Rohith Vemula suicide: National SC commission "wants" anti-atroticies law imposed on Modi ministers, others

By A Representative
The declaration by Guntur district collector Kantilal Dande that Hyderabad Central University (HCU) research scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide allegedly because of intense political pressure, was indeed a Dalit, is all set to create a fresh flutter across India, with demands being raised tot take action against those who were responsible for it.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has fired the salvo saying it will direct the Cyberabad Police to file a case under the Prevention of Scheuduled Caste/ Scheduled Cast Atrocities Act (POA) against Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Vice-Chancellor, HCU P Appa Rao, “responsible” for the PhD scholar's suicide.
“The Telangana police will have to act on atrocity charges pressed against the accused in the PoA case, failing which they will be in violation of constitutional provisions and the law”, NCSC chairman PL Punia has been quoted as saying in Hyderabad.
The NCSC’s direction will be “based on Guntur district collector’s report on Vemula’s caste status”, said Punia, adding, “In the meeting which is to be convened next week, the NCSC will table the report and ask Cyberabad police to act on it.”
Meanwhile, the Guntur collector has already sent a copy of the report to both the investigating officer and Cyberabad Commissioner CV Anand, with the NCSC chairman justifying the report, saying that the district collector “is the highest authority in issuing caste certificate”.
“The Collector’s certification in this case was based on the data and documents provided by Revenue Divisional Officer and Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Guntur. As per the documents, a permanent Caste certificate was issued to Rohith Vemula by the Guntur Tahsildar in 2005. His caste was always recorded as Mala (SC) and with the Collector certifying this, the police should go ahead with the proceedings,” Punia said.
The issue is likely to turn into a major controversy, as among those who questioned Vemula's Dalit status were two Union ministers – Smriti Irani and Thawar Chand Gehlot.
Trailing the suicide, activists say, it all began when BJP vice president of Hyderabad Nandanam Diwakar wrote to Central minister Dattareya (August 10, 2015) to act against Vemula, who along with others had protested against the refusal to screen a film on atrocities against minorities, “Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hain”.
This led Dattatreya to write a letter to to Irani, in which an allegedly exaggerated account was given by ABVP student Susheel Kumar’s injuries during a clash between two student groups in the University campus over screening the film, and action was sought against Vemula.
Meanwhile, a section of the faculty of the university has alleged that the vice chancellor's role is yet to be interrogated despite the NCSC having given the green signal for it, leading the university authorities to suspended two professors, KY Ratnam and Tathagata Sengupta, for supporting the peacefully protests by students.
Quoting minutes of the NCSC meeting, Prashanth Dontha, a friend of Vemula, has said, “The NCSC had instructed the police to go ahead with the investigation – nearly two to three weeks ago – on the basis of the brief submitted by the additional district magistrate of Guntur. Despite this, the police has not questioned the vice chancellor.”

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog