Education

‘New Disease Among Children’: Dhankhar’s Lame(nt) Excuses

The tendency to demonise those who leave India for education diverts attention from the troubling state of Indian higher education under the BJP.

Last week, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar lamented a “new disease among children – that of going abroad”. Dhankhar believed this constituted a massive brain drain and “forex drain” for India, apart from the loss of a “bright future” students would have enjoyed had they chosen to stay behind in India itself.

This is not the first criticism of foreign education by the BJP-led Union government. In 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi infamously claimed that “hard work is more powerful than Harvard”. The jibe was targeted at Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen for his criticism of demonetisation. However, the sentimentality of decrying experts and foreign universities was clear.

The tendency to demonise those who leave India for education – not necessarily to abandon the country – diverts attention from the troubling state of Indian higher education under the BJP.

In a snapshot, the BJP’s tenure in government has seen a spiralling increase in graduate unemployment, with the government’s own survey pointing out that one in two Indian graduates are unemployable right out of college. Student suicides have been growing at an alarming rate of 4% annually, surpassing overall suicide trends and even population growth rates.

In repeated global education rankings of educational institutions, Indian universities fail to make a mark. The government slashed funding for the University Grants Commission by 61% in the last budget.

Apart from this litany of failures, two issues loom large: the curbing of academic freedom and the growing commercialisation of education.

In the past ten years and counting, academic freedom and the independence of academia have been under severe threat. The first major attack and onslaught was on the purported bastion of anti-India activity, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

In 2020, as the country stood firmly against the communal and Islamophobic reality of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, JNU was attacked by right-wing goons. This direct onslaught on a centrally funded institution known for its academic excellence was conducted under the gross negligence and, some would argue, tacit support, of police forces.

Centrally funded and controlled universities like JNU have had influences of right-wing control creep in, with questionable and biased appointments to influential positions. For instance, the appointment of M. Jagadesh Kumar as JNU’s vice chancellor in 2016 began a series of controversial and concerning changes. He had once suggested installing an army tank in campus “so that students can be reminded of the sacrifices and valour of the soldiers”.

JNU is only an example of the systematic and continuous onslaught on public universities under the BJP. Every other week, there are reports of universities being starved of funds or of attempts to destabilise the environment through the BJP’s extended network of organisations like the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.

Private universities haven’t been left far behind either. My alma mater, Ashoka University, in 2021 became the target of the government, with indirect attempts to stifle the freedom and independence of faculty.

Also read: Never in Independent India Has the Teacher’s Role Been More Difficult – Or Necessary

During my time there as an undergraduate, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who continues to be an influential and often critical voice against the BJP, was forcibly made to resign. He admitted that the university’s founders felt he was becoming a “political liability” to the university. There were also reports of the government’s pressure on the university with threats of jeopardising its expansion plans.

Recently, the reputed Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which relies heavily on government funding as well, had planned to terminate several members of its faculty – this was later rescinded.

The argument of Indian students looking abroad for education isn’t a result of the threatening state of academic freedom in India alone. It is also a symptom of the desperation of the millions of students who fail to secure a place in Indian universities.

The centralised method of entrance examinations institutes a rat race for few seats in universities. From law to engineering to medicine, access to most affordable public education or government-funded seats in private universities is subject to performance in various competitive examinations.

Under this government, these exams have been severely compromised by several allegations of paper leaks and mass cheating. The ‘leakage sarkar’ has made these scarce seats even more inaccessible for the average Indian.

Further, private universities with criminally high admission and tuition fees have only grown under this government. The growth in private universities has far outstripped that in public ones. The All India Survey on Higher Education reported that while 58 state universities came up between 2016-2021, there were an astonishing 132 new private state universities created.

Further, the survey also reportedly indicated that the overall enrolment in private universities surged between 2014 and 2022 by 108.7%, contributing 39.6% to the increase in aggregate enrolment.

With unreliable and impossible-to-crack examinations and expensive private education, students have been forced to seek out foreign education in unfamiliar and unexpected territory.

For instance, consider Indian students pursuing medicine in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The costs are significantly lesser here than in Indian private education. Education opportunities in these countries are less than ideal, with mediocre quality and limited opportunities for future employment. Students are forced to acclimatise themselves to unfamiliar territory to be able to secure a degree.

The romanticisation and demonisation of those who choose to study abroad takes away from the reality of what students abroad face. Several surveys and personal anecdotes attest to the mental health burden of stress, depression and anxiety faced by students studying abroad.

It would certainly serve the vice president and the Indian administration to focus on fixing the broken Indian higher education system and recognise its series of ailments. Rather than chiding students, it is time to focus on their valid concerns, and actually work to make their future brighter.

Amaan Asim is the national chairperson for the research department of the National Students’ Union of India and is a student at Oxford University.

Autonomy, A++ Rating Fail to Mask the Crisis Facing Madras University

The institution’s legacy has been overshadowed by a funding crises, outdated academics and rising student discontent.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has granted the University of Madras, a public state university, full autonomy. The move comes after the university achieved A++ accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) last year, obtaining a category-1 status.

To an outsider, the high rankings would indicate that the university has performed well on all assessment parameters. But the ground reality could not be more different. Despite achieving these benchmarks, the university has taken a hit on all fronts – inadequate funding, lack of proper infrastructure, academic discrepancies and an unconducive learning environment.

Financial crisis

Caught in the disaccord between the state and Union governments, the university has suffered tremendously due to insufficient funds. The IT department froze its bank accounts over non-payment of Rs 424 crore tax dues, resulting in non-teaching staff going without salaries for several months. The university managed to scramble funds to pay the staff only after they organised a strike.

The university has also not received funds from the Tamil Nadu government for the past seven years, citing audit objections. Even after a year of obtaining category-1 status, which made the university eligible to receive additional funds from the Union government, the university remains fund-starved. The standoff between the state and the Union government has also left the university without a Vice Chancellor for over a year now, exacerbating the issues faced by the institution.

The University of Madras is dubbed as the ‘mother of all South Indian universities’ as several colleges in Tamil Nadu come under its ambit. The institution is highly sought after by many students, particularly from nearby districts, with a significant number being first-generation learners.

University of Madras in Chennai. Photo: Wikimedia commons.

One of the main reasons students from smaller districts flock to this institution is its low fees for postgraduate courses and PhDs, along with the hope that the university will live up to its reputation. The institution also offers scholarships and other fee waivers.

While an autonomous status offers financial independence, it also raises concerns about potential fee hikes. Last year, the varsity hiked the PhD fees which received significant backlash from students. The Students Federation of India (SFI) launched a protest to revert to the old fee structure, but without much success.

The decision to increase the PhD fee was not formally announced, allege students. The university website still shows the old fee structure, but some PhD students who spoke to this author said that they had been informed about the fee hike while submitting their thesis and paid an amount of Rs 18,000 instead of the Rs 8,000 on the varsity site.

Stifling student voices

The University of Madras boasts of illustrious alumni from various disciplines, including Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, V.V. Giri, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, R. Venkataraman and Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Ironically, the varsity has left no room for student leaders to emerge on campus and the administration has curbed any attempts at forming a student body for years.

Even a student’s attempt to ask questions around campus is seen as hostile. Absence of a formal student body has resulted in students being unable to speak up about the shortfalls and injustices in the university, stunting their growth as well-rounded, politically aware citizens.

