics department has alleged caste discrimination from fellow faculty members in his resignation letter

Indian Institute of Technology - Madras

Chennai: India is so deprived of caste issues as the discrimination is palpable in one of the most influential universities in the country IIT-Madras. An assistant professor at IIT Madras on Thursday said he has resigned to the post and alleged caste discrimination as a primary reason for his quitting.

The faculty of the Economics department has alleged caste discrimination from fellow faculty members in his resignation letter: "I am leaving IIT Madras for another institution. One of the primary reasons for my leaving the Institute is the caste discrimination I have faced at the HSS department since my joining in March 2019. The discrimination came from individuals in position of power irrespective of their claimed political affiliations and gender.

There were multiple specific instances of discrimination and I shall be pursuing appropriate actions to address the matter.

 

One of the curious phenomena I've observed at the Institute is that the Bayesian prior among many is that caste-discrimination is rare occurrence. My own experience, and conversations with members of SC and OBC communities, suggests that the Bayesian prior is far from true," his resignation letter read.

 

Here is his resignation letter:

However, IIT Madras did not respond immediately when the institute was asked whether the assistant professor had formally resigned or had made this allegation in his resignation letter to the institute. The prestigious institute said in a statement, "There are no comments from the institute on this email. Any complaint received from employees or teachers is dealt with immediately through the prescribed process of grievance redressal."

The prestigious institute has seen a religious discrimination issue in the past when a student ended her life in 2019.