#iitdeath: The day that was
The neutrality of this article is disputed. I realize that it’s not possible to stuff everything into one article and have decided to split the #iitdeath episode across three articles: Provocation, The day that was (this article), and Aftermath. This article serves only to describe the violent student protests and the open house discussion that followed it on the 22nd of March, 2009.
Rohit Kumar, 3rd year electrical engineering student of IIT Kharagpur was declared dead today morning at Midapur hospital, while being transferred from the institute’s BC Roy hospital to Kolkata. He succumbed to a head injury after falling off a cycle-rickshaw in the campus. He could probably have been saved, had he received timely medical attention at BC Roy. The issue of health amenities has plagued the Kharagpur community for too long now, and in spite of repeated incidents and requests, the facilities continue to be dismal.
What followed was a massive protest by over 1500 students, who gathered in front of the director’s house. The media wasn’t allowed to enter the front gate. The LAN/ internet was shut down to flush all the students out of their rooms and join the protest. Since very few students have GPRS, and without the media and internet, practically nobody outside the institute knew about the event. The protest was violent and the mob had one demand- they wanted the director to resign. They wouldn’t settle for anything less.
Violence has no bounds. Students were angered that the institute their own batchmate/ friend die. They wanted to break into the house and literally beat up the director. After breaking all the window panes in the director’s house, they proceeded to break open the lock of his garage, took out his car and totally destroyed it. It didn’t stop there- they just kept breaking everything they could lay their hands on.
When the director did finally appear at the door, there was almost a stampede in the rush to grab him and beat him up. The director had no choice but to give in his resignation. Yes, the director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur had to resign because the students protested so damn violently.
Throughout the event, I tried to post updates on Twitter tagged #iitdeath. I also managed to click some pics. Although I’ve hardly done justice, I’ve taken care to make sure that I’ve smudged out the few partially seen faces seen in some photos, in view of people’s anonymity.
An open house discussion followed at 10:45 PM in the Tagore Open Air Theater (TOAT), which was attended by over 4000 students. A rational discussion was expected, but mob mentality kicked in pretty soon; students started shouting at the top of their voices. The result of the discussion: The dean of student affairs resigned from his post, and the deputy director resigned from the post of chairman of BC Roy. Some valid points were discussed as well, but most of them were drowned in the mob’s voice. To see what was discussed, refer to the Aftermath article.
The event has received extensive press coverage. All major newspapers including The Hindu have a front page article on Monday morning about the event, but the reports lack detail due to widespread misinformation. Even Scholars’ Avenue is uncertain about several facts. An official press release is expected to clear out most of these details.
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:44 pm
do you know what questions were actually asked and how were they responded to by the DIRO ? Resignation by diro doesn’t seem to be enough or even slightly mitigating to what have happened , I think many more professors and IIT administration should be taken down for this.
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
You IIT guys are really a bunch of pampered, spoilt, brats. What has the Principal’s house, car, water tank to do with the death of the student? Show some maturity, will you?
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:50 pm
What a sad day it is, not just for IITKGP folks, but the entire student community in the country.
Incompetence shown by the very people who are supposed to ’serve’ is appalling. Com’on, what doctor would deny someone medical attention. Arent they paid, if not anything, to take care of people?
And from what I read, I understand BC Roy hospital was not in the good books of students and it is justified that students demanded the director’s resignation following this unfortunate event.
And what’s up with disconnecting Internet and LAN connections ? That’s something which cowards do. Stifling the rights of students, in fear of what? , the news getting leaked ? I’m sure, that very act would be taken up in days to come and would be seriously discussed upon.
What has happened, in all its seriousness, cant be undone. But I hope this would serve as an eye opener to everyone – the medical staff in BC Roy hospital and medical practitioners in general – that a lil compassion and kindness *can* be shown to people who come to them for help.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
@Anonymous Coward
Hey, I totally agree with you there :)
Mobs are rarely rational.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
@Jeffrey Jose
I truly hope that /some/ change is brought about. It’s happened before- last year, a first year student died because BC Roy practically refused to treat him (they didn’t want to take responsibility). I’m making a massive effort in spreading awareness about this now, because things *must* change- the media is a very powerful tool.
