The Union Education Ministry has constituted a three-member committee to examine student suicides at Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, following the death of a student on campus and renewed scrutiny of mental health conditions across India’s premier technical institutions.
The panel, chaired by Prof Anil D Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the National Educational Technology Forum, includes senior psychiatrist Dr Jitendra Nagpal and Rina Sonowal Kauli, Joint Secretary (Higher Education) in the Ministry. It has been tasked with reviewing recent incidents, assessing institutional mechanisms for student support and recommending measures to strengthen mental health frameworks. The committee has been asked to submit its report within 15 days.
The action followed the suicide of a 25-year-old PhD scholar, Ramswaroop Ishwaram, at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur on January 20. He was pursuing his PhD in the Department of Earth Sciences.
According to an official order, the panel will examine the circumstances surrounding student deaths at IIT Kanpur, with particular focus on the availability and effectiveness of counselling services, grievance redressal systems and institutional policies. It will also identify gaps, systemic challenges and areas requiring urgent reform, and may interact with students, faculty and administrators, besides seeking relevant records.
The decision comes amid mounting concern over suicide cases across IIT campuses. Data compiled by the Global IIT Alumni Support Group show that at least 65 students died by suicide across IITs between January 2021 and December 2025, with 30 deaths recorded in the past two years alone. Of these, nine occurred at IIT-Kanpur, the highest among the country’s 23 IITs, accounting for nearly 30% of all cases during this period.
According to a report by the Times of India, the recent deaths have intensified questions about institutional accountability and the adequacy of mental health support systems. Alumni groups and student bodies argue that official explanations often attribute such deaths to “personal” or “academic” stress, overlooking deeper structural pressures such as relentless evaluation, intense competition, isolation and, in some cases, caste- or language-based exclusion. Faculty members, speaking privately, have acknowledged that early warning signs are frequently missed and that interventions often come too late.
The committee has also been asked to review IIT-Kanpur’s implementation of the Ministry’s “Framework Guidelines for Emotional and Mental Wellbeing of Students in Higher Education Institutions”, issued in July 2023. The guidelines call for early detection of psychological distress, accessible counselling services, faculty sensitisation, grievance redressal mechanisms, crisis response protocols and structured suicide prevention strategies.
In a statement, IIT-Kanpur said it had strengthened its mental health infrastructure, including a dedicated Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing with full-time psychologists and psychiatric leadership, mandatory mental health screening for new students, a 24/7 emergency support mechanism, sensitisation programmes and a peer mentoring system.
However, alumni have questioned the impact of these measures. “If the guidelines were issued in July 2023 and IIT-Kanpur still accounted for nearly 30% of IIT suicides in the last two years, what exactly was being implemented, and who was monitoring outcomes?” asked Dheeraj Singh, founder of the Global IIT Alumni Support Group, while speaking with TOI.
The crisis at IITs reflects a wider national pattern. According to National Crime Records Bureau data, India recorded more than 13,000 student suicides in 2023, an average of around 36 deaths every day. The Supreme Court has also constituted a task force to address student mental health concerns and prevent suicides.