Freefall In India’s Academic Freedom Ranking Is Reflected In Cancelled Lectures At IIT Bombay & Elsewhere https://article-14.com/post/freefall-in-india-s-academic-freedom-ranking-is-reflected-in-cancelled-lectures-at-iit-bombay-elsewhere-670749ce2fd0f Since November 2023, IIT-Bombay has prohibited teachers and students from organising events that “may be viewed as political” without permission. Talk by at least four prominent intellectuals and experts, including environmentalist and historian Ramachandra Guha and cultural activist Ganesh Devy. In three cases, the events were called off at the last minute.
The Academic Freedom Index , released by the FAU Institute of Political Science in Germany and the V-Dem Institute in Sweden, placed India in the “completely restricted” category—countries where restrictions on academic freedom are consistently applied across all academic disciplines. From 2013 to 2023, India’s AFI ranking slipped from 0.6 to 0.2 on a scale of 0 to 1. India was in the bottom 30% of 179 countries, lower than Pakistan, Congo, and Russia.