While SFI students occasionally manage to organise peaceful protests, they face severe backlash from the administration. The Sociology department at the Chepauk campus went as far as issuing a declaration, to be signed by students and parents, stating that students shouldn’t participate in protests and that they could be dismissed if found doing so.

Mirdhula, SFI Chennai Central District Secretary, a former student of the University of Madras, who continues to work at the grassroots level of student activism, said, “The students should have a democratic space within the university to voice their opinions. The sole purpose of the institution is to provide students a platform to explore their potentials. It is saddening to see that the university has not taken steps to establish a student body. There is a senate and a syndicate that takes all the academic decisions for the institution; there is no student representation or consultation from students before taking decisions that impact students. There is no scope for the students to voice out their needs and, as a result, there is a lack of student-centric policies.”

University of Madras in Chennai. Photo: Wikimedia commons.

She also said that universities have a dynamic environment where people from various ideologies and socio-economic backgrounds come to study. It should be a place that fosters enriching intellectual discussions and helps people voice out their opinions and be considerate toward others’ views. “Jawaharlal Nehru University [in Delhi] has been the hotspot for student activism; our university has the potential too. It is disheartening to see students come to a place like Madras University and walk out of it without experiencing such discourse.”

In 2015, Madras University students had staged protests demanding a student union, after a French National of Sri Lankan Tamil origin was manhandled by the university staff for asking questions about flood relief operations in a seminar. However, not much has changed.

Dr. Ramu Manivannan, former head of department of Politics and Public Administration, at the University of Madras, said, “Neither the university administration nor the State Government encouraged or wanted to establish a student body. University of Madras being the flagship of universities in Tamil Nadu, they knew the potential of the students movement and the students’ politics and never wanted it to turn into a political movement.” He had continuously raised voices against discrepancies in the university and had supported students who voiced out their opinions.

“It has become a system which is accountable to no one, either to the government or to the students or to the public. In the process everything got affected, the quality of teaching recruitment of teachers and students enrollment, there is nobody to question the situation. The university bureaucracy is worse than the government bureaucracy. Wherever there is such a decay there is an oppression of students, because if you ask questions, you’ll either be failed or you’ll be dragged with low marks in internal assessment. The university system is disempowering for students and this has been the trend in the university for a long time.” Manivannan added.

‘Lack of digitalisation has led to exploitation’

Lack of transparency in maintaining students’ attendance records is another problem plaguing the university.

At a time when several universities have adopted online portals, allowing students to keep a track of their attendance and their academic profiles, the University of Madras has no such provision. The alleged non compliance with attendance rules under the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) poses a significant challenge for students, who claim professors manipulate the rules to their liking.

Allegations of faculty high-handedness and improper communication endure with a post graduate student, Tamil Kumaran, claiming, “The faculty barred me from appearing for a core subject exam for three semesters, citing shortage of attendance. They did not specify the required percentages for redoing courses, condonation or reappearing for exams. Additionally, they only disclosed attendance percentages a few days before the exams, after the hall tickets had been distributed, leaving me with no time to address my situation. When I consulted the CBCS, all it gave was negligent responses. Now, I am left to redo the semester for that single subject, which has derailed my academic progress. This has happened not just with me, but several other students, it has become routine to withhold students from getting their degrees. The university should leverage technology to enhance transparency and fairness for all students.”

Outdated syllabus

In addition to battling a broken attendance system, students are also putting up with outdated syllabus being taught in a few departments.

Another tiresome task is having to visit each department to apply for electives, only to find that many of the options listed in the university prospectus aren’t actually available.

While most colleges offer online portals for elective applications, students here must go from department to department in search of available options. Some even travel to other campuses to find suitable electives. A few departments do consider these challenges and make extra efforts by admitting more students into their electives.

“As a student from another state, I had a hard time finding electives as some were taught in Tamil. There were only a handful of electives that I could choose from, though the university prospectus on the website showed many options that I could choose from. Some departments didn’t offer electives to students from other departments. We weren’t allowed to take Swayam courses as well, but the prospectus does have a mandate to take those courses. It was a tiresome task to find suitable electives,” said Sona Binu, former post graduate student.

Lack of proper infrastructure

The ill-maintained infrastructure and scarce restrooms have also added to the students’ problems. What is striking then is the fact that the university managed to secure A++ accreditation. This too came at the cost of students cleaning their own classrooms, as the administration left no stone unturned to impress the visiting officials. Students were allegedly strictly instructed not to provide any negative feedback to the NAAC committee.

The university made sure that the campus was thoroughly cleaned to mask their failure in maintaining it all year-round. This, when the university was criticised last year for resorting to manual scavenging to make sure that the campus was in shape before a presidential visit.

An asbestos sheet and minimal seating is what constitutes a canteen at the university, serving unhygienic food to students. The impressive, British-built university now hosts dilapidated classrooms and an apathetic administration. The only solace for students is the view of the Marina beach from the university, the Indo-Saracenic architecture and the library that provides a quiet place to study.

The heritage of the 166-year-old university has been its primary asset, keeping the institution afloat. While autonomy would help relieve its financial burdens, the institution is in dire need of reformative measures to create a conducive learning environment for students. It must prioritise digitalisation, infrastructural growth, revamping of academics, transparency in administration, student wellbeing and careful introspection.

R. Amanda Miriam Fernandez is a journalist and has recently completed her post graduation from the University of Madras.

‘Could Provoke Protests’: JNU Cancels Seminars by Iranian, Palestinian, Lebanese Ambassadors

Senior faculty members expressed concern over potential protests on campus due to the polarising nature of topics chosen for the seminars.

New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Thursday (October 24) cancelled three seminars, to be addressed by the Iranian, Palestinian and Lebanese Ambassadors to India on separate occasions, citing “unavoidable circumstances”.

The seminars were meant to address the ongoing violence in West Asian countries and had been organised by the Centre for West Asian Studies, housed under the university’s School of International Studies (SIS), the Indian Express reported.

On Thursday, Iranian Ambassador to India, Iraj Elahi, was meant to address JNU students at a seminar titled “How Iran sees the recent developments in West Asia”. Hours before the event, seminar coordinator Sima Baidya wrote to students informing them of its cancellation.

Baidya also informed the students of the cancellation of the November 7 seminar by Palestinian Ambassador Adnan Abu Al-Haija and the November 14 seminar on the situation in Lebanon by Ambassador Rabie Narsh.

The decision to cancel the seminars was taken by the university, sources at the Iranian and Lebanese Embassies told the Indian Express.

According to the report, senior faculty members had expressed concern over potential protests on campus due to the polarising nature of topics chosen for the seminars.

“The purpose of such seminars is to gain insights into the perspectives of West Asian countries amidst the current geopolitical climate. However, there were concerns about how the campus might react,” said a university source.

“We are living in a charged global atmosphere, where sentiments can get easily inflamed. This is to request you to take the Dean into confidence before you invite any diplomat to the School for any public event. Please also ensure that any individual faculty initiative in this regard is routed through you. We also want to ensure that every visitor to the School, especially at the Ambassadorial level, is accorded proper protocol. SIS has always stood for maintaining the highest standards of academic freedom and excellence while ensuring that the integrity of our platforms are not violated or exploited by vested interests,” SIS Dean Amitabh Mattoo wrote in a communication to chairpersons of all SIS Centres on Thursday.

