Hyderabad, April 17 (IANS). The Telangana government constituted a cabinet sub-committee on Friday. This committee will study the ‘Rohit Vemula Telangana (Prevention of Identity-Based Discrimination in Higher Education) Bill, 2026’ and give recommendations for making a law.
The five-member committee is headed by Deputy Chief Minister and Finance, Planning and Energy Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. Ministers N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Damodar Rajnarasimha, Duddilla Sridhar Babu and Ponnam Prabhakar are the members of the committee.
In this regard, Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao issued a government order on Friday. Sabyasachi Ghosh, Special Chief Secretary, Scheduled Caste Development Department of the Government, will be the convener of this sub-committee.
The government order said the Cabinet sub-committee will submit its recommendations as soon as possible.
In the cabinet meeting held on March 23, the government had decided that a sub-committee would be constituted to finalize the rules and procedures for the proposed Rohith Vemula Act. This law will be made to prevent caste discrimination in educational institutions.
Congress had promised to introduce Rohith Vemula Act in the 2023 state assembly elections.
Last year, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had urged the Telangana government to implement the Rohith Vemula Act.
Chief Minister A. In a letter to Revanth Reddy, he had appealed to enact a law to end caste discrimination in educational institutions.
Rohit Vemula was a 26-year-old Dalit research student at the University of Hyderabad. He committed suicide on 17 January 2016. He had accused the university administration of caste discrimination. His PhD scholarship was suspended and his stipend was also canceled after his alleged altercation with ABVP members.
Following his death, there were massive protests against caste discrimination on campuses across the country.
Rahul Gandhi, during his visit to Hyderabad University, had promised that Rohith Vemula Act would be brought if Congress comes to power.
In January, at a meeting with members of the ‘Justice for Rohit Vemula Campaign Committee’ from Karnataka, Deputy Chief Minister Vikramark had announced that the state government would soon bring in the Rohit Vemula Act to prevent discrimination against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in educational institutions.
The committee has also submitted a draft of the Rohith Vemula Act, 2025.
–IANS
AMT/ABM
