HRD ministry fails to implement Thorat committee recommendations

Five years after human resource development ministry tabled the report on marginalised group, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is apparently indifferent towards ensuring implementation of the regulations to ensure their rights on campus.

Both Congress, during whose tenure the report was tabled and now the BJP, seems to be showing lackadaisical attitude in monitoring the implementation of the report.

Death of Rohith Vemula on the Hyderabad University campus has yet again opened the debate on the implantation of Sukhadeo Thorat committee report.

The committee constituted under the chairmanship of Professor Sukhadeo Thorat had made strong recommendations to uplift the status of minority students and teachers. The committee had tabled its report in 2011. Thorat committee was the first ever committee constituted to study caste discrimination in higher education sector.

Smriti Irani after taking over as HRD minister held the meeting of the National Monitoring Committee for Minorities' Education. In the meeting the University Grant Commission (UGC) was asked to direct all
universities and its affiliated institutions to implement the guidelines and make a submission before the committee. However no such submission has been made by the UGC so far. "So far we have not heard of any case that has been brought to light by the UGC. While the UPA government paid some lip service, in the NDA government, minorities have been completely neglected," said N Paul Divakar of National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights. Divakar is also a part of the HRD committee.

"We will approach the Supreme Court to formulate a commission at national and state level to monitor the implementation of the Thorat committee report," said Divakar.

Rohith and his friends also reached out to Professor Thorat in December last year after they were expelled from the college hostel.

Sources in the HRD ministry informed that the government plans to reconstitute the committee. "The meeting of the committee has been delayed, because of the government's reconstitution plan. It is still pending," said a senior ministry functionary.

Thorat committee had recommended providing personalised remedial support to improve fluency in English, social skills and communication by providing coaching classes through setting up equal opportunity cell. The cell was also to provide coaching class to help students qualify the NET exam. The committee also proposed adequate hostels and free tuition facility to the students of marginalised committee. The report also recommended providing research grant and additional capacity development and training to teachers belonging to scheduled caste.

Even the premier university like Delhi University has failed to comply with the recommendation. "Only six colleges in Delhi university have made special arrangement to provide remedial support. No attempt has been made whatsoever to provide coaching classes to help students from marginalised group to help qualify NET examination," said Professor Hansraj Suman, Chairman of SC/ST/OBC teachers' association of Delhi University.

UGC grants for SC/ST and OBC too has been going under utilised and has been lapsing year after year. "We raised this issue in the UGC time and again, but the implementation had remained very poor," said MM Ansari, former member of the UGC.

Professor Thorat, who is currently the Chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research however said that the ICSSR has implemented the guidelines and is designing the portal to identify and track the beneficiaries of the various schemes. "We started the work, after I took over office. The portal will up up in the public domine in a few months time," said professor Thorat.