Tirunelveli govt college sends 1,400 letters against reservation to Justice Chandru

Out of 2,741 responses received by the Justice K Chandru committee in Tamil Nadu, which was preparing guidelines to prevent caste violence, a staggering 1,400 responses were identical, demanding the abolition of caste-based reservations. The committee was taken aback by this response from a college in Tirunelveli and lamented this as a display of "ignorance and a complete lack of understanding of the history of social justice in Tamil Nadu." Several other responses were also disheartening; they were found to have been written with the help of ChatGPT – the AI bot.

The committee was formed in August 2023 after two Dalit children in Nanguneri – 17-year-old Chinnadurai and his 13-year-old sister – were attacked by six classmates of Chinnadurai, who belonged to a dominant caste group. They barged into Chinnadurai’s house with machetes and attacked him because he excelled in his studies. His sister sustained injuries while trying to save him. The committee submitted its 600-page report to the Tamil Nadu government on June 18, 2024. 

In his report, Justice Chandru denounced August 9, 2023 – the day of the attack – as the “darkest day in the annals of Tamil Nadu school education.” Tasked with recommending measures to address caste differences in educational institutions, Justice Chandru found caste differences were pervasive, extending “beyond the confines of educational settings and permeating society at large.” He argued that merely addressing the problem in schools was insufficient and called for a comprehensive approach to achieve “a lasting solution and a casteless society.”

‘Manipulated responses on reservation policy’

The 2,741 responses came from government departments, universities, colleges, schools, NGOs, and individuals, which included educationists, students, social workers, and journalists. However, skipping any opinion, were student and teacher organisations and larger political parties. A significant and troubling pattern emerged from the Government Arts and Science College in Tirunelveli.