CCT214 | Caste Discrimination And The Law In Higher Educational Institutions

This course partially builds on some prior learnt concepts in Constitutional Law courses such as on anti-discrimination provisions, reservations/affirmative action, merit/efficiency etc. The death of Rohith Vemula in 2016 was a watershed and wakeup moment for not only university students but also the society at large. Universities have been and continue to remain one of the most contested spaces with regard to the implementation of affirmative action policies.

As and when more and more marginalized students started to enter hitherto monopolized spaces, the forms of discrimination also evolved. There is also a lot of contemporary literature around caste and education, however, literature with a focus on discrimination and the law in higher educational institutions is still scanty. This course aims to map the different dimensions of caste discrimination at HEIs along with a reading of the existing legal jurisprudence with an aim to find out if a separate law to address caste discrimination at HEIs is necessitated.