Lately, a quintessentially Indian story hit the headlines. Atul Kumar, a Dalit scholar, fought all the way in which to the Supreme Court docket after shedding his hard-won seat on the Indian Institute of Expertise (IIT), Dhanbad. He had cleared the vastly aggressive examination however narrowly missed the deadline to deposit the ₹17,500 charge, a sum his poor Dalit dad and mom couldn’t organize in time. It’s a testomony to the deep dedication of Kumar’s dad and mom — Rajendra and Rajesh (the mom) — that they didn’t surrender and fought for his or her little one’s future, taking the case to the apex courtroom, which then used its extraordinary energy to direct IIT Dhanbad to grant admission to their ward.
However why is that this story quintessentially Indian? As a result of it embodies the deep aspiration of our youth, the relentless sacrifices required by complete households to safe primary alternatives for a single member, the wrestle to scrape collectively a seemingly “small” quantity, and the institutional and political apathy that pressured the household to hunt aid from the best courtroom — aid, nevertheless, for only one scholar.
Kumar’s dad and mom are the heroes of this story, however it additionally highlights a deeper tragedy: As a nation, we proceed to fail huge numbers of our youth by not offering the naked minimal they should transfer ahead — inexpensive, accessible training.
The aid granted to Kumar is heartening however raises a essential query: Why should a primary constitutional proper equivalent to training require intervention from the Supreme Court docket? This case starkly illustrates the State’s abdication of its obligation to offer the infrastructure and assist wanted for marginalised people to entry a primary proper. Kumar’s case additionally speaks to the persistence of caste-based inequalities embedded in our financial system. His battle wasn’t nearly monetary hardship; it was a wrestle in opposition to entrenched discrimination that retains Dalits disproportionately poor. Consequently, we discover ourselves in a paradox the place particular person success is widely known as an alibi to disregard systemic failures. The plain query, then, is what sort of democracy are we constructing if entry to probably the most elementary software for socioeconomic mobility itself stays entangled with caste and financial hierarchies. This incident additionally mirrors the contradictions inside Indian democracy. On the one hand, “social justice” is experiencing a renaissance in political discourse. Then again, the mandatory institutional and political focus to carry tangible change to marginalised communities stays absent. For each Atul Kumar who succeeds, lakhs fall via the cracks — unable to make the cut-off in some exams as a result of systemic disadvantages, unable to muster even small quantities (just like the ₹17,500 in Kumar’s case) for life-changing alternatives, and unable to navigate an inherently exclusionary system.
Whereas Kumar’s courtroom victory should be celebrated, the true query is: How will we dismantle the buildings that make such tales so frequent? Social justice should transfer past political rhetoric to concrete motion. Listed here are two fast steps that should be taken.
First, aspirants far outnumber accessible seats throughout fields — be it medication, high quality engineering, or different alternatives. Multi-layered buildings of inequality make sure that these on the margins stay constantly excluded as an alternative of being prioritised in order that they could break the cycle of exclusion and marginalisation. One apparent facet of this exclusion is the untenable privatisation of upper training in India. As per the most recent accessible information from the All India Survey on Greater Schooling (AISHE) by the ministry of training, virtually 80% of all schools are run by non-public administration. That is untenable in a rustic the place 90% of the inhabitants lives on lower than ₹2 lakh each year. Whereas high-tech industries like semiconductors and AI are strategic imperatives, empowering our youth is equally essential.
Second, training is simply too elementary for entry to be denied as a result of a public-private distinction. As a substitute of rhetoric about growing instructional alternatives at some undetermined future date, our youth deserve entry to training within the right here and now. If this requires extra strong reservation insurance policies, so be it. Nearly twenty years in the past, the UPA authorities handed the 93rd Constitutional modification, empowering the State to advance SC/STs and different socially and educationally backward courses via reservations, together with in aided and unaided non-public training establishments. Nonetheless, there was no motion on enabling laws. Parliament — the Opposition might take the lead — should put its institutional may behind political rhetoric. In any case, the political mandate is already in place, and whereas a bigger nationwide consensus is created, numerous state governments can transfer ahead and set an instance for the nation.
Whereas Kumar’s wrestle ended with a heartening victory, it highlights a deep, structural failure, and a reminder that for each success, lakhs are left behind. It’s time for the State — and political events — to step up and ship.
Ok Raju is a everlasting invitee to the Congress Working Committee, and Ruchi Gupta is government director, Way forward for India Basis.The views expressed are private
