IIT-Kanpur suicide flags the silent crisis in India’s PhD programmes

The suicide of a PhD scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur has once again forced attention onto the fragile mental health landscape of India’s higher education system.

In response to the suicide, the Ministry of Education (MoE) constituted a three-member high-level committee to examine institutional compliance with mental health and well-being guidelines and to recommend measures to prevent further student suicides.

But for doctoral scholars across the country, the tragedy at IIT Kanpur is not an isolated incident; it is a grim reminder of a system they say routinely pushes students to breaking point.

Toxic culture

Across IITs, central universities and private institutions, PhD scholars describe an ecosystem shaped by extreme power imbalances, precarious funding, punishing work cultures and near-total dependence on supervisors for academic survival. Many say this dependence, coupled with the absence of effective grievance redressal, leaves them trapped in prolonged psychological distress.

Academic research has increasingly corroborated these experiences. A research paper titled Examining toxic supervision in higher education in India, authored by Mohammad Ghazi Shahnawaz of Jamia Millia Islamia and Nasrina Siddiqi of the University of Delhi and published in the Emerald Insight journal in 2022, identifies supervision style as a decisive factor in doctoral mental health crises.

“Most of the studies exploring the antecedents of mental health issues and dropouts, particularly among doctoral researchers, have found supervision style to be a crucial contributing factor…,” the paper stated.

Also read: SC orders sweeping reforms to curb student suicides, tightens rules for universities

“With a lot of students having reported serious psychological issues, including depression, anxiety, stress, suicidal ideations, etc., debilitating mental health was found to be alarmingly common. A few students recounted having one or more episodes of emotional meltdown, while others felt broken and tired. A lot them described themselves as feeling agonised, restricted and discriminated against. Furthermore, all of them viewed their PhD journey as an emotionally exhausting experience,” said the paper.

Skewed power dynamic

Dr Nasrina Siddiqi locates the crisis in the structural dependence built into doctoral programmes.

“One of the leading reasons why PhD. scholars are more susceptible to mental health issues, and suicide is that they are completely dependent on their supervisors. From choosing a research topic to getting a fellowship, everything has to be "approved" by the supervisor,” she told The Federal.

“So there's a heavily skewed power dynamic, and this power is abused by research supervisors more often than not. And the way our education system works, there is little to no transparency and accountability, no escalation matrix if a scholar feels victimised and wants to flag/report it,” she said.

At IIT Kanpur, students say these dynamics play out daily. One PhD scholar described how a close friend’s degree submission has been repeatedly delayed.

“He should have submitted his degree last year, but his supervisor has ensured that the thesis submission has been postponed by at least a semester. The reason given is always that it is ‘not up to standards’, but there are no concrete responses. Everything is vague and depends on the supervisor’s mood,” she said.

Unpaid labour

Lab-based disciplines, students say, impose especially brutal schedules. “Science students are expected to stay in the lab for 16 hours a day. If they are not there, their attendance gets cut. Even when students enter the extension period and are no longer getting paid, the same work continues,” the scholar said.

Also read: Student suicides rise but SC task-force survey sees poor participation

Beyond academic control, students across institutions described being routinely made to perform unpaid personal labour for faculty members, including fetching groceries, picking up children from school, escorting relatives to hospitals, or receiving family members from railway stations – practices they say are widely normalised and rarely questioned.

JNU case

At Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the experience of PhD student Nazar Mohammad Mohaideen illustrates how academic vulnerability can intersect with political targeting.

Nazar was physically attacked in February 2023 during a campus event by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), sustaining severe injuries. After the assault, his supervisor allegedly refused to guide him and labelled him a “security threat” to the research centre and other students.

What followed was nearly a year of uncertainty. His stipend was withheld, lab access denied, and fellowship applications stalled. On October 4, the Centre for Molecular Medicine chairperson informed him that he could not continue his PhD. Despite efforts by Nazar and the JNU Students’ Union to secure an alternative supervisor, none was appointed, jeopardising his registration and academic future.

Nazar eventually approached the Delhi High Court and won relief, but chose to leave India for further studies.

“This is a pattern. Many students who are not politically informed commit suicide… These are things to throw students out of the campus; to make them drop out forcefully after accumulated harassment. Even court intervention is rarely positive in today's political scenario,” he said.

Opaque rules

Women scholars say the system’s opacity worsens their vulnerability. A PhD student at a private university in Ghaziabad said her supervisor’s control over administrative processes severely delayed her progress. “I had my maternity break, which they did not consider at all. I lost six months. There were no clear guidelines. I asked my guide, but she did not guide me properly,” she said.

The student also said that research scholars faced constant pressure to publish papers with their supervisor’s name.

Also read: Are India's premier education institutes doing enough to address students' mental health issues, prevent suicides

At Panjab University, another scholar said her problems began when she tried to draw personal boundaries.

“I was at a wedding and was told to make a seating plan for an examination. When I resisted, she threatened to remove me from the programme,” the student said. She said she was also barred from presenting a paper at a national conference at the last minute and felt compelled to attend her guide’s social engagements to avoid retaliation.

Culture of impunity

After constant harassment, she applied for a change in supervisor, but it remains stalled because it requires a no-objection certificate from the same guide.

RTI activist Ishan Mata, who has been investigating student suicides and institutional responses across higher educational institutions, said these experiences reveal a deeper culture of impunity.

“Generally speaking, I have come across a number of incidents of alleged harassment of PhD students at the hands of their PhD advisors, across various institutions in the country. Often, the institutional responses to such complaints leave much to be desired. Fact-finding committees typically consist mainly of faculty members and do not have adequate student representation and external independent members,” he said.

“Also, there is near-complete opacity, even after the investigations are complete. In some institutions, there are cases where committees have found evidence of misbehaviour and harassment, and yet the institutions did not take any effective penal action. There is a culture of impunity in academia. Most victims do not complain because of this. I myself was fortunate to have had a very kind and supportive PhD advisor. However, I have many friends in multiple institutions who suffered severely in silence,” he added.

Mata said institutions should have “regulations to curb harassment by PhD advisors”, and there should be “mechanisms to deal with complaints in a fair, unbiased, and transparent manner”.

(Suicides can be prevented. For help please call Suicide Prevention Helplines: Neha Suicide Prevention Centre – 044-24640050; Aasara helpline for suicide prevention, emotional support & trauma help — +91-9820466726; Kiran, Mental health rehabilitation — 1800-599-0019, Disha 0471- 2552056, Maithri 0484 2540530, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.)