Nashik, India – As Sanjay Nerkar returns from his office in Nashik, a small town in the Indian state of Maharashtra, he waits almost instinctively for a phone call — something he knows will never come.
For almost a decade, when his son, Varad Nerkar, lived away from home for studies, he called his father at dusk.
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“No matter how busy he was, he would say, Dad, The bass voice is Sunni Thi (I want to hear your voice),” recalls the 55-year-old government employee.
Two years ago that routine between son and father was broken.
In 2022, Varad achieved a dream he had talked about since childhood: admission to one of the 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) schools across India, including the seven legacy IITs established before 2000 and the most prestigious.
Varad joined the postgraduate program at IIT-Delhi – one of the original seven in the national capital.
“He didn’t get a BTech there, but he refused to give up,” Nerkar says. When the Mtech result came, the family shared sweets. “I thought the dream belonged to all of us.”
And then his voice breaks. “If I had known what IIT-Delhi would take away from me, I would never have sent him,” he softened his voice to Al Jazeera. “Oh, Varad… why did you leave so soon?”
On February 15, 2024, Varad’s so-called IIT-Delhi suicide was one of 65 student suicides across IITs and the eighth at IIT-Delhi since 2021.
Varad is 26 years old. A few days ago, he had told his mother about intense academic pressure and alleged pressure from his supervisor.
Why are IITs weighted?
In India, admission to an IIT symbolizes academic excellence and social prestige.
In 2025, about 1.3 million high school graduates took the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main, a computer-based screening of candidates conducted twice a year by India’s national examination body.
Only 250,000 qualified for the next round, called JEE Advanced, the final round of screening to compete for just 18,000 Bachelor in Technology (BTech) seats at the IITs, which are allocated on the basis of rank, category and preferences.
For MTech programmes, 800,000 to 1,000,000 candidates appear for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) annually, with around 8,500 gaining admission – one in 72 to BTech and one in 117 to MTech courses.
The number of PhD seats in IITs varies every year and depends on the open slots with professors.
Over the decades, the IITs have produced prominent figures such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, as well as more than 35 Indian billionaires – and several prominent politicians, writers and journalists.
According to 6figr.com, an AI-powered career data platform, the average salary of IIT graduates working in the United States is between $216,000 and $235,000 annually, nearly four times the national average salary in the US.
Dheeraj Singh is the founder of the Global IIT-IIM Alumni Support Group, which not only helps students with job opportunities, but also supports their mental well-being and bereaved families. IIM refers to the Indian Institute of Management, another major chain of government schools.
“Being an IITian is not just a tag; it brings honor to the whole family,” Singh told Al Jazeera.
Yet, there is another side to the IIT story, largely overlooked, but which is repeated with alarming frequency.
They took away my only son
Despite their reputation for academic excellence and rewarding careers, life in the IITs is also marked by intense pressure and relentless competition.
While institutes highlight record placements every year, many graduates remain jobless. In 2024, according to the institutes’ data, about 38 percent of IIT graduates went unplaced — a reality experts say is often overlooked for maintaining institutional prestige.
“IITs advertise top jobs but rarely talk about the other side. Almost half the students struggle during placements,” Singh said.
The expectations, he explains, are enormous. “When academic stress is combined with job stress, the situation becomes very serious.”
Singh recalled a student from IIT-Kanpur – another top-seven campus – who approached his support group fearing unemployment: “If I don’t get a place, I will end my life,” he said. Despite our efforts, he later committed suicide,” Singh said.
According to data shared by Singh, collected from government officials and various IITs, IITs have recorded 160 student suicide deaths in the last two decades — 69 of them in the last five years.
Among them was 20-year-old Tejaswi Darshan Solanki, who had dreamed of an IIT degree since childhood.
His father Ramesh, a plumber in Ahmedabad, the largest city in western Gujarat state, says Darshan cleared the IIT entrance exam in 2022. But he did not get his preferred engineering branch and tried again the next year. In 2023, he joined a chemical engineering course at IIT-Bombay, as the institute in India’s financial capital is still known despite the city being renamed Mumbai in 1995.
“That was the happiest day of my life. I was crying and Darshan told me, ‘Dad, I made it, now our life will be easier.’ He wanted me to quit plumbing after he got a good job,” Solanki told Al Jazeera. “I never imagined that he would not finish his studies.”
