Suicides, opaque placements, caste: IIT Bombay, Kanpur’s student journals dare to ask the tough questions

In September 2023, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay mess council, a student-led body managing the dining space, took an unusual decision. It designated six tables at the combined mess for hostels 12, 13 and 14 as ‘veg-only’, to be used exclusively by those eating vegetarian food . The move led to an outcry on the campus as many students saw the segregation as an exclusionary practice rooted in the caste-based ideas of purity and impurity. Some students protested this move by eating meat on these tables, leading to the mess council imposing a steep Rs 10,000 fine on one of the agitators, further escalating the matter.

Insight , IIT Bombay’s in-house student media body published a long opinion piece on the brewing controversy cheekily titled ‘Table Talk’. The editorial team took an unambiguous stance against segregation , terming it an “infringement” on people’s choice and a “dangerous precedent”. The article also looked at the casteist roots of dietary choices and vegetarianism, urging students and decision makers to educate themselves about this issue.

The article caused a flurry on campus, with a section of students writing to the institute administration to criticise the write-up. The editorial members got a call from the administration, which asked them to take down the article over perceived inaccuracies in the piece. While it stayed on the Insight website and the controversy eventually died down, the incident became a flashpoint in the student journalists’ relationship with the administration.

“It was a watershed moment,” said Kamal*, a student representative. “After that, we faced reduced access to members of the administration for comments,” he added.

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Journalism at IITs

The incident highlights the perils of practising journalism at IITs, the country’s top engineering colleges and the most aspirational educational spaces. Drawing some of the brightest young minds of the country every year, the institutes are under constant public and state scrutiny. With the central government tightening its grip on higher educational institutions across the country in recent years, the student publications are also feeling the squeeze, forcing them to strike a balance between free expression and institutional compulsions, reveal conversations from the current and past members at the student media bodies at two of the top IITs – Insight at IIT Bombay and Vox Populi at IIT Kanpur.

Yet, counterintuitively, this has also been a period where the student publications have made a mark as the foremost window into life on their sprawling campuses. As they shifted from primarily print magazines to web-focused publications, both student media platforms have been tackling critical issues affecting not just the students but the larger institute community. Their offerings have expanded from the staple pieces about academic issues, extracurricular activities and campus life to enquiries into student suicides , censorship, mental wellbeing, gender representation, caste bias, sexual harassment and treatment of non-teaching workers. Despite the pressures, many of these pieces have been critical of the administration.

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While it’s difficult to gauge the reach and impact of these publications, they are known to drive conversations on IIT campuses and, on some occasions, outside them too. Many of their articles have been picked up and amplified by the mainstream media, cementing their position as an indispensable source of news and perspective from the premier institutes. And, according to the IIT student journalists, some of their work has led to tangible changes on ground, such as the IIT Kanpur restructuring its Gender Cell or reinstating the workers laid off during Covid-19 .

Student journals part of IIT system

Largely defined by their scientific and engineering identity, IITs are an unlikely place for student journalism, or other such pursuits associated with the humanities and social sciences, to thrive. However, all the older IITs boast of student journalism or publication bodies, some more active and visible than others. At IIT Bombay and IIT Kanpur, they are a part of Gymkhana, the student-led, but faculty-monitored, umbrella body for extra-curricular activities. In that sense, the student publications, even if independent to an extent, are very much a part of the central institutes’ system.

Both Insight and Vox Populi are managed by an editorial team, largely consisting of B.Tech students, and led by two chief editors. The body is changed every academic year, though many of the students often remain associated with it for a couple of years at least, if not more. While earnest about the work they do at these publications, the student journalists are aware of the constraints – both institutional and personal – they face.

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“One thing that we often contend with is that we are an engineering institute. We receive new entrants every year, who all have a very technical lens, not really aware of societal constraints and problems. And this is a distinction which is very apparent in my conversations with someone from Ivy League publications, like the Harvard Crimson, or the Daily Pennsylvanian,” said Shivam Agarwal, a BTech chemical engineering student and one of the current chief editors at Insight, adding, “We have limited bandwidth, interest and skills.”

However, others sought to dispel the notion. “People here do a ton of things. There are so many extracurricular activities. Not everyone would be interested [in journalism] because they're not here to study humanities. But some do want to explore and understand how journalism works,” said a student associated with Vox Populi.

The flourishing of student journalism at IITs also correlates with the institutes adopting a more multidisciplinary approach , with a host of new non-tech departments being set up and a more diverse set of courses being added to the engineering curriculum.

IIT Bombay, Kanpur: ‘Want to be more critical’

In recent years, leaders at Insight and Vox Populi have consciously tried to steer their respective publications in the mould of traditional news magazines, with long-form reportage, investigative pieces and op-eds. The Insight’s repertoire now includes everything from narrative pieces exploring the life on the campus (tackling topics such as smoking and drinking culture, sleeplessness and activities of an outsider spiritual organisation) to analytical articles about academic affairs (such as inclusion of non-tech courses in UG programmes, branch change policy and informing parents about student absenteeism) and thoughtful deep dives on thorny subjects (poor woman representation in student elections, table segregation and lack of transparency in placements ).

Articles that created a buzz in the recent years include a 2025 survey by Insight that pointed at the alleged lack of transparency, clarity and fairness in the high-stakes placement process and questioned the dip in the job offers . The findings of the survey were reproduced by multiple mainstream dailies. “The placements, largely handled by students, happen in a blackbox. [Through this article], even the professor in-charge of placements also got to know about these issues,” said Sameer*, a former member of Insight .

