"IIT-Bombay Death Renews Debate on Campus Mental Health"
Equal Opportunity Cell
campus body under UGC regulations meant to address discrimination and grievances of marginalised students
Social mismatch
task force term for the gap between a diverse student intake and a largely non-SC/ST/OBC faculty
India's Constitution enables affirmative action in education under Article 15(4), which allows the State to make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, including reservation in admissions. This has expanded access to premier institutions like the IITs for students from SC, ST and OBC backgrounds. Formal admission, however, does not automatically translate into equal treatment on campus. The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 marked a separate but related shift: it decriminalised attempted suicide and created a statutory right to mental healthcare, treating suicidal behaviour as a health issue rather than a criminal one. Following earlier student deaths at premier institutions that exposed weak grievance systems, the University Grants Commission (UGC) introduced the Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions Regulations, 2012, requiring Equal Opportunity Cells and grievance-redressal officers on campus. Implementation has stayed uneven, prompting the Supreme Court to appoint a task force on student suicides headed by retired Justice Ravindra Bhat to examine why these mechanisms keep failing.
The task force's interim report, submitted in June, found that students frequently see institutional complaint mechanisms as difficult to access, ineffective, or merely tokenistic. For students from marginalised communities this is worse, since fear of not being believed or of facing retaliation discourages them from reporting discrimination at all. The report also flagged a 'social mismatch': more than 65% of faculty in IITs, NITs and private technical institutions come from non-SC, ST and OBC backgrounds, even as the student body has diversified through reservation. …
Which one of the following explains the practice of 'Vattakirutal' as mentioned in Sangam poems?
'Caste system is assuming new identities and associational forms. Hence, caste system cannot be eradicated in India.' Comment.
Which constitutional provision empowers the State to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes, including reservation in admission to educational institutions?
Consider the following statements regarding the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017:
1.It presumes that a person who attempts suicide was under severe stress, unless proved otherwise, and shall not be tried under the Indian Penal Code.
2.It criminalises the abetment of suicide for the first time in Indian law.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Match List-I (Law/Regulation) with List-II (Provision or Purpose) and select the correct answer using the code given below:
List-I:
A.UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012
B.Mental Healthcare Act, 2017
C.Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007
D.Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016
List-II:
1.Mandates Equal Opportunity Cells in institutions
2.Decriminalises attempted suicide
3.Provides for maintenance of elderly parents
4.Provides for reservation of persons with disabilities in higher education
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