I’m not sure the administration disconnected the LAN connections actually… it might have been one of the students to mobilize everyone for the #iitdeath protest. Students are so much more comfortable sitting in their rooms and watching movies :P
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
@prateek
Ofcourse. But the mob has to have an objective or a specific demand. This mob’s demand was simple: “Director. Resign Karo” (I’m omitting the more profane variations of this shoutout)
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
@Anonymous Coward
Unfortunately I agree with you, although I also agree that what happened clearly demonstrates sheer lack of responsibility and rationality on the part of BC Roy hospital in not being able to take care of the student adequately.
The students reaction is justified, but not their actions, what they did, in my opinion is quite an extreme. I think they should have shown more respect for the director than what they did. Whatever the institute did was also completely irrational and unjust on their part, but I think the students actions were still quite extreme.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I really hope, all who landed here from twitter retweets, also go through the scholarsavenue articles.
I feel this post focuses more on the riots that followed the incident than the unfortunate events which led to the death. For those who landed on this article directly, the gravity of the situation might be lost on them..
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
What happened is really a shame. I was going through Scholar’s avenue, and it is clear that the students were not satisfied with the hospital. And the only step that the management took was to brush it under the carpet.
The latest incident just provided provided fire to the fuel of dissatisfaction among the students.
While the students actions are condemnable the management is definitely responsible for what happened today.
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
@harsha
As requested on Twitter, I’ve modified the article to include the content from the Scholars Avenue article.
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I’m a student of BITS – Pilani and I was shocked to see this news on twitter.. The diro’s comments are totally uncalled for.. If the media were really barred from entering your campus, then maybe the institute has something to hide… Did something like this happen earlier in IITKGP?
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Those you think this is violence then you don’t know actually exactly called as students reaction. This turning a car upside down, inserting a rod into a water tank is nothing. Burning, complete destruction of property, road obstruction, injury, Lathicharge, even death. These are the some of the features of students fury in west Bengal or elsewhere in the country. What students did was nothing. It is easy to be judgmental and neutral- all cowards and Hippocrates do it. U can pity on a water tank! alas!!!!!! not on students. I pity on students of IITKGP. There are DC for students- But no objective evaluation of teachers performance. This is India’s best institute. what a joke.
Now lets be a part of a solution not a problem.
May god bestow our teachers with some consciousness and humility. Amen.
March 23rd, 2009 at 12:36 am
Student death at IIT Kharagpur due to hospital negligence…
Rohit Kumar, a third year undergraduate student of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur had passed away primarily due to the negligence and fault of the on-site hospital.
……
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 am
dude, prolly u should update with the kind of replies students got from authorities….
more like:
” Whats the big deal”
” I am happy that u guys have assembled”
” we’ll look into the matter”
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:07 am
plzzz remove d pics from d blog
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:11 am
Shame for IIT. It both way.. from admistration to students. Students atleast shown proper and mature way of showing their agitation.
Ra
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:13 am
The point of the matter is not that the doctor didn’t offer his service,
but that the hospital services are pathetic, not even a decent X-ray machine.
The guys here just want the situation to change, just want a better hospital
here, with better services. There are a lot of people living here considering
all the students and staff and the least the authorities can provide is a decent
hospital. This issue has been raised a lot of times before, and it is really unfortunate that the tipping point of this unfortunate student !
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:24 am
@Anonymous Coward
unless and until u treat these guys in this fashion they r nt even going to take primary steps . how do think is a smile on diro’s face justified at such a sad moment. he thought it was just some sort of nautanki frm we students . so we had to make him understand abt possible cosequences.u may talk abt civic sense but such things dont contribute in rapid changes towards development and iit kgp needs a lot of it. and we r ready to work on this revolution against the management
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:43 am
Good and *real* articles come at a cost. Mob mentality: People start hating you irrationally. I’m sorry I had to remove the pics- I don’t want to offend anyone. Once this thing blows over, I’ll put them back up.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:46 am
Oh, and I _hate_ deleting comments. I deleted more comments than I approved for this post :(
Kindly refrain from *flaming* and use of profane language whenever possible.
