The Union health ministry on Friday directed central government colleges across the country to do away with the black robe and cap worn at convocations, calling it a colonial legacy which needs to be changed.

The ministry said it had decided that the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences and other central government institutions imparting medical education would design appropriate Indian dress codes for convocations based on the local traditions of the states where they are located.

In a letter sent to the institutions, the ministry has referred to the “Panch Pran” enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which, according to a government media release, include resolutions “to remove the mentality of slavery” and “to be proud of our traditions”.

“It is observed that currently as a matter of practice, black robe and cap (are) being used during convocation by institutes of the ministry,” the ministry wrote. “This attire originated in Europe and was introduced by the British in all their colonies. The above tradition is a colonial legacy which needs to be changed,” the ministry said.

The letter comes a day after resident doctors in government medical colleges across India decided to return to work after a week-long strike in protest against what they have described as the government’s inaction on a central law to curb violence against healthcare workers.

“This letter shows the ministry’s misplaced priorities,” said Suvrankar Datta, the vice-president of the Federation of the All India Medical Association (FAIMA), a body representing postgraduate medical students, and the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) at AIIMS, New Delhi.

FAIMA and RDAs from across India had been on strike since the rape and murder of a postgraduate medical student at RG Kar Medical College in Calcutta, demanding that the Centre take steps towards new central legislation to curb violence against doctors.

FAIMA and RDA representatives had said they had received verbal assurances from ministry officials about a committee that would look into this demand. “We were expecting some solid development after those assurances, but no such committee to look into the demand for central legislation has been announced yet,” Datta said.

The University Grants Commission, a central body that regulates university education, has earlier through several letters — sent on July 15, 2014, June 7, 2019, and January 16, 2024 — requested universities to consider using ceremonial robes made from handloom fabrics for occasions such as convocations.

Many universities have already switched to handloom fabrics for ceremonial attire during their annual convocations. “However, it is noted that some universities have still not changed their ceremonial dress code during the convocation,” the commission said in its latest letter in January. “The use of the handloom fabrics would not only instil a sense of pride in being Indian but also promote the handloom industry…,” the commission had said.