According to a report published in the National Herald, row began when Jha disclosed, “Whatever is happening is not per the rules and regulations. On August 18, I received a letter that I had to give a lecture on September 4. And today, I received an email saying that your lecture has been cancelled due to unknown reasons.”

“I am the Professor of that University. I got a letter on August 18 to take a lecture on 4th September. And this morning a letter came saying that your lecture has been cancelled. The programme has not been cancelled only my lecture is cancelled,” Jha told news agency ANI.

Jha, known for his fiery speeches in the Rajya Sabha, teaches at the Department of Social Work.

In a video message, he said, “This is my university, here I am a professor, I have studied here, and here I teach, despite this, who is getting offended? I can speak in Parliament, on the street, and write in newspapers. But I cannot address the teachers of my university. What is the fear?”

The RJD leader didn’t shy away from turning the spotlight on the ruling party, referencing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) slogan of “Vishwaguru Bharat” (India as a world teacher). He said, “Is this how we will become Vishwaguru? By turning universities into wells?”

He further stated his intent to involve higher authorities in the matter, stating, “I will write to the Prime Minister, Education Minister and apprise them of what is happening under their nose. Such practice has to stop. We cannot see the university dying.”

The cancellation of the lecture, attributed to “unavoidable circumstances,” has added to the intense ongoing debate over autonomy of universities and the role of politicians within academic institutions.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post RJD MP Manoj Jha’s Delhi University Lecture Cancelled, Triggers Political Row appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Delhi University in the notification has justified its action saying that that June 29 has been marked as a working day because of the Valedictory Function of DU’s Centenary celebrations, scheduled for the next day on June 30, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest.

Reacting strongly to the notification, Abha Dev Habib, Secretary of Democratic Teachers Front, said, “We just saw this notification and it looks very sectarian and its approach is not acceptable and therefore we have issued a statement saying that it should be withdrawn.”

“It is one thing that those officers or those people who have been given a job are requested to come and compensated later, but to say that, you know, all employees will have to come and, only those will be excused who are celebrating this festival. They have not even been able to say it, Eid. So I mean, we could only read it in this manner, that it is completely sectarian,” she said.

In a statement, the Democratic Federation of Teachers also said June 29 is a mandatory holiday for celebrating Id-ul-Zuha and has been notified in the Gazette of India.

When asked about the exemption of employees as mentioned in the notification for June 29, Habib said, “Everything has to be looked at in a context and the way things are in the country. I mean, if we are really wanting to be secular if we want to be democratic, we need to be a little more careful on this. You are basically saying that this is a festival of few and those who can. So, can a Hindu employee say that I celebrate Eid, will they be questioned later? But all these are things which come to my mind given the things which are happening in the country.”

While speaking to ANI, she said that the DU will be actually called a “university” when this circular is withdrawn.

On asked if the front has spoken to Vice Chancellor regarding this, Habib said, “No, we do not call the Registrar or the Vice Chancellor. I don’t think that they will entertain phone calls over this. It is for them to apply their mind on this”.

“Writing the letter is a protest. It is not to say that the Prime Minister cannot come. I mean, we have no business in that. But what we are saying is that there is a gazetted holiday. It is well-announced. It is not that suddenly the university has realized that there is a holiday and they needed 24 hours more for the situation. They already knew it from the very beginning. Doing this is a policy of exclusion and also in some sense, you are labelling and saying that those who want to celebrate this festival and what is this festival? Can’t you even name that festival?” she remarked further.

Reacting to the statement issued by teachers front, Vikas Gupta, Registrar, Delhi University told the media, “This is wrong. Depending upon our requirements, we have declared that the university will function on June 29. The people who wish to take participate in the festival have been exempted. This order is applicable only to the university and not to the colleges. If any teacher from the college is making an issue out of it, there is no need for it. And depending upon our requirements, we have called the employees to the office.”

“Gazetted holidays do not mean that you will not function. If you go with thier understanding then everybody will stay at home on gazetted holidays. There are requirements and the persons are bound to work. I don’t think that we have done anything wrong,” he added.

“For the employees who would come on June 29 or a holiday, the university would adequately compensate them by giving a compensatory leave which they can avail anytime,” he added further.