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:45 am
@ Anonymous Coward and all those who agree with him…….
As much as i know house,car and water tank were not not the culprits but the director and college administration was…
So what do you expect us to do leave the house unharmed and target the diro?????
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 am
@Ramkumar and other cowards who think that violent protest is the worst thing a person could do… I just want you all to enter into the shoes of the person who just lost a friend/son/brother only because the Director, Dean, and the administration was not concerned with the problems of the students. What else would you have done ? The way you guys are talking , am sure you would have strapped a black band on your arm and have continued going to the classes. The next day your brother could have died or may be you as well!!! But no, you guys will never ever use any means which is necessary to show that you do get agitated, you do have emotions or you do hate it when your life is not valued…Pretty sad and appalling!!!The same thing was being told to these bastards continually but no action was taken. BC Roy doesn’t even have the doctors/staff and facilities to make a fracture done!!! What students did afterwards was only a glimpse of what these sons of bitches(The entire administration) deserved.
Shame on you all…It’s crap to even reply in such a blog where the views that are opposed to the owner’s are “deleted more than approved”…
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:53 am
@varun
“… I just want you all to enter into the shoes of the person who just lost a friend/son/brother …”
I’ve lost a lot of people in my family including my own mother. So don’t give me that. People who have lost someone close to their heart do not react in this way. What was exhibited was pure mob behavior- I know for a fact that most of the mob consisted of people who didn’t even know Rohit.
“… you do have emotions or you do hate it when your life is not valued …”
Whose life is not being valued here? Do you think that if Rohit were watching us now, he’d want us to beat up the director? Cut out your emotions and think rationally.
“… What students did afterwards was only a glimpse of what these sons of bitches(The entire administration) deserved …”
Who deserved? An old man like Damodar Acharya sitting in his house on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon? Ofcourse it’s the administration’s fault, and justice must be done. That doesn’t mean that you go around destroying cars and water tanks. It doesn’t prove anything.
“… It’s crap to even reply in such a blog where the views that are opposed to the owner’s are “deleted more than approved” ….”
That is incorrect. I strongly believe in freedom of speech, and I do feel very bad about deleting comments. I only deleted one-line comments that directly attack someone without any rationality or justification.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:57 am
@Mr. Anonymous
“How to react rationally” is something I can’t explain in one line. I’ll probably have another blog post on how IIT’ians should have ideally reacted in #iitdeath.
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
@ Varun
I can understand you are agitated. Only remember, many of us have been through much, much more in life than you can ever imagine. What I can only tell you is that it requires a lot more courage to remain sober in the face of extreme provocation.
“Means” are also just as important as the “end”. Violent actions might achieve the end of achieving some badly needed reform. However, the violence will achieve much more than that. It will scar people, destroy their faith in human values and permanently blot your reputation. The same end, achieved through dignified, non-violent means may take more time (perhaps), but will lead to lasting goodness.
You may not understand this now. You will; one day. Also some advice- try to stop using bad language; it will improve you as a person. Everyone; you, the people in IIT-KGP administration, other students has goodness in them. Discover it and exorcise the demons of hatred and irrationality within you. You owe this to yourself.
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
What do you guys say should we march down Delhi ..a candlelight protest at india gate or to be not involved in chaos situations avoid election campaign areas and lal kila will serve better .. @supportive IITD.
March 23rd, 2009 at 1:25 pm
@artagnon I totally agree with your reply to @varun
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@artagnon and every1..
temme something..i hope u were there the whole time..I was..what do u suggest we should have done..Yes mobbing Diro’s place was partly over the edge but it was mostly anger at his apathetic attitude.Had he shown more concern, awareness and sympathy..Trust me..mobbing wouldnt have happened..U do not still seem to understand the IIT junta..We are far more rational then u think..and you seem to portray an intellectual..thoughtful rational self..Dude u also have to understand the greater good it achieved..We had the common house.. resignations..! Sometimes END is far more important then the MEANS..
