New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- Over the last few days, a familiar drama played out at IIT Kharagpur. At Ambedkar Hall (irony noted), students were mandated to comply with "vegetarian and non-vegetarian seating arrangements."

In other words, segregation by food preference was to be enforced because some vegetarians had complained about sharing tables with students who ate eggs, chicken or meat. This circular raised a hue and cry among alumni (who had never seen this in their time) and current students. As I write this, the word is that the directive has been withdrawn.

This dining segregation policy may be new to IIT Kharagpur, but is well trodden ground for other Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), unfortunately.

There have been reports in...