IIT Student Deaths Renew Debate on Campus Wellbeing

India's Institutes of Technology were created as engines of national development. The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 declares them institutions of national importance, giving them administrative autonomy separate from general university regulation under the UGC Act, 1956. For decades, entry into these campuses was treated as the ultimate proof of merit, and the campuses themselves remained socially narrow.

Reservation policy has steadily widened who gets in. Articles 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution enable reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes in education and public employment. The 103rd Constitutional Amendment later added a 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections. These provisions have brought students from far more varied social and economic backgrounds onto elite campuses. But widening the doorway is not the same as reshaping what happens inside. Informal networks, mentorship access, and campus culture have often continued to reflect older hierarchies, meaning caste can persist in new, less visible associational forms even after formal barriers to entry are removed.

Mental health policy has also evolved, though implementation lags. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 decriminalised attempted suicide and established a right to mental healthcare. The National Education Policy, 2020 explicitly calls for counselling and emotional well-being services in higher education. Despite these frameworks, campuses have struggled to translate policy into a working culture of support.