Now..I am curious to know if you found the reaction by our students in the Open House also inappropriate by your high moral standards.Also tell me if you have something to say in favour of the Dosa..coz If you do..then dude..Fuck You too..!!
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
For once, kgpians react.
A mob incident would have never occured, had the authorities listened to the students ~10 years back.
What you have in kgp at the moment is, authorities practicing totalitarianism. Of course, what you see is natural reaction to totalitarian rule – mobs!
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
@Ram:
Its very easy to write blogs and twitter updates etc etc… Tell me one thing what was your responsibility as a student of IIT on that day. was it to beat the director or stop the crowd being violent. you did none of them. If you would have stopped the crowd ( or all who think the step was wrong )..This blog would have never happened . What were you doing was posting updates on twitter. Are you some kind of media or what.
I personally have stopped many students from throwing bricks and stones and had myself got scolded and threatened.
Did you care about the thousands of students who were protesting … dying of thirst and heat.
If you really care about the situation delete this whole blog and stop this propaganda.
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:16 pm
@Sagar
” ..i hope u were there the whole time.. ”
Yes, I was.
“… anger at his apathetic attitude.Had he shown more concern, awareness and sympathy …”
Yes, I realize that. Anger built up over the whole year about issues like the 11 o’clock ban was probably taken out in a single instance yesterday. Anger is an irrational emotion, and what happened yesterday is hardly a justification for his attitude towards students. He’s a very old man with a heart condition- Why would he mean harm to any of us? After all, he’s just another human being nearing the end of his natural life.
“… We had the common house.. resignations..!”
That’s all very well. The resignations are more symbolic than any other concrete change. The deans are all rotating positions. You’re just replacing the current professor with another (unknown) professor. Yes, it shows that deans can’t get away with doing anything they want.
“… I am curious to know if you found the reaction by our students in the Open House also inappropriate …”
Well, I wouldn’t exactly say “inappropriate”. After all, we are young college students and are expected to behave that way.
I just feel that the discussion could have been a lot more productive had the mob mentality not kicked in.
“… Also tell me if you have something to say in favour of the Dosa …”
I hardly know the DOSA. All I can say is that he behaved quite irrationally yesterday.
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
@ Sagar
Let us accept your point; still, can you make it in a less abusive manner? Is it wrong to have a different point of view? We accept that you believe that ends justify the means. Let us agree to disagree on this. Period.
Now to go on-
No one here is claiming superiority of a moral position. All of us are flawed in various ways, all of us make mistakes. The point is not about the individuals involved, but the actions per-se. We cannot take responsibility for the Director’s or anyone else’s apathetic attitude or actions. What we can is to take responsibility for our reactions. That is always in our control or should be.
All I would like you to consider is that this same argument on ends being more important than means has been used to bomb innocents, wage long wars, imprison people and enslave populations. Think about it; it cannot be difficult for you. You are obviously among the most intelligent people in this country to be at IIT. Think Vietnam, Napalm, McCarthy-ism, Iraq, the Holocaust, Partition, even the terrible riots in our country. It is very dangerous. Still, at this time I will concede your right to your pt. of view and allow you the slack for your state of agitation. You certainly have the mental equipment to think through this and reach your conclusion; more than many of us.
However, the import of your post is that arguments are a waste of time; people who disagree with you are unfit to exist and debate is unnecessary. Else you would not have been abusive. This makes me very sad.
Youth is a time for idealism. A time when you can believe in Gandhian ideals- that means are always, always far more important than the ends. Why is it that old men rather than the young are being idealistic? Is it that we are foolish, or has the world changed so much? We who are older, are more rigid. The young like you can so easily see reason. I am sure you will; very soon even if not today, not now.
