India slipped on academic freedom index over the past decade: report

JNU students’ outfits have agitated against stringent measures such as penalising of protests in many areas of the campus. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Over the past 10 years, India has plummeted on the academic freedom index ranks, according to the “Free to Think 2024” annual report published by the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

SAR is a network of 665 universities across the globe, including Columbia University, Duke University, and New York University. The report has looked extensively at India, Afghanistan, China, Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Israel, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Russia, Turkiye, Sudan, Ukraine, the U.K. and the U.S., while documenting 391 attacks on higher education communities in 51 countries between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.

The report notes that India’s academic freedom slipped from 0.6 points to 0.2 points from 2013 to 2023. “In India, the most pressing threats to the academic freedom of students and scholars included the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s efforts to exert political control and impose a Hindu nationalist agenda on universities and university policies limiting student protest,” the report states.

According to the Academic Freedom Index, India now ranks as “completely restricted”, its lowest score since the mid-1940s. The report highlights some instances of the Indian government putting in stringent measures in campuses.

Many restrictions

Both Jawaharlal Nehru University and South Asian University announced new policies restricting student expression. While JNU barred students from protesting near academic buildings, SAU barred students from protesting on campus at all.

The reporting period saw the BJP-led Union government battle with State governments over the control of higher education.

In Kerala, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, an appointee of the Union government, fought with the State government over a legislative amendment that would have him replaced as the Chancellor of the State’s universities.

In April 2024, the Kerala government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the action of President Droupadi Murmu withholding assent to the proposed amendment.

“Similar battles for control of higher education took place in other States, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Punjab,” the report points out.

‘Academic quits’

Pressure by the Central government appeared to play a role in the resignation of a professor, the report said. On July 25, 2023, Sabyasachi Das, an assistant professor of economics at Ashoka University, presented a paper alleging political manipulation during the 2019 Lok Sabha election at a conference on development economics hosted by the National Bureau of Research, a private nonprofit research organisation based in the United States. After the paper gained public attention, BJP leaders publicly attacked Mr. Das’s work.

The report also flags some other restrictions on academic activity: U.K.-based Professor Natasha Kaul was denied entry to India for remarks critical of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Over 200 students from JNU, Jamia Millia University, and Delhi University protesting outside the Israeli Embassy in solidarity with Palestinians were detained.

The report makes a mention of Nivedita Menon — a professor in political theory at JNU, who was heckled on March 12, 2024, by students affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. It also refers to a talk by Achin Vanaik at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, that was cancelled. He is a critically acclaimed writer and former head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Delhi.