Mattoo redirected requests for comment to chairperson of Centre for West Asian Studies, Sameena Hameed. Hameed said the seminar with the Iranian Ambassador had been postponed on Wednesday, while the other two seminars were not “officially scheduled” by the Centre.

“The seminars for the Palestinian Ambassador’s talk and the Lebanese Ambassador’s talk were not officially scheduled by the Centre. As for today’s seminar with the Iranian Ambassador, the Centre had communicated that it would be postponed because it was organised at the very last minute, and we were not in a position to follow the required protocols to host the Ambassador. There may have been some miscommunication at some level,” she said.

“…These Ambassadors have been coming to our university for a long time, and they will continue to come and interact with students,” Hameed added.

India’s Demographic Dividend Can’t Become a Lost Cause

Rather than treating youth as a lost case, we must recognise their strengths and build upon them.

There is a lot of emphasis on skill training for young people in the country, to the extent that many lay the major blame of unemployment on lack of adequate skills, often erroneously. Policy emphasis is also on skill training programmes including apprenticeships and internships. Irrespective of the understanding of the role of skills in the current employment problem in the country, there would be a consensus on the importance of basic school education, literacy and arithmetic skills for all, as the pre-requisite. Any agenda for skill training must also build on what the status of these basic skills are. A recent report of the NSS – Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey, 2022-2023 – presents some interesting data.

The youth in India are a literate population with 96% of those in the age group of 15-29 years being “able to read and write short simple statements in their everyday life with understanding and also able to perform simple arithmetic calculations” (97.4% male and 94.4% female). The corresponding figure all those above 15 years of age is only 81.2%, (87.9% male and 74.2% female). Therefore, there has been a considerable improvement in basic literacy as well as an impressive narrowing of the gender gap. Only 2% of those in the age group of 6 to 18 years have never been enrolled in formal education. While we continue to focus attention on improving the quality of education, the success of the Right to Education Act, 2009, and other initiatives in brining children to school must be recognised.

One worrying aspect in the report is that it finds that only 90% of children in the age group of 6 to 10 years are currently enrolled in school and 10% are out of school. This is not a small number considering that universal school enrolment has been a goal in India right from the beginning and it has now been 15 years since the passage of the Right to Education Act (which makes education free and compulsory for all children in the age group of 6 to 14). There is no merit in getting into semantics of whether these children are “never enrolled” or “dropouts” – the point is that they are currently not in school and that is a violation of their right to education.

In terms of school completion as well, some gaps remain. The mean years of schooling for the age group 15 and above is 8.4, higher than 7.5 for those 25 and above (including time spent in preschool education). Amongst those aged above 25 years only 38.6% (46.2% male and 31.0% female) have secondary education (pass class X or higher). On the other hand, among all graduates in the age group of 21-35 years, 37.8% graduated in science and technology (42% male and 32.5% female).

A high proportion – about half the youth in the age group of 15-24 years were in some form of formal/informal training in the 12 months preceding the survey (50.8% male and 47.1% female). However, almost a quarter (23.3%) of youth are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and the gender gap here is very high – 38.2% female and 9.9% male. Issues related to mobility and transport facilities, safety and other restrictions are much more for women in this age group. Further, the care and domestic work burdens are also high with many of them being married. According to NFHS-5 data (as provided in the Youth in India, 2022 report of the Government of India), 61.4% women are married by age 21 and 83% by age 25.

Also read: Accountability Vacuum: In India, Inequality Reigns, Jobs Vanish, and Citizens Are on Their Own

Interestingly the mobile, internet and basic ICT skills are quite high among young men and women. 96.4% of those in the age group of 15 – 29 years can use mobiles, including smartphones and 94.2% used a mobile phone with an active sim card in the last three months (96.4% male and 91.8% female). 84.2% are able to use the internet (89.2% male and 78.8% female) and 77.7% “reported execution of skill of sending messages (e.g., e-mail, messaging service, SMS) with attached files (e.g. documents, pictures, and video)” (83.8% male and 71.1% female). A smaller but significant proportion ‘reported execution of skill of copy and paste tools to duplicate or move data, information, documents, etc.’ – 70.2% of those in the age group of 15 – 29 (76.8% male and 63% female) – about two-thirds are able to search for information on the internet and half can send or receive emails.

There are gender gaps in many of these indicators, and also a variation between rural and urban areas. There are also issues of poor learning outcomes shown by ASER and other surveys. The youth seem to be struggling with gaining skills which they think are suitable for the market, such as English-speaking and more digital literacy. They have very little access to libraries or resource centres and even the education they have managed to attain is in spite of huge shortages of teachers, classrooms and textbooks.

The data discussed so far show that young people are trying to make the best of the opportunities is available for them in the face of all odds. Many of these young people are first generation literates whose parents made immense sacrifices to keep them in school and attain higher education. Field experiences across the country are replete with examples of poor parents working hard depriving themselves of even basic comforts to ensure that their children, both girls and boys, study and complete their education. One often hears parents saying that all they want is for their children not to become like them. It is unfortunate that despite all their efforts, what these parents are now faced with is indebtedness and adult children struggling with unemployment.

If India is not able to take advantage of its demographic dividend it is because the state and society have failed to create the enabling conditions for them to be gainfully employed and contribute productively to the economy. Rather than treating youth as a lost case, we must recognise their strengths and build upon them. It is for policy and politics to figure out how we can use this resource better and do justice to the country as well as it’s youth.

Dipa Sinha is a development economist.

‘Teaching Never Stopped’: Historian Irfan Habib on the Spirit of AMU

‘Not a single communal incident occurred in Aligarh during 1947-48’.

Celebrated historian Irfan Habib delivered presidential remarks at the launch of Laurence Gautier’s Between Nation and Community at the Sir Syed Academy in AMU, Aligarh. The programme was organised by Sir Syed Academy and Aligarh Society of History and Archaeology.

Following is a transcription of his speech.

Dear members of the university and friends, I think I have a peculiar claim to be speaking here because I am perhaps one of the few people who, from infant class to M.A., remained wedded to Aligarh. And I really learnt about the spirit in Aligarh when I was playing in the infant class and the madam or headmistress came and said, ‘Oh, this is Professor Habib’s son, give him first position. He’s a professor.’

And the teacher, my class teacher ,was very shocked and said, ‘But madam, the Vice-Chancellor’s son is also in the class. The headmistress said, ‘Well, give him first and give this child second.’ So this is the spirit of Aligarh – it’s egalitarianism and love of education.

I learnt it there. So when I was there in Minto Circle and then AMU throughout, I loved Aligarh, but I’m not a necessarily admirer of it. And this is a very big difference.

At this moment, I think what is important for Aligarhians is how Aligarh was treated in 1947. I passed my high school in 1947. And as partition came near, and in fact, as August 14 and 15 passed, Aligarh was emptied of its staff, teachers, even employees, ordinary non-teaching employees.

They were going off to Pakistan. But I would say one thing in admiration. I never missed, there was never a case where a teacher wasn’t there to take our class.

Also read: On Campus and Beyond, Aligarh Muslim University Is at Centre of UP BJP’s Communal Politics

Full attendance was insisted on throughout 1947-48, when actually in my own first class, if I remember right, three teachers left for Pakistan who were taking my class. But the next day, someone was there to take us; no concession on attendance.