Another interesting article published last year in Insight was an investigative report about the proselytising activities of a prominent Hindu spiritual organisation among the first-year students. Pieced together through anonymous accounts of the students recruited by the organisation, the article titled ‘Faith and the Freshman’ revealed what it termed the regressive and pseudoscientific teachings, as well as manipulative and controlling behaviour of the organisation. The report also highlighted the role of the senior students and alumni in facilitating the access to juniors in hostel rooms.

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“We wanted to add value to discourse and discussions, things that are not publicly known, and wanted to focus on covering that,” said Kamal.

Sameer affirmed the new direction of Insight . “We tried to be more critical about the administration this time compared to the last tenure.”

IIT student magazines ‘cover every community’

IIT Kanpur’s Vox Populi , on the other hand, moved to take head on some of the pertinent issues facing various sections of the campus community, including the toxic environment faced by research scholars , poor living and working conditions of dhobis (washermen), prevalence of sexual harassment on campus, student suicides and casteism . This was part of an effort to make the publication more relevant and use it to enhance the say of students, especially those from marginalised groups , in the institute’s affairs.

“IIT students don’t have any meaningful representation in the things that directly concern us. The academic bodies do have student nominees , but the power dynamics between the students and professor means that they’re unable to disagree with their teachers. The only way we could have a shot at representation was if we get enough people to talk about something, and build pressure on the administration. Because the administration does care about their image in the press, as it affects their rankings and other things. So they’re very careful about what student media bodies do,” said Mutasim Khan, the previous chief editor at the IIT Kanpur’s student media body.

Ajinkya*, a current member of Vox Populi’s editorial team, added, “We try to cover every campus community. So if there’s no one raising their voice or perspective, if there is something which is objectively going against them, we try to cover it.”

In 2023, the Vox Populi had carried out a quantitative as well as qualitative survey about sexual harassment on campus , its awareness among students, relationship with perpetrators and the students’ faith in the grievance redressal body. The publication of the survey’s results also accompanied an open-house to discuss these issues, resulting in a few substantial changes, including restructuring of the IIT Kanpur gender cell, then called the women’s cell, induction of new members in the body, change in rules and more transparency.

With IIT Kanpur recording nine student deaths within a span of two years, the student media body came out with a scathing editorial piece, questioning the administrative indifference and shifting of accountability. “A discussion started on the campus about how professors can be a bit more lenient in their training, especially in the case of postgraduate and PhD students,” said Ajinkya.

Reporting in IITs: ‘Everyone is irritated’

Interestingly, the student journalists’ willingness to take on controversial subjects comes against the backdrop of a heightened surveillance and crackdown on student activism around the country. “We had to deal with an administration that is increasingly aligned with the ruling dispensation in ideas as well as spirit,” said Khan.

Kamal from IIT Bombay has similar observations. “In the last four years, I've seen a drastic change in the administration, with the situation getting much worse with the current director… They don't release information. There is a lot of paranoia,” he said, adding, “The current political dispensation wants to micromanage a lot of things.”

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Khan, on the other hand, speaks about a pervasive, intimidating atmosphere at IIT Kanpur that often hindered the free expression of ideas and made the writers fearful of the consequences. “Even if the administration didn’t explicitly bar publication of any journalistic work, it would make its disapproval amply clear,” he said.

Another method used by the administration to influence the coverage is stonewalling the student journalists. “We have to make endless rounds of the main building, running from one person to another, to seek information,” said Kamal.

There have been instances where the administration has had its way. The IIT Kanpur, in 2019, infamously pressured Vox Populi to pull down an article about a campus protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) , which presented the side of protesting students. Last year, the Insight had to shelve an article about the social media trolls targeting the institute , after the administration took a dim view of it.

Eventually, the campus journos have found their own ways to minimise the risks. To begin with, they set a high bar for the verification of facts, and ensure that they have enough evidence to back up their claims. Having the support of other student representatives for an article also helps. “I had already obtained an internship and had other career opportunities available. So we could afford to be bolder,” said Ashutosh*, a former Insight member.

Of late, many of the Insight’s articles don’t carry the administration’s comments. It also avoids giving bylines to the writers to protect them from potential retribution. “We have learnt our guardrails and boundaries,” said Ashutosh.

Vox Populi would couch their commentary in large-scale surveys, such as the one about harassment and another about the condition of research scholars. “The survey was a way for me to distribute the accountability. It was basically me saying that this article is not written by Vox, it's written by everyone on campus who's filling out the form,” said Khan.

When it comes to dealing with sensitive issues like caste , Vox also offers its platform to vocal student bodies working on those issues.

Explaining the seeming paradox of a hostile administration and a daring student media, Ashutosh said, “Journalism has always thrived in adversarial conditions. Everyone is irritated.”

Not a career launchpad

Even as the IIT student journalists speak about the critical role being played by the campus media bodies, and their formative impact on their own lives, these platforms are yet to be elevated as launchpads for careers in media and journalism. This is because most of the IITians prefer the high-paying and more prestigious jobs offered in the placement drive .

Khan remains an outlier, working as a reporter at a Bengaluru-based business publication after a brief stint at a private equity firm after graduation.

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However, Agrawal believes that a culture where career changes are easily possible will help more students at IITs contributing to journalism. “One needs to look beyond the career that they immediately want after graduating. And I think that is what holds the student journalism back in IIT. People don't think it will contribute to their career in any meaningful way. And that's why maybe they are reluctant to join,” he said.

The current and former student journalists at IIT have another wish list, too. “It’d be really pleasant to see the administration cooperating with the journalism bodies, rather than seeing them as opposition. Simple things like even getting a response sometimes take weeks of back and forth,” said Sameer.

Ashutosh suggests that the alumni can financially support student media at their alma mater. “There should be an institute spokesperson who is mandated to respond within a stipulated time,” he adds.

*Names changed on request