New Delhi, Oct 8 (EFE).- Academic freedom in India plummeted to its lowest level since the mid 1940s, amid increasing interference in the country’s top universities by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a new report released Tuesday.
The annual Free to Think 2024 report by the Scholars at Risk’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project classifies India as “completely restricted” due to threats to freedom, including political interference, restrictions on student expression and attacks on academics.
The deterioration coincides with the coming to power more than a decade ago of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accused of exercising political control over universities and imposing a Hindu nationalist agenda.
The report documents several incidents highlighting such restrictions.
For example, according to the report, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the South Asian University (SAU) announced new policies limiting student protests following a wave of student-led anti-government protests.
Moreover, the central government clashed with state governments for control of higher education in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Punjab.
Academic freedom was also compromised by the pressure exerted on individual academics.
Ashoka University assistant professor on economics, Sabyasachi Das, resigned after facing public attacks by BJP leaders for a paper alleging political manipulation during the 2019 general elections.
Other notable incidents include the denial of entry to a British professor for his critical comments on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary organization, and the ideological mentor of the BJP.
The report concluded that the decline of academic freedom in India posed a serious threat to its intellectual and democratic vitality. EFE
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