The post Sectarian, DU’s decision to declare Eid-ul-Zuha working day: Democratic Teachers Federation appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The list includes former High Court judges S.N. Dhingra, M.C. Garg and R.S. Rathore, former ambassadors Niranjan Desai, O.P. Gupta, Ashok Kumar, Vidya Sagar, and former Foreign Secretary Shashank. They also praised DU’s decision to drop poet Mohammad Iqbal’s philosophy from the political science syllabus, noting that he was associated with the idea of a separate Muslim nation, which led to the “tragedy of India’s partition”.

‘Distorted history’

Stating that until now the history being taught in India was not truthfully revealing facts, the group added that a grave injustice had been done to many historical personalities who laid down their lives to help India break free from the clutches of British imperialism.

In their letter, the group maintained that the distorted history had been driven by “the Congress and some left-leaning organisations for political reasons”. Dubbing Savarkar a distinguished freedom fighter, poet and political philosopher, the group said that he had left an important and indelible mark on India’s history.

Ideology of Akhand Bharat

“Sarvarkar’s vision of India as one nation was central to his ideology— ‘Akhand Bharat.’ Savarkar’s views on freedom, social reform, and national unity make him an enduring figure in Indian history. By deepdiving into Savarkar’s political ideology, students will gain insight into the factors that shaped India’s nationalist movement and its subsequent trajectory,” the letter said.

The group also criticised the poet Iqbal, saying that it was also necessary for students to understand the impact of divisive historical figures and their contribution to partition.

“Iqbal became radicalised and as the President of the Muslim League, his ideas ran counter to democracy and Indian secularism. Many of Iqbal’s writings have been associated with the idea of a separate Muslim nation, ultimately leading to the tragedy of India’s partition. This concept of the Two Nation Theory played a significant role in the partition of India, resulting in the trauma and suffering of millions of displaced in India’s East and West,” the letter said, adding that the signatories fully endorsed the decision of the Academic Council of Delhi University.

Related:

Teaser of Film on Savarkar: Lies Galore

Decoding politics behind inauguration of new Parliament Complex on Savarkar’s Birth Anniversary

Savarkar as a diehard Casteist

The post Ex-judges, bureaucrats, diplomats support inclusion of V.D. Savarkar in DU’s political science syllabus appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The formation of an endowment fund for Delhi University (DU) has raised the eyebrows of teachers and student organisations.

Registered under the Companies Act 2013 as a company with limited shares ‘The University of Delhi foundation’ will be able to raise money through “mobilising, bequest gifts, funds, subscriptions, contributions in cash/or in kind to accept land, building or any other assistance from individuals, well-wishers, alumni, philanthropists, associations including the University of Delhi, business fraternity, industries and corporates within the country and overseas and to raise funds in such manner as the board of directors of the company may think fit subject to Articles of Association to support any or every aspect of Delhi University.”

The memorandum of association, also known as the constitution of the company, further stated that the company will “promote, facilitate and support education, research, infrastructure, neighbourhood programmes, library and museum preservation, campus activities and such other activities including housing, hostel and guest houses and food courts and the like for the benefit, social needs and welfare of students, employees, alumni and well wishes of the University of Delhi.”

Raising apprehensions over the motives of the move, Abha Dev Habib, Secretary, Democratic Teachers Front, said that the setting up a private Not-for-Profit Company, now known as the University of Delhi Foundation, was initially granted approval by the VC on December 8, 2022. The Executive approved this VC move on February 3, 2023.

“It is deeply concerning that this company, the University of Delhi Foundation, will now be able to mobilise funds and resources and control the Funds for objects listed under its Memorandum of Association.”

She further said, “This company, from now on, will be able to raise resources from alumni, students, well-wishers of DU, Government, public bodies, private companies and corporations. Will private companies and corporations, who are for-profit entities, provide funds without expecting a suitable quid pro quo?”

Habib maintained that it is abundantly clear that this aligns with the funding principle underlying National Education Policy 2020 (NEP).

“This funding principle tasks universities with the responsibility to expand course offerings and promises some Development Fund (but not operating expenses such as salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff). Thus, teachers whose salaries depend on these resources will have a precarious existence in terms of pay and other service conditions.”

Nandita Narain, former President, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) and a signatory to the statement, said that the details outlined in Draft NEP required each higher education institution to institutionalise an office to mobilise funds for its activities. This action of the DU VC, who is excessively eager to please the Union government, shows that this institutionalisation for DU is in the form of a company mobilising, managing, utilising and investing University Endowment Funds.