No vice-chancellor, but just habit. If one studies those three years, this is amazing. Despite the fact that the university was under such pressure, teaching went on.

And I think this is a very great achievement. I think similar things must have happened at Jamia, but I can only speak about my own first year, second year, third year, fourth year. They were all years in which Aligarh was denuded of its teaching staff. They went to Pakistan. And then the refugees came, sharnarthis, who practically formed one third of the body. And not a single incident occurred. They were all accommodated in hostels together.

So that particular time, one must remember, because now at the drop of a hat, classes are abandoned. You go to art faculty, no class is taking place. This is not only Aligarh University, but many universities. But this didn’t happen in 1947. We didn’t miss a single class. Some teacher was there. He would again next month go over to Pakistan, but there was another. I had perhaps an intermediate history.
At that time, one could take three subjects as now. And in history, there were three successive teachers in the same year. But classes happened. There was no class that was abandoned. That is the one thing that I remember particularly and in the conditions of today, if you go to arts faculty, most classrooms are closed or locked. Teachers are not taking their classes.

This didn’t happen in 1947, 1948 or 1949. Secondly, I think credit must go to the government of that time. They never even suggested distantly that India, that Aligarh, had had a Muslim League phase. They never suggested distantly that we had insulted Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. He came here and gave assurances.

The governor of Kerala is totally wrong in the version of the speech that he has given. That was invented in order to spoil his reputation. I was present in that meeting.

So, all credit must go to Nehru, Sardar Patel and Azad. Aligarh University was protected in 1947 by the Kumayun Regiment, sent by Patel as Home Minister. These things cannot be forgotten.

And then, of course, the local leadership. Not a single communal incident occurred in Aligarh during 1947-48. Amazing!

Malkan Singh and Congress leaders did an amazing job in protecting the university. So, these names will be forgotten, but I’m just mentioning it so that at least one remembrance is there. So, the university administration was under great pressure with practically no vice-chancellor, and treasurer being the vice-chancellor. It was only until Dr Zakir Hussain came and then he had to go to America and only returned because of medical reasons.

And I think it was only in 1949 or 1950 that he really took charge. Over all this period, teaching continued, even when the number of students was reduced to 900. There was a time when only 900 were there.

The university had a financial problem, but by the University Act of 1951, government took up the entire responsibility. These things are to be remembered today. If the government simply had said, ‘Well, we are neither destroying Aligarh nor supporting Aligarh, we are neutral.’ Aligarh would have gone.

There was no money. So, remember the AMU Act, and even before that, through Ashfaq Committee, the government took up the entire financial responsibility of this university. So, today, as we remember those days, I think we should be grateful to all those who helped us and made Aligarh survive.

Thank you.

Irfan Habib is a historian of ancient and medieval India.

Transcribed by Manya Singh.

R.G. Kar: An MD Thesis I Could Submit, an MD Thesis She Could Not

One of the junior doctors who was a part of the 17-day fast-unto-death protest in the aftermath of the R.G. Kar rape and murder of a trainee doctor writes about life, the protests and the role of humans in each others’ lives.

On August 9, 2024, a trainee doctor was found raped and murdered at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. What followed was an outpouring of anger. Protests erupted and sustained across Bengal. People demanded an overhaul of a system of corruption in medical education and justice for the young victim. After fiery parleys with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, a group of doctors participated in a 17-day hunger strike to press for multiple demands. The strike ended on October 21 after the doctors sat in a meeting with Banerjee.

This author was among those who participated in the fast.

I had written something after officially becoming a doctor. January 28, 2019 – the day of our convocation…that was the day I had become a doctor, officially. While critics now question the doctor’s ethos in me, what I wrote then is now alive again.

Months and years have passed since that date. I have not written anything of value in the meantime. Most of what I wrote was private, never published online. These days I don’t even write for myself. But today is an exception, an exception I have made for myself, because sometimes the personal is social too.

Memory returns in waves. Sometimes, I think, we need to measure ourselves against ourselves. The spirit, emotion and faith I had in 2019 is like a debt I need to repay to society. Today I am moved by the same emotion and faith. It is because of that that I walked in the rally on August 12. It is because of that that I tried to participate in this protest, like so many others. It is because of that faith that I raised slogans and gave voice to a collective demand. I stepped onto the streets with my faith in the lessons that the medical college taught us – on becoming a good human and remaining responsible towards society. I had faith also in the lessons that everyday humans leading their everyday lives taught us.

Worship of a person is a problematic concept – for the person and for the society. It is a source of discomfort.

Also read: Doctors Versus Mamata: A Battle of Wits Ends in a Masterclass in Political Manoeuvring

The fact that my likeness and my words have permeated news media has not just given me strength, the love of people and reminded me of my responsibilities, it has also given me discomfort. This is a discomfort born from the focus on me as a person. I am not the face of the protests. The protests saw many participate with their all – I was one of them. I was one in a rally. One in a protest. When everyone spoke, I spoke too.

I behaved the way people in the movement behaved. When tiny kids would come with flowers, cards and the small notes they had salvaged from their piggy banks, I would listen intently to their voices. They would come and say, “We want justice.” People from Kalyani, Birbhum, Purulia and Siliguri came everyday and joined in with a symbolic fast. There was a grandmother from Memari who sat at our fasting dais. The 1951 graduate from Bethune College. The lemon tea-seller, our dada, who would clear the way when we had to use the bathroom. The senior citizen who would man the barricades every day. The dada who would clean the Sulabh public toilets a little better out of concern for us. The person from Belgium who spent nights at the fasting dais. The volunteer team who also did the same. Absolutely everyone who was with us for so long, from R.G. Kar to Swasthya Bhavan to Dharmatala – our sites of protest. Those who raised their voices, who embraced us, who blessed us. All of them are the faces of the protest. Not Rumelika, not the person, not the personality, not me, these people. It is because they were with us that the agitation remains alive and will remain alive.

Aniket Mahato, a doctor on hunger strike, is taken for treatment. Photo: Joydeep Sarkar.

The person I am is not simply the person I am. Behind my becoming of me have been and will be the roles of many. Parents, teachers and many others. My patient from Baruipur has a role. Her husband lives in a mazhar. Her son is HIV positive and has taken to drugs. Her brother has coerced her into signing away her property to him and driven her from from. She works as a caregiver and gives away all the money that she makes to her son and husbands. She has two days off in a month. One day, she spends at the mazhar, the next to repay her husband’s debts at the tea shop and give the rest of her money to her son. She has no time to stand in a line to get tests done. She has no time to stand in a line to be seen as an outpatient. She has no time to stand in line to buy subsidised medicines from a shop where after two hours in a queue, she will be told to buy medicines from outside.

Her story, her life makes me who I am.

The 15-year-old girl who left home to escape child marriage makes me who I am. She is living – and studying – at a friend’s house now.

Those kids at College Street who embraced us and began saying, “Didi, please eat something, please” – they make me who I am.

The family that lives on the footpath outside my college and asks everyday when I enter if I am well, they make me who I am.

The patients who tell us of their lives everyday makes me who I am.

