'Nobody asked, nobody cared': IIT Madras alumnus on 'caste system' he saw on campus in the '80s

Amid the debate over alleged caste discrimination following the death of an IIT Bombay student, IIT Madras alumnus Ramesh Srivats offered a very different take on the idea of "caste" at an IIT.

In a video message on Tuesday, he recalled how, during his time at IIT Madras in the 1980s, a student's "caste" could change every year - from JEE rank to branch, then GPA, and finally career prospects.

"I studied in IIT Madras in the '80s, and believe me, fully caste-conscious place. But your caste changed every year," he said.

At first, he said, it was all about JEE rank. "Higher the rank, higher the caste."

Within six months, however, rank was forgotten, and the branch became the new hierarchy.

"Computer science, right on top," he said, followed by electronics, electrical, mechanical, and other branches.

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Srivats is an alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad. He spent roughly 15 years in advertising, including stints at JWT and Rediffusion Y&R, before moving into entrepreneurship.

The advertising veteran recalled failing physics in his first year and having to repeat the course during the summer. He went to meet the professor with a friend who had also failed the subject.

The professor first asked Srivats about his branch. "‘Which branch?’ 'Computer science.' 'Computer science? What are you doing here?’"

The professor then asked his friend.

"'Which branch?' 'Metallurgy, sir.' 'Ah, then there's a reason why you're here.’ That's how it was," Srivats said.

By the second and third years, he said, the branch hierarchy also disappeared as students mostly stayed within their own branches.

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Then came GPA.

But even that, the entrepreneur said, was not a simple matter of getting higher grades. He described it as a two-dimensional matrix, comparing it with the BCG matrix.

Those with high GPAs without studying were the "genius" category. Those who studied hard and got high GPAs were the "cash cow". Students who studied a lot but got low GPAs were the "dog".

And then there was the "question mark".  "That is where I belonged. Do not study and a pathetic GPA," he said.

By the fourth year, even GPA was forgotten. The hierarchy was then based on where students were headed after IIT, he said.

Further studies and jobs then became the next markers of status, he said. "That was our caste system."

The brand strategist said the downside was that students were "obsessed with hierarchy". But he also saw a difference between that hierarchy and caste.

"The good thing, our caste used to change every year, and not once was it about family. Nobody asked, nobody cared," he said. "These days, it seems the only caste people want to discuss is the one caste you can't change."

"Frankly, that doesn't look like progress, does it?" he added.

His comments come days after Sahil Wakode, a second-year BTech student at IIT Bombay, allegedly died by suicide on September 18.

Wakode's father has alleged that his son faced caste-based discrimination and harassment by Professor Suryanarayana Doolla for about three months.

The premier institute earlier said that Wakode was allegedly found with a mobile phone and using ChatGPT during an examination. Doolla, who was invigilating the exam, allegedly noticed the phone use and asked Wakode to leave the examination hall.

Mumbai Police registered an FIR naming Doolla for alleged abetment of suicide and under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

IIT Bombay has denied the caste-discrimination allegation and said no such complaint had been submitted by Wakode to its SC-ST cell or administration.

Separately, Pravesh Biyani, who studied at IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi and has taught for 14 years, said he had never witnessed a teacher discriminate against a student on the basis of caste.

"I've been a professor for 14 years now. In 22 years of watching the IIT/IIIT system closely, I have never once witnessed a teacher discriminate against a student on the basis of caste," Biyani wrote on X.