Bangalore University Row and the Struggle to Combat Caste Discrimination on Campuses
Bharat Rathod | 11 July 2025 | The Indian Express
Isabel Wilkerson’s framing, “Caste is the bones, race the skin,” captures precisely a fundamental social reality of Indian society. Recent allegations of caste discrimination at Bangalore University are not new to Indian universities. Studies and official reports have unequivocally established that caste-based discrimination and the exclusion of caste-oppressed people are institutionalised across the higher education system. It is more rampant in elite institutions such as the IITs and IIMs. Caste apologists argue that this is an isolated incident and cannot be portrayed as systemic in nature. The Indian higher education system (which is mandated to prevent caste discrimination), too, denies that it is an institutional problem.
But the higher education system in India has been a den of caste-based hierarchies and systemic exclusion. Historically, it has been dominated by dominant caste groups; and therefore, casteist values and practices are an integral part of the system….