India’s Congress questions government over IIT suicide data

India’s Congress party has accused the central government of hiding data on student suicides at the country’s Indian Institutes of Technology, The Hindu reported. The party cited a report claiming that more than half of the students who died by suicide at IITs over the past five years belonged to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Classes communities. The accusation places the focus on both the availability of official information and the social background of students included in the reported figures.

The supplied material does not identify the report cited by Congress, provide the total number of deaths or state how the government responded to the allegation. It also does not give details of the institutions or years covered beyond the reference to the past five years.