Academic freedom is about the right to study, teach and research a diversity of viewpoints. Yet, this right that is so crucial for the pursuit of knowledge has seen widespread attacks in colleges and universities across India. The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 claims it is based on principles that include creativity and critical thinking, constitutional values, a respect for diversity and the local context, a positive working environment for students and faculty, and substantial investment in a strong vibrant public education system. It also promises “merit-based appointment of leadership” in higher education institutions, and “freedom from political or external interference.” the biggest problem for the NEP is the gap between promise and practice.
There have been several structural concerns with academic freedom in the previous decades since Independence, especially during the Emergency (1975-77). However, the period since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has seen an unprecedented assault on academic freedom as well as on academics. This is accurately reflected in the sharp downward decline in India’s position in an Academic Freedom Index developed by the V-Dem Institute of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), 2018-19, India has 993 universities, 39,931 colleges and 10,725 standalone institutions. Of these, 385 universities and 78% of the colleges are privately managed while 394 universities and 60.53% of the colleges are located in rural areas.
The enrolment in higher education in India is 37.4 million persons (19.2 million males and 18.2 million females). Certain categories of citizens have less access to higher education – for instance, Scheduled Castes have a GER of 23% and Scheduled Tribes have a GER of 17.2% as compared to the national GER of 26.3%. Muslims constitute only 5.2% of the student population, compared to their overall percentage of about 14.2% in the population. The mix of public and private universities; central and state universities (funded by the central government and by the state government, respectively); ‘deemed universities’; ‘institutes of national importance’; state aided; and ‘minority institutions’ (run by religious minorities under constitutional provisions), affects the nature of institutional autonomy and subsequently, academic freedom.
The state universities in India are dependent on their respective state governments for selection of leaders, funding and other regulatory issues. Many private colleges are for-profit professional oriented ventures run by local business families, and unlikely therefore to encourage critical extra or intra-mural discussion that might invoke questions of academic freedom. prior to 2014, many events – especially those touching on ‘sensitive’ issues like Kashmir or Maoists – were called off because of threats from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP’s parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Not surprisingly, the ABVP’s ability to veto campus events has dramatically increased since the BJP came to power. However, there has been no attempt to take the matters to court, and increasingly, under a debilitated judiciary, less hope that they will be entertained.
Since 2014, student leaders other than bjp student organisation abvp, have been charged with sedition, and various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act – India’s anti-terror legislation – under which it is difficult to even get bail. India has signed and ratified the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, of which Articles 13 and 15 are especially relevant to academic freedom in higher education. Unfortunately, Indian courts have been cautious in incorporating international conventions in their decisions, the Academic Freedom Index is coded on the following indicators: 1) freedom to research and teach; (2) freedom of academic exchange and dissemination; (3) institutional autonomy; (4) campus integrity; and (5) freedom of academic and cultural expression.
The restrictions on institutional autonomy are affecting different spheres such as the selection of university leaders or vice chancellors, selection of faculty, selection of students, framing of courses, and several other aspects of the university. Given the size of Indian universities and the several pressures from teaching, student, and staff unions, as well as from state and national politics, the best-intentioned vice chancellor faces serious problems Since 2014, the government has systematically filled academic leadership positions with right-wing ideologues or pro-government sympathisers, many with no proper academic publications. Public universities have tried to impose service rules which would prohibit faculty from writing for the press, participating in demonstrations, and a variety of other activities. The RSS – sometimes through the ABVP, or directly through the government – has also put pressure on private universities to toe the line. For instance, in 2018, the ABVP prevented Ramachandra Guha, one of India’s leading historians and biographer of Mahatma Gandhi, from taking up a chair and directorship of the Gandhi winter school at Ahmedabad University (a private university), describing him as a “so-called historian”, a “directionless person” whose writings had “strengthened the activities of national disintegration, reckless behaviour in the name of personal freedom, freeing of terrorists, [and] freedom of Jammu and Kashmir.”
Since 2014 the underlying force appears to be the RSS’ vision, in which the stated aim of education is to consolidate a Hindu nation and promote education based on ‘Hindu values’. Since 2014, this vision has taken the form of attempts to introduce subjects with a distinctly ‘Hindu’ focus or divert research funds to particular themes upholding the RSS’s pet concerns such as cow protection. In 2017, in action that is quite unprecedented in the scientific community, some 12,000 scientists marched across India in protest against funding cuts and an end to the “propagation of unscientific, obscurantist ideas and religious intolerance’ ‘patronised by persons in high positions’, noting that “untested and unscientific ideas are being introduced into the school textbooks and curricula.” Even under previous governments, there were objections to books that one party or the other found ‘politically dangerous’ […] However, the scale of objections has increased with the coming in of the BJP government.
The repression of dissent on university campuses has taken the form of arrests, banning of student and faculty unions, and a variety of other punitive measures. The longstanding convention that police should not be allowed on campus is now a thing of the past, and the police are routinely present on many campuses across the country. The ‘Free to Think 2021’ report claims that Indian authorities have wrongfully detained and prosecuted scholars and students under anti-terrorism laws. The annual report ‘Free to Think 2021’ released today, December 9, by Scholars at Risk (SAR), urges educationalists, governments and civil society to safeguard academic freedom in order to reverse the recently observed global trend of its suppression. It examines 332 attacks on scholars, students and universities in 65 countries (including India) between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021.
Attacks on higher education are devastating scholars, students, and institutions around the world with life and career-ending consequences. As per the SAR (scholars at risk)report, authorities in India have wrongfully detained and prosecuted scholars and students under anti-terrorism laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for simply expressing contradicting views to the current ruling party. the state in Hong Kong has used its national security law to stifle expression, leading to prosecutions, dismantling of student unions from various universities and promoting government-mandated courses, consistent with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda. In Brazil, the Attorney General and a judge of the Supreme Court have filed complaints against a scholar for delivering a critical public speech about their work. Meanwhile, in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko has suspended academicians and students who protested his controversial declaration as winner of the 2020 presidential elections. The Chinese government, for instance, has imposed travel bans against specific international scholars, researchers and institutions. Meanwhile, Israel continues to severely restrict the movement of Palestinian scholars and students. In India, university matters pertaining to syllabus, appointments and resignations of vice-chancellors, professors in different universities have been accused of being done under political influence in recent years.
The University Grants Commvriission’s (UGC) new syllabus for history also faced charges of saffronisation and distortion by historians, In the wake of the anti-CAA-NRC movement in India, the students, teachers and officials of Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Aligarh Muslim University, Jadavpur University, University of Delhi and other higher education institutions were similarly attacked, either by the police or by the political outfits affiliated with the current ruling party. The frequency and global reach of these attacks should be alarming, not only to those in higher education but to society at large. Academic freedom is coming under threat in India due to increasingly stringent restrictions and institutions using tactics of intimidation and harassment, There have been reports of university officials reprimanding academics for openly speaking out against the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime in the latest sign that the prime minister’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, first elected in 2014, is using its power to stamp out freedom of speech. Academic Activities deemed political … often trigger inquiries by the intelligence bureau—sometimes informally but enough to be seen as a threat. Routine vigilance clearances for appointment to high-level administrative positions have started to involve questions like rating … the government’s performance.
Most would now agree that the attacks on such free¬doms, and on acade¬mics and intel-lec¬tuals them¬selves, under the Prime Minis¬tership of Narendra Modi since 2014, has been quite unprecedented.
