Chennai: Assistant Professor Vipin Puiyadath Veetil, who was working at IIT Madras, has sent an email to the administration that he is leaving campus due to caste discrimination. In his mail, he wrote, "I am leaving IIT Madras for another institution. One of the primary reasons for my leaving the institute is caste discrimination. I have worked at the Humanities and Social Science Department since my joining in March 2019.
"The discrimination came from individuals in the 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 have observed at the institute is that the 'Bayesian prior' among many is that caste discrimination is a rare occurrence," the letter read. (Bayesian prior is a statistical term used to mention the probability of an event)
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"My own experience, and conversations with members of SC and OBC communities, suggests that the 'Bayesian prior' is far from true. I suggest that the institute sets up a committee to study the experiences of the SC and OBC faculty members. Such a committee has members of the SC/ST, OBC commission and psychologists," the letter added. "Furthermore, I do believe people who face discrimination may benefit by filing complaints with the grievance committee at the institute and with courts. Societies progress one small step at a time or do they?" Veetil's letter said.
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Notably, Vipin Puiyadath Veetil tendered his resignation from the post of Assistant Professor at IIT Madras citing caste discrimination which has raised questions on the administration of the educational institution. However, IIT Madras has denied commenting on the allegations. The institution further said that it will look into the issue if a formal complaint is lodged with the administration.
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