The junior doctors’ protest site in central Kolkata. The doctors are protesting against the Mamata Banerjee government’s refusal to engage with them on a host of issues stemming from the R.G. Kar rape and murder. Photo: Joydeep Sarkar

People influence us – sometimes a great deal, sometimes in simple ways. These influences shape our thinking and our faith. We can count on this faith during our fights. Thanks to them, we can say that we will see a struggle to the end.

Today is 75 days since August 9, 2024. The life I have lived in the last 73 days is not anything like the life I had in the last 29 years. I think this is a line many others will say too. My insides were churned by August 9. That anger still lives in me. That Pandora’s box, preserved shut for so long, has opened in waves of protest. This has scared rulers. This has surrounded rulers. The rulers, unnerved, have shown their true colours and descended on us.

But this will not dent the struggle. It will spread. Our experiences and the weight of our stories will increase. I cannot say into the ether, “I have done so much, look.” I cannot arrange lies neatly at a livestream. All of you have not made me that person.

I will complete my MD in a few days. In our academic lives, the thesis is a milestone and a source of pain too. When I was getting my thesis printed, I was thinking of just one thing – I was able to submit my thesis. I was able to print it, give it to my guide, co-guide and everyone else. I would have possibly smiled through the process in any other circumstance.

Tilottama could not. Tilottama would not be able to. She wasn’t allowed to. Some creatures stopped her from becoming a doctor. They stopped her from staying alive. I want to remember this. This is a small effort on my part to make my MD thesis her’s, too.

Rumelika Kumar’s thesis, in which she has referred to the R.G. Kar victim.

Don’t forget. Don’t let others forget.

Rumelika Kumar is a junior resident at the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health. This account was published on her Facebook page and has been republished with her permission.

Translated from the Bengali original by Soumashree Sarkar.

TISS Assistant Professor Gets Notice for Expressing Solidarity With Suspended Dalit PhD Scholar

The show cause notice issued to Sengupta emphasises that Sivanandan’s case is pending in court and is therefore “sub judice.”

Mumbai: On October 4, an assistant professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad campus, participated in a student protest. The professor, Arjun Sengupta, expressed his solidarity with student leader and PhD scholar Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, who had been suspended by the TISS administration.

A part of Sengupta’s speech was widely circulated on social media, resulting in a show cause notice being served to him within days.

On October 4, students associated with the Progressive Students Organisation (PSO) and the Ambedkar Students’ Association organised a public meeting at the institute’s off-campus location in Hyderabad.

Sengupta spoke about importance of unity among students and staff

While students gathered in large numbers, Sengupta also attended. The meeting focused on several issues and concerns regarding the current academic functioning at TISS, including the educational implications of the deep employment uncertainty faced by 119 teaching and non-teaching staff whose positions are funded by the Tata Education Trust (TET).

Sengupta, who is also employed under the TET, spoke about the importance of unity among the students, teaching staff, and non-teaching employees of the institute during the gathering.

In June of this year, the institute had abruptly decided to terminate the employment of 119 teaching and non-teaching staff. As the decision gained media attention, the administration withdrew the termination letters. However, the 119 employees remain uncertain about their employment status post-December.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Progressive Students’ Forum (@psftiss)

In recent years, TISS has become increasingly intolerant of students or teachers participating in public gatherings that it considers critical of the administration or the BJP-led government.

In April, Sivanandan, who belongs to a Dalit community from Kerala, was suspended by the institute for participating in a protest against the National Education Policy (NEP) organised at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. He is currently fighting his suspension order in court.

‘Speech contemptuous of court proceedings’

The show cause notice issued to Sengupta emphasises that Sivanandan’s case is pending in court and is therefore “sub judice.” The memo served to Sengupta describes his solidarity speech as contemptuous of court proceedings. In the notice, the institute also claims that the PSO is “not a recognized student body” of TISS and has a “history of publishing false statements.”

The TISS administration has been cracking down on any form of student unionising or the formation of informal groups. While students forming organisations based on their political leanings is not a new phenomenon across Indian campuses, such penalisation for coming together is.

Sengupta, a faculty member at the School of Gender and Livelihoods, responded to the memorandum served to him on October 8. In his response, accessed by The Wire, Sengupta states, “Contrary to what is implied in the said Memorandum, there is no prohibition on speaking about the PSF. Such prohibitory orders were retracted by the Officiating Registrar in an Office Order (TISS/Reg/OO/2024) dated August 19, 2024.”

Sengupta, who was invited to discuss the uncertain future of the institute’s 119 employees, including himself, writes in his response to the college administration, “My talk on October 4, 2024, addressed ongoing academic concerns at a publicly funded institution of higher learning and is therefore protected by Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. Furthermore, it is clear from even a cursory viewing of the video that the restrictions listed in Article 19(2) of the Indian Constitution do not apply in this case.”

Students will lack guidance of contracts of teaching staff are not extended

This situation raises concerns not only about employment but also about the future of students studying under these teachers. If the contracts of the teaching staff are not extended, students will lack guidance for their MA dissertations and PhD theses – a concern that has been repeatedly raised with the TISS administration.

In his response to the show cause notice, Sengupta has characterised the institute’s process as “factually unfounded, unconstitutional, and illegal.” The administration alleges that Sengupta was “inciting students,” a claim that he has vehemently opposed in his response.

“Contrary to what is alleged in the said Memorandum, and as is evident from even a cursory viewing of the video, it is grossly untrue that I was ‘sloganeering’ or ‘inciting’ anyone during my talk,” Sengupta wrote in his response to the show cause notice.

More Than 800 Academics, Students Express Solidarity With Deepak Malghan Over ‘Harassment’ by IIM-B

Malghan, an award-winning scholar, was ‘demoted’ by IIM-B for his social media posts that were deemed critical and in violation of the premier institute’s service policy.

New Delhi: More than 800 academics, students and other concerned citizens have condemned the alleged “vindictive harassment and persecution” of Dr Deepak Malghan by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B).

Malghan, an award-winning scholar, was ‘demoted’ by IIM-B for his social media posts that were deemed critical and in violation of the premier institute’s service policy. While the Karnataka high court has ordered a stay on the move, activists have urged IIM-B to withdraw all past sanctions against Malghan.

Malghan is an internationally recognised scholar and the winner of multiple prestigious academic awards. In 2015, he was awarded the Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao Award in Social Sciences, while in 2023, he was recognised by the T.N. Khoshoo Memorial Award. “Beyond ground-breaking scholarship transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries, Dr. Malghan is one of India’s most vocal and recognised public voices for institutional social diversity and inclusion,” the letter said.

“We strongly condemn the misuse of IIM (B) Service Rules to stifle academic freedom on campus. It is a great shame that a premier institute like IIM (B) is violating an internationally accepted set of rights to Academic Freedom,” the letter read, adding that recent “demotion” by IIMB is only the culmination of a series of persecutions that he has been subject to since 2018.

The letter lists several incidents of censure and backlash that Malghan has faced over the last six years. Most recently he, was demoted from associate professor to assistant professor in March 2024.

In June 2018, Malghan had urged the IIM-B student body to not invite Hindustan Unilever Limited for campus placements because of its failure to remedy the damage caused by mercury poisoning from its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal. The institute had subsequently issued censure orders against him with then IIM-B director G. Raghuram asking him to retract the statement made by him in a personal capacity.