“In short, it is a step towards gradual self-financing of higher education and destruction of public funding of higher education. The setting up of a company called Higher Education Funding Agency a few years back did not result in any extra quantum of funding. Instead, it led to substituting loans in place of Government grants or infrastructural requirements. The logical consequence of such loans is fee hikes and freezes or reductions or delay in salaries of teachers and non-teaching colleagues. We are already getting a foretaste of delayed salary payments in a rising number of DU constituent colleges due to the government’s policies and the cravenness of the DUTA leadership.”

A similar concern came from Rajesh Jha, Media in-charge, Academics for Action and Development Teachers’ Association, the teachers’ wing of Aam Aadmi Party, who argued that the corporatisation is being imposed in the name of the endowment fund.

He said that while they met teachers across the departments and the colleges and brought this to their notice, they expressed deep anger over the commodification and commercialisation of higher education by the companisation of the University.

Jha said, “The decision to take a loan of Rs 1000 crore was imposed on us too. The EC was informed about the authority’s plan to take many more instalments of such loans. This makes DU easy prey for the corporate takeover due to bi-ownership and the decision-making power being taken away from the Academic Council and Executive Council.”

He added, “The change of name does not change its character of being enemy of DU, which is open to all castes, class and creed as provided by Clause 6 of DU Act 1922. This also violates Clause 4 (Power of the University) and Clause 5 (territorial jurisdiction of the University) of DU Act 1922.”

Discontent over the issue is brewing among students who argue that changes are being brought to implement the core fundamentals of NEP.

Abhigyan Gandhi, Secretary, All India Students Association Delhi, said that it is the beginning of a dangerous trend where the responsibility of generating funds has been handed over to a private company.

“NEP proposes that the Board of Governors will replace the decision-making bodies like Academic Council and Executive Council. Similarly, the four-year undergraduate programme with multiple entry and exit points has already been introduced. We will not tolerate this. We have already launched a campaign against these sweeping changes, essentially anti-students.”

Mayank Azad, Secretary, Students Federation of India Delhi, told NewsClick that the provisions of financial autonomy in the new education policy are directly linked with the dilution of the quality of education in higher education institutions.

“The institutions have been advised to seek financial autonomy by generating revenues through their resources. The institutions can raise funds by increasing fees. They will also be under pressure to reduce their expenses in the form of teachers’ salaries and expenses on infrastructure building and maintenance. It will lead a student to get an expensive but low-quality education. Plus, there will be more market-oriented courses, and courses which enable us to understand our societies may no longer be in existence.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post DU: Endowment Foundation Faces Opposition From Students, Teachers appeared first on SabrangIndia.

UPDATE:

Meanwhile, faculty and students told Sabrangindia that, on Friday, December 2, a protest has been organised by students against the hoolaginism of the ABVP at the Delhi University (DU). Section 144 has been imposed by the Delhi police prohibiting gatherings.

Also, anti-Brahmin and Baniya casteist grafitti appeared on the walls of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). ABVP has alleged that AISA and the left are responsible for this, as they are “anti-national and anti-Hindu”. The Left has pointed out that it is the ABVP that is at the source of the violence (attacks on meetings, disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed after a ABVP attack, beating up students on the campus and in hostels) but to date –due to the impunity enjoyed by the outfit –no action has been taken even when they are identified on CCTV camera.

[[Najeeb Ahmed, a first year MSc Biotechnology student in the JNU went missing on October 15, 2016 after the alleged attacks on him by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the ruling party. This had sparked students’ movements across the country. His mother Fatima Nafees has been tirelessly following up his case. On multiple occasions she has faced extreme police brutality despite peacefully demanding for her son to be found.]]

All these developments have seriously vitiated the atmosphere on campus. JNUTA (JNU Teachers Association) has stated that there is no security on campus and that the JNU administration has failed completely. Both sides, meanwhile have demanded a speedy “free and fair enquiry” into these recent attacks.

ABVP goons attacked students campaigning on campus for a meeting demanding the release of Prof. G.N. Saibaba. Armed with rods and hurling bricks that injured several students who have been taken to Hindu Rao Hospital for treatment. ABVP students even surrounded the hospital where students were taken for treatment. Police reached after desperate calls and finally “removed” ABVP aggressors from the hospital.  The SHO of Maurice Nagar police station was also present at the hospital but it is yet unclear whether an FIR has been filed and against whom in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

December 1: The incident took place during a protest organized by Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM). According to reports, students from the Campaign against State Repression (CASR) were campaigning on the DU campus when they were allegedly attacked with stones first, then with lathis (batons).