Solanki often spoke about how her son Darshan was taunted by people at IIT-Bombay — including his roommate — about his caste background. Most Hindus are classified into four “varnas” (castes), a strict social hierarchy that defines their social position and profession, often leading to discrimination and violence against lower-ranking groups.
Solankis are Dalits, who fall in the least privileged caste category and were considered “untouchables” until the law banned the practice.
“We belong to a lower caste. Why does it matter? The humiliation affected my son deeply, and then came the academic pressure. How does a 20-year-old endure both mental harassment and studies?” Solanki asked.
He alleged that the IIT authorities blamed his son for not handling the academic pressure.
“They said he wasn’t good enough, but how is that possible when he cracked the IITs twice? He’s brilliant, my best son,” she teared up. “They took my only son from me.”
Singh, of the Global IIT-IIM Alumni Support Group, acknowledged that caste-based discrimination is prevalent in IITs and that many reported suicides involve students from marginalized communities.
Government statistics support the concern: 122 students in IITs, IIMs, Central Universities and other federally-aided institutions who died by suicide between 2014 and 2021, 24 officially belonging to Scheduled Castes, three belonging to Scheduled Tribes (a total of 41 backward classes) and 68 students, or about 55 percent less than the total suicides reported on those campuses. Despite the underrepresentation of students from privileged caste groups.
‘Power Imbalance’
Experts and students at the IITs have repeatedly flagged the power imbalance between mainly PhD scholars and their supervisors. Fellowships, which, among other things, mean financial aid, stop after five years, forcing students to finish within that period.
“When funding usually ends at age 30, the uncertainty is deeply distressing,” Sushant*, a doctoral student at IIT-Kanpur, told Al Jazeera. “The supervisor controls whether the thesis is approved, we are completely dependent on one person. Many supervisors are toxic and this can traumatize students and push them to suicide.”
Recently, the IIT authorities announced that if they cannot complete their thesis within seven years, their admission may be terminated and their PhD candidacy withdrawn.
In the latest suicide at IIT-Kanpur, PhD scholar Ramswaroop Ishram committed suicide in January this year in the hostel where he lived with his wife and two-year-old daughter.
The same night the students staged a protest and demanded an explanation from the authorities. But no one came to meet him. “We want accountability,” said Sushant.
A similar case was that of Sachin Kumar Jain, a PhD scholar, who died by suicide in March 2023 at IIT-Madras.
An investigation found that academic pressure from his supervisor was the cause of death. The faculty concerned has been suspended and no suicides have been reported on campus.
Singh called the move laudable, but lamented that other IITs have failed to follow suit, highlighting the wide accountability gap despite rising suicides.
Al Jazeera made several phone calls and emails to IIT officials but received no response.
Fixing liability
S Ravindra Bhatt, a former Supreme Court judge, chairs the National Task Force on Mental Health, formed a year ago on the apex court’s directions to create a “uniform, enforceable framework” for mental health care, suicide prevention and well-being of students in higher education institutions including IITs.
He told Al Jazeera the situation was “deeply troubling”, adding that his task force had received thousands of complaints and collected preliminary data that had yet to be put before authorities and courts. He said the suicide crisis has a structural dimension and is partly rooted in broader social realities but mostly in institutions.
IITs “can and should do more” to prevent such deaths, Singh said, alleging that tech schools often shirk responsibility after suicides, which do little to reduce the frequency of such incidents. He noted two common responses from IITs: if a student was doing well academically, the death was blamed on “personal issues” such as tensions with family or other relationships. If the student is in difficulty, inability to cope with the competition can lead to suicide.
He said that in both the cases the responsibility has been avoided.
A high number of suicides take place around exams, Singh said, pointing to academic pressure and stress as contributing factors. Instead of shifting blame, he urged organizations to step up and work on preventative solutions.
Suicides in IITs can be prevented and reduced with timely intervention, say experts.
Aqsa Sheikh, a doctor and member of the National Task Force on Student Suicide Prevention, told Al Jazeera that although the IITs have appointed mental health counsellors, their efforts fall short.
“There should be more accountability and proactive intervention. Students under severe stress are unlikely to seek help on their own. Institutions should identify them and make the first move. I am not saying they are not doing anything, but more is expected,” he said.
Singh admits that his small support group has counseled hundreds of IIT students who are on the verge of breaking out due to academic and personal stress.
“If a small institution like ours can do it, why not the IITs?” He said. “The problem is not the resources but the intention and the will to prevent suicides.”
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