the powerful state legislatures in the US have passed bills regulating and banning areas of academic discussion such as the critical race theory.
Similarly, 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, says a report. The University Grants Commission’s (UGC) new syllabus for history also faced charges of saffronisation and distortion by historians, as per a report.
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. These attacks demonstrate a shrinking of the space for free inquiry and discourse…We must reject violence aimed at punishing ideas, protect threatened scholars and students, and champion the freedom to think,” said Clare Robinson, SAR’s advocacy director.
For Link to Full report and excerpts from the report: http://emeets.lnwr.in/index.php/1726-report-of-the-scholars-at-risk-academic-freedom-monitoring-project