Teachers and professors associated with the All India Forum for the Right to Education (AIFRTE) shared photos of the students attacked with Sabrangindia

Delhi University students campaigning for the release of jailed former Delhi University professor Dr GN Saibaba were beaten up by members of the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), student wing of Hindu militant group RSS on Thursday.https://t.co/CO2e20CJoB

— Maktoob (@MaktoobMedia) December 1, 2022

Ravinder Singh, a final-year law student and the incumbent president of Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch, told the media (ABP News and Quint ) that around 10 to 12 students were holding a campaign to spread awareness about GN Saibaba’s unjust incarceration. Out of the blue, 40–50 ABVP students attacked them with lathis. Many students were injured, he added. Protestor Rajveer said his friend was hit with a brick, while another was pinned down and beaten up.

According to media reports the injured students were immediately rushed to the Hindu Rao Hospital. The students who were seeking treatment at the hospital allege that 40 to 50 people also surrounded the hospital and threatened them.

Ehtmam, a law graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia who was a part of the campaign, claimed that ABVP said that if they step out of the hospital, they will attack them again. This threat was given in front of police officials, he added.

Ravinder said that while some of the alleged attackers had the Aam Aadmi Party’s flag tied to their knees, he was certain that they all were from the ABVP.

Background:

On January 5, 2020, at the height of the anti CAA 2019 protests in the capital a masked mob armed with sticks and bricks went on a rampage at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), beating up students and vandalising university property. Many of them were identified as directly associated with the ABVP; to date they have not been arrested.

Related:

ABVP: In the footsteps of Pakistan’s Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba; ominously so

The post ABVP goons allegedly attack protesting students: Delhi University (DU) appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Delhi University’s Hindu College associate professor Rattan Lal was granted bail on Saturday evening, hours after his late night arrest on Friday. A city court granted bail to Prof Lal, on a personal bond of Rs 50,000 and one surety of the same amount. Delhi Police had arrested Lal under Indian Penal Code sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 295A  (deliberate act to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion). 

According to a report in Indian Express, Lal was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Siddhartha Malik at the Tis Hazari court by the Delhi police, who sought his 14-day judicial custody. Lal’s lawyers had moved his bail application before the CMM arguing that his arrest was in violation of Supreme Court guidelines in the Arnesh Kumar judgement and that he did not incite anyone through his social media post.

The FIR, that led to his arrest, had been filed based on a complaint filed by Vineet Jindal, a Delhi-based lawyer on Tuesday night. Vineet Jindal had accused Lal of sharing a “derogatory, inciting and provocative tweet” on the “Shivling” that was allegedly discovered in the Wazu Khana (ablution tank) of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi. 

According to the bail order, the social media post made by Prof Ratan Lal was “clearly speculative in nature with regard to a structure/ symbol which as of now is not accessible in public domain”. The court said considering the context, his post was at best a “failed attempt at satire regarding a controversial subject which has backfired.”

 The court added that “the Indian civilisation was “one of the oldest in the world and known to be tolerant and accepting to all religions. The presence or absence of intention to create animosity/ hatred by words is subjective in nature as is the perception of the recipient who reads/ hears a statement. India is a country of more than 130 crores people and any subject can have 130 crore different views and perceptions.” 

Appearing for Delhi Police, Additional public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, stated before the court that “prima facie some comments have been passed that have the potential to disturb the public tranquillity…  the most important aspect, not expected from such an educated person,was after making such type of remarks, he has not stopped there, he has been defending himself through different videos uploaded on YouTube.” 

The court observed that, “the feeling of hurt felt by an individual cannot represent  the entire group or community and any such complaint regarding hurt feelings has to be seen in its context considering the entire spectrum of facts/ circumstances.”  

Meanwhile, Lal’s lawyers had reportedly told the court that he was “an authority on Ambedkar” and a person of his “stature and intellect” had “not created any enmity” or “called for violence” adding that he had in fact been respectful to the Hindu god Shiva, and submitted, “Shiva is not the property of a certain section of society. Would he incite his own people? He is a Shiv devotee himself.”

The court said that Lal was a person of “good repute with no criminal antecedent and there is no likelihood of the accused fleeing” . The court did agree that Lal’s action “was avoidable”, and has in its bail condition ordered that he “strictly refrain from posting any social media posts” on the subject that resulted in this FIR.    

