CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president B Manickam Tagore on Wednesday raised concerns over the deaths of 53 students in IITs over the past five years, including 45 suicides, and sought greater transparency and a clear action plan from the Centre to ensure the safety and dignity of students from SC, ST, and OBC communities.

Citing data raised in Parliament, Tagore said 28 of the 45 students who died by suicide belonged to SC, ST, or OBC communities, accounting for more than 62 per cent of the total. He questioned whether students from socially marginalised backgrounds entering premier institutions, such as the IITs, were being provided an equal, safe and discrimination-free academic environment.

Tagore said the Union Higher Education Department had sought the relevant data from IITs on December 1, 2025, but the information was not placed before Parliament on December 8.

"This is not merely a statistic. It raises a larger question about whether students from socially marginalised sections have an equal, safe and discrimination free environment in premier institutions," he said.

He stressed that social justice did not end with providing reservation and said the government had a responsibility to ensure that students who benefited from such opportunities could study and live with dignity and equality.

Tagore demanded that the Centre provide the Parliament with the complete data sought in connection with student deaths in IITs and spell out a clear action plan to address the issue. He also questioned what steps the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government would take to ensure the safety, equality and dignity of SC, ST, and OBC students in higher educational institutions.