Malghan in 2018 also co-authored a paper documenting acute social diversity deficit at IIMs. “Their paper showed that various IIMs [were] wilfully dodging constitutional and statutory mandates, directly precipitating social diversity deficits. They followed up their paper by publicly supporting a vigorous campaign led by enlightened alumni of these institutions. Part of the harassment Dr. Malghan has faced, is driven by a backlash from entrenched interests that have resisted his push for caste justice within IIMs and outside,” the letter said.

“In addition to the censure orders of 2018 and 2019, in 2022, another inquiry was set up against Dr Malghan based on multiple complaints regarding two tweets posted by him on his personal twitter account,” the letter said.

The inquiry committee set up to investigate Malghan’s conduct in 2022 did not find any violation of IIM-B’s service rules. It did not recommend any disciplinary action against him other than exercising discretion while posting on social media. However, the disciplinary committee disregarded the findings of its own inquiry committee and found Malghan in violation of Service Rules 8.3.1, 8.10 and 8.12 – while stating that it has not relied on past censures to arrive at its findings – and recommended withholding Malghan’s promotion for two years. This directive was challenged by Malghan in the Karnataka high court.

In 2023, another inquiry was set up against Malghan, initially based on a complaint by a board member regarding a single tweet posted by the professor. This was later expanded to a 100 tweets of which eight were identified as potentially violative of IIM-B Service Rules (as amended in 2023).

“As academics and other concerned people, we strongly condemn this silencing of the demands raised by Dr Malghan which are entirely devoted to upholding India’s constitutional values. We condemn the use of service rules to stifle academic freedom. We call upon IIM Bangalore to desist from its harassment of Dr Malghan and recognise his valuable contributions towards academic integrity,” the letter said.

The full letter and a list of the first few signatories is produced below.

Statement of Solidarity with Dr Deepak Malghan

Demand that IIM-Bangalore should end the harassment of Dr Malghan

Condemnation of the misuse of Service rules by Academic Institutions to erode Academic Freedom

We, the undersigned, condemn the long-running vindictive harassment and persecution of Dr. Deepak Malghan by the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Most recently, in a politically motivated move, IIMB “demoted” Dr. Malghan. While the Karnataka High Court has ordered a stay on this outrageous and unprecedented action, we call upon IIM Bangalore to immediately withdraw all sanctions against Dr. Deepak Malghan.

We strongly condemn the misuse of IIM (B) Service Rules to stifle academic freedom on campus. It is a great shame that a premier institute like IIM (B) is violating an internationally accepted set of rights to Academic Freedom.

Dr. Deepak Malghan is an internationally recognized scholar and the winner of multiple prestigious academic awards. In 2015, he was awarded the Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao Award in Social Sciences, while in 2023, he was recognised by the T N Khoshoo Memorial Award. He is an affiliated researcher at Stockholm Environment Institute, and has served as an editor at Ecological Economics, the field’s flagship journal (2018–23).

Beyond ground-breaking scholarship transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries, Dr. Malghan is one of India’s most vocal and recognized public voices for institutional social diversity and inclusion. Dr. Malghan has also been a leading public voice from within, resisting the sectarian and communal onslaught on one of India’s finest public institutions.

The recent “demotion” by IIMB is only the culmination of a series of persecutions that he has been subject to since 2018, which are detailed below. They are clearly related to the issue of academic freedom.

Background

Some of the Campaigns by Dr. Deepak Malghan, followed by censure orders from IIM(B).

Campaign for Corporate Accountability

In June 2018, he sent an email to all students dissuading them from inviting Hindustan Unilever Limited for placements because of its failure to remedy the damage caused by mercury poisoning from its thermometer factory in Kodaikanal.

Censure orders against him were issued on 17th October 2018. See links here and here.

Campaign for Diversity at Higher Educational Institutions

In 2018, along with his long-time co-author, Dr. Siddharth Joshi, Dr Malghan authored an influential paper documenting acute social diversity deficit at IIMs. Their paper showed that various IIMs’ wilfully dodging constitutional and statutory mandates directly precipitated social diversity deficits. They followed up their paper by publicly supporting a vigorous campaign led by enlightened alumni of these institutions. Part of the harassment Dr. Malghan has faced is driven by a backlash from entrenched interests that have resisted his push for caste justice within IIMs and outside. Dr. Malghan has also written and campaigned on other issues affecting diversity in higher education:

https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/an-open-letter-to-the-iim-leadership/;

https://scroll.in/article/906157/iims-have-used-autonomy-for-self-aggrandisement-says-professor-pushing-for-faculty-diversity;

https://cms.thewire.in/education/princeton-woodrow-wilson-caste-discrimination;

Letter to IIMB Director to ensure safe space for students from historically marginalized communities: https://www.edexlive.com/news/2024/Jan/18/need-for-safe-space-for-bahujan-students-staff-iim-bangalore-professor-issues-open-letter-to-dir-39853.html

Against the exclusion of social sciences from National Overseas Scholarship, which disadvantages SC, ST and other marginalised students: https://cms.thewire.in/government/centres-decision-to-axe-humanities-social-sciences-from-national-overseas-scholarship-is-dangerous

Censure Order issued on 20th January 2019, over an interview given to Scroll.in where he criticised IIMs over lack of diversity in the faculty body and other governance-related issues. The censure order imposed a ban on his research funding and consultancy activities.

Campaign to Defund Hate

During his time at IIMB, Dr. Malghan has also been at the forefront of resisting toxic communal ideologies, and calling upon corporates not to fund hate

Disciplinary Action against Dr Malghan

In addition to the censure orders of 2018 and 2019, in 2022, another inquiry was set up against Dr Malghan based on multiple complaints regarding two tweets posted by him on his personal twitter account. The Standing Disciplinary Committee of IIM (B) while referring these complaints to an inquiry committee widened the scope to include articles published by Prof Deepak Malghan on the question of the lack of diversity in higher educational institutions.

The enquiry was instituted to probe potential violations under IIMB Service Rules 8.3.1, 8.10 and 8.12, which read as follows:-

“8.3.1 Every employee shall at all times:

Maintain absolute administrative and academic integrity;
Be devoted to duty;
Maintain decorum and do nothing which is unbecoming of an employee of the Institute;
Be courteous in his/her dealings with other members of the staff, students, and members of the public; and
Shall conduct himself/herself in a manner which will uphold the reputation of the Institution.

8.10 Interaction on Social Media – When engaging in any social media activity during one’s tenure at IIMB, employees are expected to treat others with respect, professionalism, courtesy and consideration in all forms of communication. Refrain from any activity which may tarnish the goodwill and reputation of IIMB. Employees holding administrative positions cannot make statements in social media that undermine that position and/or IIMB’s stance on any particular issue. Any unbecoming conduct, act of uploading derogatory remarks, image ridiculing a person in eyes of other, activity against the Institute, any other person or organization will attract severe disciplinary action.

Social Media channels are public spaces and employees should not publish confidential information in the public domain. Where personal opinions are publicly expressed online, it must be clearly stated that these are employee’s own personal views and that they do not reflect those of IIMB.

8.12 Criticism of the Institute: No employee, shall in any Radio/TV broadcast, Social Media, Electronic Media, Print media or in any document published anonymously, pseudonymously or in his/her own name or in the name of any other person, on any communication to the press, in any public utterance, make any statement of fact or opinion:
- Which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Institute; or
- Which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Institute and the Central Government, any State Government, any other Institute, Organisation, members of the public.

Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall apply to any statements made or views expressed by an employee in his/her official capacity or in the due performance of the duties assigned to him/her.”

The Inquiry Committee did not find any violation of any of the above service rules and except for asking Prof Malghan to exercise discretion in social media posts, did not recommend any disciplinary action.

In a surprise turn of events, the Disciplinary Committee decided to disregard the findings of its own Inquiry Committee and found Prof Deepak Malghan in violation of Service Rules 8.3.1, 8.10 and 8.12 (while stating that it has not relied on past censures to arrive at its findings). It recommended withholding promotion for 2 years. The Director accepting these recommendations, reduced the period of withholding of promotion to 1 year. This Order has been challenged by Prof Deepak Malghan before the Karnataka High Court in WP 13233 of 2023.

In 2023, another inquiry was set-up against Prof Deepak Malghan first based on the complaint by a Board Member regarding a single tweet posted by Prof Deepak Malghan. This tweet merely reproduced the response to an RTI query on whether there had been complaints about caste discrimination at IIM (B). The identity of the Board Member was not disclosed. Subsequently, the Director referred another 100 tweets to the Disciplinary Committee. The Disciplinary Committee went ahead and formed an Inquiry Committee. It identified eight tweets as potentially violative of IIMB Service Rules (as amended in 2023). This included the tweet against which an undisclosed member of the Board had complained against along with seven other tweets. The Inquiry Committee in its report stated that academic freedom is not absolute and found Prof Deepak Malghan guilty of IIMB Service Rules 8.3.1 and 8.8 (as amended in 2023 and detailed above).

With these findings, the Inquiry Committee recommended imposition of serious and major penalty including suspension without pay till the pendency of the disciplinary process. The Standing Disciplinary Committee accepted the findings and the recommendations of the Inquiry Committee and recommended demotion to Assistant Professor for five years. Acting on these recommendations, the Director passed an Order in March 2024 demoting Prof Malghan with immediate effect for five years and also prohibiting him from posting anything related to IIMB on social media or public forums. Consequently, basic pay reduction and withholding of annual increments has been implemented. This Order has been challenged by Prof Malghan before the Karnataka High Court, which has granted an injunction [WP 15915 of 2024].

As academics and other concerned people, we strongly condemn this silencing of the demands raised by Dr Malghan which are entirely devoted to upholding India’s constitutional values. We condemn the use of service rules to stifle academic freedom. We call upon IIM Bangalore to desist from its harassment of Dr Malghan and recognise his valuable contributions towards academic integrity.

Note: This article has been edited on October 24, 2024, to note that the number of signatures is now over 800.

The Rise and Fall of Ambedkar University

An insider’s regretful look at how a good institution in the making has declined so rapidly.

When public universities in India make it to ‘happy’ headlines, it is mostly about the stratospheric pay packets that graduates from IITs and IIMs get from campus interviews. Otherwise, news concerning universities is more often than not about funding drought, excessive politicisation, pernicious mismanagement, creaking infrastructure, brain drain etc.

It is widely known, for example, how institutions like Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia among several others, were hounded and raided ad nauseum by right-wing lumpens in the last decade or so. What also hogs headlines, across the spectrum, are the inconsolable acts of suicide of young pupils for causes too well known to repeat here.

However, the infamy that B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD) has lately garnered is because of all the above, except that in its case, it is not an individual but an entire university that is hellbent on progressing on the path of harakiri.

What has happened at AUD? Why is it in the news? Should AUD be singled out, when the decline of the public university is now systemic?

The answer is in AUDs exceptionalism and also because it is such a new university.

In 2008, when AUD was founded through legislation by the Delhi government, it was a rare case of a public investment in humanities, social sciences and allied disciplines that are increasingly perceived to be too ‘academic’ to thrive in an environment that increasingly valued a ‘get your degree for a job’ approach to higher education. More by design and less by chance, AUD, named after India’s most revered social justice crusader, shaped up to be unique. Under its founding leadership, AUD did not fancy becoming a large and populous institution, indulging in conventional and phlegmatic pedagogy, which coupled with the weight of a halcyon legacy has decelerated the country’s colonial institutions.

From its days of inception, AUD brought into practice what can be called the New Humanities. It mended conventions, subverted disciplinary boundaries and engineered a curriculum that was rigorous, while also being aware of the world around that was changing at a feverish pace. It was somewhat of a unique entity where design could have a conversation with politics, psychology could have dinner with history, and mathematics (the only STEM subject at AUD) could be part of a discussion on performance. The founding schools – of Liberal Studies, Undergraduate Studies, Human Studies, Design, Ecology, Development, Culture and even Business, as well as the new additions (Letters, Global Studies, Law, Urban Studies) — were founded on the principle of inter-disciplinary studies.

Inter-disciplinary studies is mostly a fashionable phrase, but at AUD we tried to make it an everyday practice. One could study an English (or any) major and yet had enough institutional space (and incentive) to take courses in any other school, or programme. The structure allowed it, without compromising on the fundamental requirements of a specialisation. It also pioneered an extremely useful English language ‘acquisition’ method, meticulously combing the entire corpus of incoming students and placing them in different classes in relation to the language, so that each could be empowered depending on their state of readiness to enter a liberal programme.

A similar approach was also taken for the postgraduate programmes, most of which happily accepted students from outside the fold of domain knowledge, as long as they showed a temperament of learning and a degree of promise. There were groundbreaking M.Phil programmes in Psychoanalysis and Development Practice and intensive field work that was built into disciplines that needed them. Along with that there was compulsory mentoring and tutoring of students, just to name a few of its attractions.

The classes were small, the attention personal, and teacher-student rapport was devoid of the shallowness of showy protocols. The university’s fee structure and stringent entry requirements were also designed in such a way that the deserving were never to be discriminated against. AUD was a pleasurable place to teach, and an equally pleasurable space, we had gathered, to learn.

Also read: The Missing Link in Education Reforms: Uncovering the Challenges Faced by Teachers

Frankly, AUD pioneered the template which has become de rigueur of liberal studies programmes in private universities that have flourished in the last decade. The private universities just happened to advertise them better.

There are four fundamental requirements for such a free-spirited liberal system to make a mark: a willing government, an enabling administration, an imaginative faculty and a restless, eager-to-learn, eager-to-experiment student fraternity. And for its first decade, AUD had it all. Not the whole of all, but all in good measure. At no point was this easy, or taken for granted.

There were hard days, sad days, and tired days at AUD. For each progressive decision, for each abandonment of a convention, for each step against tried and tested methods, there were prolonged discussions, consultations and, naturally, disagreements. There were also problems congenital to new public institutions – funds, space and most importantly, infrastructure. But there was never a dearth of spirit, and no compromise on a modicum of equity and democratic decision making, plus a willingness to work together, to fire-fight, to make do with things that were available.

At no point is this to insist that AUD was a utopia. But that was also never the aim. The aim was to be different, unconstrained by tradition and unchained from a certain hegemony of functioning. AUD managed to seed, cultivate and even institutionalise much of this in the first decade.

That first decade has now become, literally, AUD’s prelapsarian period.

