Petition to Kapil Sibal in Q&A session at IIT Bombay

Petition for commensurate accommodation for women students on IIT Bombay campus

In a progressive country like India, where it is said that, “Teach a woman, and you teach a whole family”, it is quite expected that more and more women should get educated and even take to higher education. And since actions speak louder than words, it is the duty of every academic institute to not just talk about but also provide facilities that encourage women to join. One such facility is accommodation.

Since past few years, we (Post Graduate women) have been petitioning for better accommodation on campus (petitions enclosed). Each time, we have been assured some long-term (2-3 years) permanent solution and some short-term temporary (few months) solution to tide over the imminent accommodation crisis. The temporary solutions, though take care of the worst situations, are still not good enough to qualify as “good living conditions”. A direct comparison between PhD men and women students' accommodations on campus reveals that male PhD students get a single room from Day 1 of their stay, whereas female PhD students are in shared rooms even in the 2nd or 3rd year. This will have an obvious impact on the womens' research output, so why should the women PhD students have to adjust in this unfair manner for such long durations? Though we acknowledge the effort by institute authorities, we are still falling short of basic accommodation requirements.

Some representative temporary solutions offered over the years:-
1. Double rooms tripled up, single rooms doubled up (2007)
2. Staff-hostel & C-type quarters temporarily (2007)
3. Single rooms doubled. TV room, library, drying areas converted to dormitory (almost every year during admissions, situation dissipated later with other temporary measures)
4. In 2009, H10 annexe was finally ready, but the staff hostel & C-type quarters were withdrawn. Also, H10 annexe has only double rooms, no single rooms. PhD women (who deserve single rooms just like the PhD men) are still left asking for more.
5. In 2010, one wing of H8 was annexed to H11, thus enabling around 80 senior PhD women students to get single room.
6. In 2011, long-term plan of new hostel construction after demolition of old H10 wing. But it wont be ready before 2-3 years. Meanwhile, senior PhD women students have to adjust doubled up in single room.


Potential causes of accommodation problems:-
● Inadequate projection of women intake over the years
● Even if projections correct, corrective actions (long-term promises & temporary measures) insufficient
● Even if long-term construction plans made, deadlines are often missed. Most construction activities are transitively depend on another construction deadline, and if the first one is delayed then all are delayed.


Latest loss to women students due to accommodation problem:-
1. This year, no new women project staff are being accepted, just because there is not enough women's accommodation on campus. This is such a great loss to so many deserving female candidates!
2. Our apprehension & fear – intake of M.Tech and Ph.D will also be reduced in future in order to “handle the accommodation crisis on campus”. This is a step backward in the progress of our country --- women should be encouraged for, not kept away from, higher education.


What can be done regarding accommodation problem?
● At the very least, hostel construction deadlines should be met faithfully. There are many categories of people (UG boys, UG girls, PG boys, PG girls, married research scholars & even faculty) all hoping for decent accommodation facilities on campus.
● If possible, plan construction of hostel for women, such that it is not dependent on another construction deadline, so that it can not get delayed indefinitely.





(On behalf of PG women on campus)

What is wrong with discussing at the dinner table?

Firstly, who made rules about what should or should not be discussed at the dinner table? Why?

Secondly, who decides that this is a casual conversation? It could have been something that has been bothering me a lot and I am bringing it up in a conversation with my friends. Why should it be dismissed as being "casual"? For all you know, I may have been contemplating suicide, so if I mention suicide in a dinner conversation, would it still be considered casual?

Thirdly, just because you have read 7 books on a subject does not mean that everyone else should stop talking about those issues that you have read. And just because 7 people have written and published books on that subject doesnt mean that everyone else who has any opinion on those subjects is just useless. There could be an 8th opinion that didnt get published, isnt it?

Fourth, everyone has their own way of dealing with issues of this world. Nobody has a perfect solution to many problems. That doesnt imply that those who dont have good solutions, should stop talking about the problem.

Finally, women's issues are more challenging because most of the population doesnt even think of many of these things as problems. We need more and more discussion and awareness for people to first-of-all even acknowledge that these are problems.

In many cases, it is assumed that just because it is the prevalent way of doing things, it is the correct way. So everything that we ourselves do, are we doing them because they are correct, or because they belong to the prevalent way? We can never be sure. And the biggest realization of this hits when we look at other societies in our own country where the prevalent things are beliefs like "killing girls will get them god's blessings"! If you and I belonged to such a society, wouldn't we also have thought the same thing? And yet, just because we are on the outside, reading books about these "other" societies, we sit here feeling, "Oh, we shouldn't talk about it unless we can fix things!??" What are we? Demi-gods? How are we to fix entire societies on our own? And just because we cant "fix" them, we cant learn about them? Or share our thoughts about them? Or express solidarity for the victims?

Acknowledging that it is a problem is the first huge step toward solving the problem. Talking about problems and spreading awareness is the way to acknowledge that the problem exists. There is no pressure on you to solve the problem yourself. But there is a plea that you acknowledge it if you agree that it is a problem.