Goa, May 19 -- JOHN DAYAL

Rohith Vemula was a 26-year-old Dalit PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad whose suicide on Jan uary 17, 2016, sparked national protests against caste discrimi nation in Indian academia amidst demands for the resignation of the then Human Resources Min ister Smriti Irani. In May 2026, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its latest Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India re port, showing student suicides reached a staggering 14,488 in 2024 - a 4.3% increase from 13,892 the previous year and the highest in at least a decade. While overall suicides in the country dipped marginally by 0.4% to 170,746, the student segment surged faster, account ing for 8.5% of all cases. Over the decade from 2015 to...