The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi on Monday stated that it has formed a fact-finding committee after arow erupted online about the speakers and content of a conference on caste and race organised by the college’s Department of Humanities and Social Sciences earlier this month.

The institute said that it has also sought an explanation from the faculty who organised the conference.

Theevent, titled “Celebrating 25 Years of Durban: Indian Contributions to Combatting Caste and Racism” as part of the Critical Philosophy of Caste and Race Conference, was held between January 16 and 18 on the campus.

The conference was organised by Divya Dwivedi, a professor at the institute, and Sowjanya Tamalapakula, an associate professor of Woxsen University in Hyderabad. It was supported by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.

A concept note on the conference said that the event focused on the “histories and futures of the arduous and brilliant efforts of the oppressed groups”, and aspires towards comprehensive documentation, understanding and theorisation of descent-based discrimination.

It also looked at increased ethical sensitivity to the harms such discrimination inflicts on large sections of society, said the note, adding that it was meant to engage in advocacy for social equality in law, policy, and the institutional and social everyday life

The three-day...

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