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
@Subhendu
” … was it to beat the director or stop the crowd being violent …”
Neither. I can’t stop a mob and neither can you or anyone else. I have no desire to be caught in the crossfire. Don’t question my actions. I’ve done what I could: A lot of people outside IIT Kharagpur know about the incident because of me.
“… Its very easy to write blogs and twitter updates etc etc …”
No, it’s not. Several people including several KGP alums will agree with me on this. If you’d opened the DC++ mainchat early this morning (1~3 AM), you’d have seen several mentions of my name. The mob was contemplating coming down to my room and beating me up. Several people, including my own friends like you, are annoyed with me because I told the world about what happened. Do you really think I like doing this? Do you think I crave attention?
“… and had myself got scolded and threatened …”
Oh, I’ve had my share of that; trust me. Only, we did whatever we could in different ways. I thought I could make a bigger impact by speaking up and telling the world about what happened. You thought you could slow down the mob.
“… If you really care about the situation delete this whole blog …”
Don’t talk nonsense. This blog entry exists /because/ I care about the situation. I wouldn’t have bothered to blog/ tweet about it otherwise. Ask around and you’ll see that many people agree with me.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
As similar incident happened at IITG last year where a third year chemical engineering student dies because of massive heart attack. The doctors at the institute hospital just did not know how to treat him. They were clueless and did not want to take any responsibility. The nearest hospital is close to 50 kms away. The boy died on the way. The authorities hushed up the matter because they never wanted any doctor to get into trouble. The administration said that they have a fixed budget to spend on medical facilities every year and this is the best they can afford. here is the link to the departed boy’s profile (http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=4559049939917025593). The matter i believe is not in the hands of the IIT administration but the government should ensure better medical infrastructure in residential college campuses.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
@Ram.
If you think that this is your way of caring about the situation by letting people now what happened, its good. I appreciate the fact that you are concerned. So please let others know what all has happened to Rohit’s family. Are they ok ?. Did the officials handed the body peacefully.
What is the status of Gourav Tomar ( 5th year , LLR Hall )
Write about these facts. call up the concerned person and try to know the exact situation.
I think everyone following your blog would be concerned about these facts ( if they are concerned at all).
I would personally appreciate your effort , if you do write the above facts.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Agree thoroughly with Ram’s reply there.
Though I can totally symphatise with varun.
What was needed was some action, not violent, but of the same magnitude and ferocity that was witnessed. Arm-twisting the authorities into resignation isn’t really the answer. True, the administration sucks. True, also, that they owe moral responsiblity to resign once such a thing happens.
Vandalising the Director’s property and his car was uncalled for, and further the manhandling of the professors during the Open House was worse.
One moment, in an arena of 4000, I could hear a pin drop, when we were grieving for Rohit. Probably the proudest moment of my life. And then, manhandling and abusing the 50 or so professors was shameful, to say the least.
I hope we learn from this, and this mistake never happens again.
And more importantly, hope Rohit’s sould rests in peace.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I wonder why? …on one hand we appreciate a movie like Rang De Basanti and on the other… when any such incident happens in reality …we are taught, how to react rationally.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I would really like to know the reason for the deletion of my article.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
@Mr. Anonymous
We appreciated the movie RDB (atleast I did), because it showed youth and the change it can bring about to the country.
I really wouldn’t appreciate if someone had shot the director, neither would you, I’m sure.
We want change, and we appreciate that, but we really don’t advocate violence\vandalism to enforce it.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I don’t see any difference b/w both the situations.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
@Subhendu
Yes, I most certainly will keep people updated on everything as reliable information pours in. I’d certainly appreciate it if you could tell me what you know via email/ twitter. I’m also relying largely on ScholsAve for information, and have linked to them in my article.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:20 pm
@Rishav
I don’t think I deleted any of your articles (comments?). I’m sorry if it did get deleted by mistake while I was deleting the huge number of irrational one-line comments: do repost.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Gaurav Tomar is still in ICU and currently undergoing dialysis.
Rohit’s parents have taken his body.
i will update as soon as i know from reliable sources.
