Why are IITs always in the news for the wrong reasons? || Acharya Prashant, IIM-Konversations (2023)

Acharya Prashant

502 views  Premiered 4 hours ago  #acharyaprashant #justice ‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant? Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...   Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books? Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...  ~~~~~  Video Information: 10.10.23, IIM-Konversation, Greater Noida   Context: ~ Why should that justice not be offered to all our little brother and sisters of the various species on the globe? ~ In the name of opposing Brahminism how one can slaughter animals? ~ Why do media shows only sensational news of top institutions rather than its development?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~

Transcript

00:00I will tell you a few headlines that I get to read now of IITs.

00:08The recent one that I read which was obnoxious in my opinion was how you know people demanded

00:17that they should have separate eating places.

00:20Now there is a vegetarian corner and some of the students who went there and ate there

00:26their non-vegetarian food there and that made international headline and I was reading the

00:30Hindu and I read that.

00:32Some other headlines that I read was some student who committed suicide in IIT because

00:37of the gas loss thrown at them.

00:41The IITs that I know of growing up it used to feature or it has featured or the alums

00:47of IITs like you have done wonders and those were the people who were talked about those

00:53were the inventions that were talked about and that's exactly why IITs came into being.

00:57Now this is what you are hearing of IITs day in and day out.

01:02What it makes you feel?

01:04See I have been in decent touch with the IITs mostly IIT Delhi over all these years.

01:14So I know that the campuses are still doing far better than what we get to hear from the

01:21media.

01:23It says that the media has its own agent obviously they will pick up stuff that will make sensational

01:33headlines.

01:35So there is a lot more obviously that's happening in the IITs.

01:39If we look for example at the global standings all the IITs have risen and I suppose particularly

01:47IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay are continuously improving year by year.

01:55In one of the top rankings which one I won't be able to recall I suppose they have already

02:02entered the global top 50.

02:05FT rankings.

02:06Probably I will have to check.

02:08So and we were lagging badly in my times.

02:14So there has been development and these institutions, these great institutions are actually only

02:26getting better each passing year.

02:29It's not that there is deterioration or something.

02:33Obviously there always are things that one could still improve on and there must be many

02:39many areas to look into, consider and develop and development is an unending road.

02:48But I suppose the IITs are making the headlines for all the trivial reasons and that's not

02:55got that much to do with the institutions themselves as it has to do with the media.

03:04Media is scavenging on the rotten stuff.

03:08About the controversy that you are talking of, I have been to IIT Bombay a few times.

03:17One of my batch mates is actually a professor right there.

03:23The protest that you are referring to that came from students belonging to the Ambedkar

03:29Periyar Phule study circle.

03:34And if you look at the genesis of that body, it's both interesting and appreciable.

03:45You know, if you want to get into the minds of the likes of Ambedkar or Phule, how can

03:56one find fault with that?

04:00It's just that the kids are quite young and they equate vegetarianism with Brahminism.

04:11Which is even factually a misplaced notion.

04:17Because if you look at the Brahmins of Bihar or Jharkhand or Odisha or Bengal or Assam,

04:27all the places in the east that is, or even the Brahmins from the deep south, they very

04:34liberally consume flesh.

04:37So it's not as if you want to oppose Brahminism, you must oppose vegetarianism as well.

04:45That's what those kids have done.

04:47It's not that they have something terribly against vegetarian food.

04:54What they are opposing is the injustices of the past and their carry over into the

05:00present.

05:01That's what they are opposing.

05:02And I think that's something very justifiable and we must appreciate that.

05:09But where they are missing it is in the equivalence that they are mistakenly and quite imaginatively

05:20establishing between Brahminism and vegetarianism.

05:27One has to be vegetarian, rather a vegan, not out of ideology, but out of compassion.

05:37You see, if we are talking of standing for the oppressed ones, that's what Ambedkar

05:46did, that's what Periyar did.

05:49If you are talking of standing for the oppressed ones, there is nobody more oppressed in the

05:54world today than these little kids from the various species, no?

06:0110 lakh cows are slaughtered every day, a few million pigs and then hundreds of millions

06:19of chicken and countless million fish, 11 million ducks.

06:29They are not just being harassed or dominated, they are being slaughtered.

06:38So they are the most oppressed ones.

06:39If you are an Ambedkarite, you should be the first one to turn vegan, no?

06:46Because oppression should not see caste, oppression should not see gender, oppression

06:53should not see creed or color, oppression should also not see species, should also not

07:02see species.

07:04It is very bad when a human being is oppressed.

07:08Is it also not equally bad when a sheep or a goat or a chicken or a fish or a pig is

07:19slaughtered?

07:21So I would rather envision that people who have been through oppression and subjugation

07:33would have that extra bit of sensitivity towards every creature who is being subjected

07:42to injustice.

07:44And we are not talking of just slaughter here, mind it, species are getting extinct at the

07:51rate of hundreds and thousands a day.

07:55So how can an Ambedkarite condone that?

08:01I have tremendous respect for these three people and several others from several walks

08:08of life, not only Indians, but fighters from across the world who stood against injustice.

08:18In fact, justice is something so dear to my heart that I sometimes get a bit scared.

08:29I don't want to be in a position where I see a blatant act of injustice happening right

08:35in front of my eyes.

08:36I'm not sure I'll be able to control myself and moderate myself in that situation.

08:42So I just don't want to be in that situation where I see it happening.

08:46I'm afraid I'll just run amok.

08:51So justice is wonderful, justice is beautiful, justice is truth.

08:56But why should that justice not be offered to all our little brothers and sisters of

09:03the various species on the globe?

09:07So I would request members of that study circle to kindly reconsider their stand and not posit

09:19a false equivalence.

09:23In the name of opposing Brahmanism, how can we slaughter animals?

09:29There is no rhyme or reason to it.

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