But over the last five years, things have changed radically at AUD, and always for the worse. Newspaper reports suggest that a rather disinterested government, coupled with a very distrustful administration, are primarily responsible for AUD’s state. There are accusations of witch hunts, nepotism and favouritism triggering a deep crisis of trust between the administration and the faculty. AUD’s rank has fallen, seats are going abegging, faculty have been leaving for more enabling pastures, the campuses look unkempt and there is barely any atmosphere of teaching and research at AUD. The only good thing remaining about it is that, undeterred by the lack of government will, or by administrative deafness, the faculty and at least a part of the students are still fighting tooth and nail to keep the university ‘alive’.

But as a former faculty of AUD who taught there for 12 long years, and as a stakeholder in the country’s liberal higher education, I do not want to blame the current administration ad hominem for having caused grievous hurt to an institution of genuine spirit and promise. Universities often manage to function with even the most incompetent of administrations; they do not implode the way AUD has imploded just in the last two years.

This leads me to think whether AUD is also an allegory for public-funded liberal education. AUD’s uniqueness needed nurturing, its promise needed a benign awareness of what is liberal education, its faculty and students needed to be assured of a certain safekeeping of their free spirit. None of that has happened, largely because no one in the portals of power in Delhi or elsewhere either understands, or is willing to lend a ear to the idea of liberal education.

No government and I repeat, no government – left, right or centre – is willing to be seen as a defender of liberal humanities. They want to throw rulebooks at the slightest show of insurgent pedagogy and want to chain methods that do not follow the dictates of the University Grants Commission and other stultifying policy makers.

But most importantly, no government now wants to create a space – like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi did at one time with JNU – which can become a springboard of ideas, robust and humane research, and most importantly, fair rebellion. They want to browbeat a place like AUD to submit to conformism, in learning, thought and practice. And that is exactly what has happened.

It would be premature to write an elegy for AUD. Maybe things can still be turned around. But it is perhaps not premature to say that with its decline, a theme for a dream has become the all too familiar case of how Things Fall Apart.

Sayandeb Chowdhury teaches at Krea University, Andhra Pradesh. The views expressed here are his own not of any institution

Truth, Justice and Other Lessons for the Smartphone Generation

Have we ever paused to think not what the opinionated young are shutting out but what they are shutting in?

“What kind of generation is going to be handling the world a decade from now?”

This question is being asked by many. There are reasons for the concern. Campuses to metro stations and family dining tables, young people sit glued to their smart phones or laptops. For the most part they do not hang out with peer groups or enjoy friendly banter with friends or cousins. Our institutes of higher learning are making the brighter ones more and more over-programmed, furious and lonely. They refuse to have old-style intra-family conversations with their parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, and uncles. Many are obsessed with celebrities from the world of literature, films, the arts and what have you but read little. The only question that has been made to occupy their minds is – ‘how can I be up there?’

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

Have we ever paused to think not what the opinionated young are shutting out but what they are shutting in? Their worries? Their fears? Do they want to know the real world today, do they want to know what truth, justice, and love are? Do they want to know how to love, how to have intimacy without risk?

However much we wish, we can not go back to a world when there was no cyberspace. In Amrit Kaal our democracy magnifies a variety of new global views on truth and justice for our young.

Take the word like ‘encounter’. Matched suitably with images of mobs and blood and men in uniforms, encounter takes a life of its own. It means tunnelling through a bypass and dispensing what is described as ‘quick justice as the common Indian wants it.’ As the news of another encounter somewhere in Uttar Pradesh or Maharashtra goes viral, bloodied images of a don shot in the court premises by “person or persons unknown” begin doing the rounds along with clapping crowds feeding sweets to each other. This demolishes justice and obfuscates truth for the generation that is to come next.

The media seems to promote this by asking questions like, ‘Why should the overworked and underpaid police obsess over a history sheeter with political links for long? He might use the slow pace of trials in our courts to his advantage. He can engage the best legal minds with devious arguments and also field political backers who need him.’

Then there are those images of bulldozers demolishing the properties of those killed or absconding for fear for their lives. Many watching this ‘off with their heads’ brand of extra-judicial violence are happy at the public diminishing of civilised boundaries of law. The same laws that deny them the pleasure of looting those richer than them.

The viewers are not allowed to pause to hear out the details given out by coroners and witnesses, or respect the majesty of the due process of law. Speedy justice is what the elders in a hurry seem to be spinning around the young.

This view is strengthened when the young see chief ministers of several states use the term ‘encounter’ to threaten those who offend them. “Encounter karwa denge, bulldozer chalwa denge (will do encounters, will drive bulldozers)” are now common threats in electoral rallies that draw claps. Uncles and aunties with their own homes intact, their children safely in schools or abroad will nod in assent. Their more intellectually inclined clones will sit in panels each evening and use weaponised whataboutery to shield their favourite political leaders.

So where is the sense in trying to teach virtues to the young by sending them to schools where chief speakers at convocations or annual meets ask them to be respectful of elders and our non-violent culture from Buddha to Gandhi, to love and protect the nation, to respect the uniform? This is a world where the Char Dham Yatra is being sold to gullible young voters as a cool vacation in the hills that simultaneously cleanse all sins, or at least minimise them.

In this world where we the elders seem to have forgotten how to listen quietly to both sides of arguments, what are the daily reports of students of engineering or business administration or UPSC aspirants dying by suicide, or young executives just dropping dead due to stress, telling us?

That our young or at least the sensitive ones among them must be lonely or scared about the future they face. They are being denied an easy access to justice as truth and nothing but the truth, which in earlier generations was a given. Most of us once upon a time learnt about justice in the context of telling the truth. It necessarily involved a patient hearing given to both parties before a verdict was given. In recent years what is most unsettling is how truth is less and less visible when justice is being blatantly bypassed in favour of a quick verdict “because the public wants it to be so”. And the public, to prove the liars right, will cheer the extra legal gunning down of those our system has failed to bring to justice.

Why should the young believe us after this? For them it is a world of betrayals and excesses alone.

Extreme inequality of wealth and opportunities for the young has fractured organically grown communities in India as we knew them. The segregation of rich kids starts with their private schools, their own gated communities with private guards, water pumps and power back-up plants. The poor remain perennially dependent on governmental bandobast unless they lie, cheat and amass fortunes. The cynical less privileged are useful tools for politicians today for hard selling a neo-morality under which polluting a bunch of holy laddus or hauling meat in an auto can leads to outrage and mob lynching. Led by hired goons looking for trouble with rags around their heads and chanting religious slogans, mobs demand alleged dons be gunned down or those stigmatised by a crowd as having spat in the juice they sell, or a girl sitting pillion on her boyfriend’s motorcycle be ‘taught a lesson for life’.

It is time we stopped teaching our young small values of thrifting, saying namaskar or good morning, wearing polished shoes and pressed school uniforms each day. We must teach the young bigger values – pursuing truth and justice, being part of and cultivating multicultural groups of friends, expanding the public spaces for free debates. They need help to recognise the essential plurality within individuals. Joy in company of people totally unlike you can, we must tell them, multiply itself manifold when you least expect it.

Saakhi is a Sunday column from Mrinal Pande, in which she writes of what she sees and also participates in. That has been her burden to bear ever since she embarked on a life as a journalist, writer, editor, author and as chairperson of Prasar Bharti. Her journey of being a witness-participant continues.

Mrinal Pande is a writer and veteran journalist.