I would urge everyone is not to throw this matter into media. They are spicing up the whole situation and trying to meet their ends. Anyone and everyone who is following this blog and schols av , Please refrain from media (no calls , no mails ).
I have personally thrown media out of my hall and insti.
@ram ; Do twitter ,about the media issue I raised.
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Let’s get this straight for kharagpur’s sake:
morning: B.C.Roy hospital makes a heinous and tragic mistake for the last time, and someone is lost. It’s a crime, and not the doctor, medical attendants, or the staff, but the Director is to blame.
2PM: Okay, so the director promised improving healthcare, and we’re kinda pissed at him anyways, so let’s go directly to him.
2:30PM: Director is unsympathetic and unapologetic, now we’re mad.
3PM: Tons of people turn up, we have strength in numbers, nobody knows what happened but we hate the director and we’re not afraid to show it.
3:30PM: The IQ of a mob decreases exponentially with the number. Any top class engineer would be able to understand that, but what about a mob full of top class engineers.
4PM: The smartest and most logical thing for us to do right now is: Beat the shit out of everything, we’ve been dishonored. Maaro! Maaro! Maaro!
4:30PM: Someone started screaming “Resign! Resign!”, hey! two syllable words are fun to scream! Let’s all scream! for diro’s resignation(and possibly ice cream).
5PM: Diro resigned! yay! Let’s celebrate! Though it feels like something’s wrong, almost like someone had tragically passed away and we forgot about it while caught up in the senseless mob, oh well.
6PM: The media’s here! yay, let’s go give interviews.
10PM: I feel like screaming senselessly some more, let’s go to TOAT.
1AM: Hey, look here! some guy’s posted a blog entry with pictures of us and a description that makes us look like an unruly mob, and gives the institute a bad name. Let’s try to make him take it down.
Two’s a couple, three’s a crowd, two thousand’s a frickin’ mob.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
@Artagnon: A very sensitive coverage of the entire issue. Mob mentality is a strict no-no anywhere, much less in IIT campus. In their emotions, students do get carried away. Good work to keep emotions contained on this blog!
March 24th, 2009 at 6:34 am
@Ram & @Little ram…
@Ram – [CENSORED] You don’t expect such things from IIT students because you have never really seen them doing so…Why don’t you ponder over the extraordinary conditions that might have prevailed leading to the extreme behavior of otherwise naive students ? The one thing students look for is their teachers and guides to be honorable as well as inspiring. Prof Damodar Acharya is none, and mind you, the director did deserve this. I too didn’t know Rohit but that doesn’t mean in any manner that i should not feel distressed or enraged. It could have been me or my friend as well and if it indeed had been the case, i could have done much worse to the person who is hugely responsible for the incident. I won’t justify the things students did but yes it was an extraordinary situation and the administration could only have heard by a violent protest. Many peaceful protests have earlier been done but all in vain. Numerous complaints been made but nothing done!!! The DOSA and D.D. were in fact laughing at times…Do you really think such people deserve your respect ? May be yours but not mine and yes Rohit’s soul would definitely have wanted a stern action against these guys!!!
@Little ram -
Courage is needed not in being sober, but to bring a change . You will now argue that change can be brought by remaining peaceful, by going to classes everyday, doing silent protests at times or maybe writing complaints to the same administration we loathe so much!!! Students have already tried all such things a million times and sadly, only the death of an innocent could trigger the chain reaction which finally made the students realize their rights and power!!! If you are so sure of being sober, why could not you and others like you change the scenario before ? Maybe you were too busy writing into some other blogs about how cruel this world is and how strong you have to be to maintain your dignity…This ain’t any Gandhian era where if someone slaps you, you show him your other cheek to be slapped again… I’m not in favour of violent protests but yes it should be an option as well for the extreme cases like this where the big bosses consider students fools who could be succumbed to pressure of DC or other punishments just because they speak truth or they demand for better!!!
yes it is true that everyone has something good in him, but just because Ravana was a super brain do you think Ram should not have killed him ? Or if that’s a bad example then consider the case of terrorists , should they not be killed just because they are found giving chocolates to there beloved daughters/sons ? or maybe we should sit together and mull over the goodness in the world and smile at each other ? [CENSORED]
March 24th, 2009 at 10:22 am
@ Varun,
[CENSORED]
I am not at IIT-KGP; I never went to any IIT. I graduated more than 30 years ago from another college. I have similar shared experiences and maybe more having lived longer. So just for the record, I could not have done much about what happened. I feel for it; [CENSORED]
Violence is not an option; it is not a solution-ever. When you kill a terrorist, you do it to PREVENT large-scale violence. You do this to control violence, not abet it. If we agree that sometimes violence is justified, maybe we are guilty of providing the terrorist the perfect justification for their violence.
Still, the terrorist has good in him and it is sad that we have not been able to awaken it. Ravana represented greed, anger and pride that is in all of us. It is the intellect represented by the Lord that vanquishes this evil of anger, greed and pride in us. It is not for nothing that Yudhishtira when asked what is the greatest enemy of man, replied it is “anger’.
My recommended course of action is certainly not that students should go to class as if nothing had transpired. They are certainly entitled to protest the poor medical facilities at BC Roy hospital. Having been to IIT-KGP, I can say that the state of the administration is worrying. I certainly know from personal experience that the IIT-M admin. is far better organized. I would certainly like to see the students taking action and not sitting around passively. However, the violence that took place is not my recommended course of action. There are any number of forms of protest and I must disagree with you that the Gandhian era is over. There is no ‘era’ for truth, no ‘era’ for morality and no ‘era’ for treating people with dignity.
I have no experience of IIT students to have any expectations of them, but I imagine some of you are way above the average in intellect. It is even stupid of me to pretend that I can offer a better solution than one that you can come up with given your obvious talent- provided you allow your anger to subside and evolve a strategy that will prevent such tragic incidents in future. Making sure we take specific corrective action to improve the facilities so this never happens again, to anyone- is the best tribute we can pay to Rohit.
March 24th, 2009 at 11:28 am
@varun and @little ram: I’m sorry that your comments have been heavily censored. This is a public blog; please refrain from making things personal. Stop questioning each others’ judgements/ characters/ actions and discuss larger issue at hand here. I can give you each others’ email ids or contact numbers, if you so wish, so you can take the discussion elsewhere.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Ok. All said. This debate shall continue for ages. Stop debating the mob reaction & get practical.
Assume whatever has happened was in the greater interest of IIT Kharagpur. Now that administration understands the gravity of situation, make use of this opportunity to turn this moment into a watershed event in the history of B C Roy Hospital & IIT Kharagpur.
Use those sharp brains to analyse the inadequacies & devise a good long term strategy to prevent any such occurences in the future. Let admin concentrate on finding the culprit & you focus your energies on improving things.
As for healthcare issues, entire indian health care is plagued with two major problems :-
1)Lack of Infrastructure
2)Lack of accountability
You cannot just deny the facts. No matter how good & developed the place is, health care is seriously lacking infrastructure & just cannot cope with such rapidly increasing demand. Situation is pathetic. Majority (not all) of these negligence issues have cropped up due to the infrastructure woes. Doctors are afraid to treat the patients because of problems like non-availability of materials, inadeqaute staff etc. They fear facing the people’s anger. Common man naturally gets angry when basic services are denied but he doesn’t understand that hospital just doesn’t have the resources.
Another problem is accountability. Shirking responsibility is a common occurence. It starts right at the top level & descends down. In fact its a tragedy that junior doctors even after their extraordinary effort are criticised the most. Hospital at Sion, Mumbai is a perfect example where junior residents in departments like surgery work non-stop for days together (imagine a continous 72 hr shift in a physically & mentally exhausting job that deals with hypersensitive subject like alive human body). Still time & again they have to deal with the people’s rage.
March 24th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
[...] : Ram Kumar What : #iitdeath: The Day it was. Tangy : Our Second Tangy pick for this week is by Ram Kumar from IIT Kharagpur. This post is unique [...]
July 30th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
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