Delhi University students, teachers, and activists had gathered at midnight at the Maurice Nagar police station to protest the late night arrest of Prof Rattan Lal. Even after he was granted bail, student groups are likely to hold more public meetings to condemn the targeting of the popular professor, who is a known face on social media as well.

According to news reports, the prosecutor had “addressed the circumstances surrounding Lal’s arrest and cited a Delhi High Court order dealing with the case of a smuggler and said that if there was an apprehension that a person was going to commit a similar offence then it empowered the police to proceed with the arrest without serving a notice.”

Related:

Delhi professor arrested for post about “Shivling”
Gyanvapi case: SC transfers the case from Trial Court to District Court
Filmmaker Avinash Das booked for sharing picture of Amit Shah with arrested IAS officer Pooja Singhal
Another FIR against Prateek Hajela, this time by Hitesh Dev Sarma
Open letter to Sharda University Vice Chancellor

The post Delhi: Hindu College associate professor Rattan Lal granted bail appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Delhi University students, teachers, and activists gathered at midnight at the Maurice Nagar police station to protest the late night arrest of historian Rattan Lal (50) who works as an associate professor at Delhi University’s Hindu College. Lal was arrested by Delhi Police allegedly for posting objectionable remarks referring to the claims of a “Shivling” being unearthed at the Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque.

Police told the media that Professor Ratan Lal “allegedly posted a photo of the structure and made objectionable comments on Tuesday.” Since then, university circles were abuzz with news of impending police action against him. Late on Friday, May 20th he was “summoned for questioning”, and then arrested. According to Indian Express, DCP (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi confirmed the arrest on Friday night. Police told the media that a case was registered against Lal under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295-A (malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings). The case was reportedly “based on a complaint by a social worker”, stated news reports citing the police. The FIR was registered at Cyber Police Station late Tuesday night, reported IE.

Prof Lal, before his arrest, had shared in a video that he had been getting multiple threats online, and had asked police for “security” and help. According to IE, he said, “I was not expecting threats and abuses for this statement. There is a long tradition of critique in Hinduism from Phule, Ravidas and Ambedkar. Here, I haven’t even critiqued it, it is just an observation. In our country, religious feelings get hurt over anything. What will people do, just put patti (bandage) on their mouths?”

Related:

Gyanvapi case: SC transfers the case from Trial Court to District Court
Filmmaker Avinash Das booked for sharing picture of Amit Shah with arrested IAS officer Pooja Singhal
Another FIR against Prateek Hajela, this time by Hitesh Dev Sarma
Open letter to Sharda University Vice Chancellor

The post Delhi professor arrested for post about “Shivling” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

After allegations of “Love Jihad”, “Land Jihad”, even “UPSC Jihad”, communal hate has been freshly repackaged into wild allegations of “Marks Jihad”. Recently, after students from Kerala ended up getting perfect scores, Rakesh Kumar Pandey, an associate professor in the Physics department of Kirori Mal College of the Delhi University said that “the invasion of Kerala Board students with perfect 100 percent marks” is a case of “Marks Jihad”. 

Following the trend of right-wing supporters calling anything associated with Muslims as a form of “Jihad”, Asst. Prof. Pandey, who holds two master’s degrees, including an M Tech from IIT, Delhi, posted that “Love planned to help spread your religion is ‘Love Jihad’” and that “Marks distributed to help spread your ideology is ‘Marks Jihad'”. 

Love planned to help spread your religion is ‘Love Jihad’ and Marks distributed to help spread your ideology is “Marks Jihad”. Make no mistakes, students with perfect 100% marks from Kerala Board is occupying admission seats of premier colleges of DU. @OpIndia_com

— rakesh kumar pandey (@rakesh__pandey) October 7, 2021

According to him, this is why many students hailing from Kerala have scored 100 percent marks, which was also the cut off in many leading colleges of Delhi University. Pandey, tagged the right-wing blog site OpIndia in his tweet, perhaps to seek attention for a column on the subject. He is also a former president of the National Democratic Teachers Front. 

Recently the Delhi University (DU) had put on hold 100 admissions of students of the Kerala board, and cleared them once the matter was cleared. According to a report in NDTV, the confusion over marksheets had arisen as “a large number of students from the Kerala board applying to DU colleges, that too a majority of them being perfect scorers.” The issue seemed to have bothered Pandey who reportedly said students from Kerala are not comfortable either in Hindi or in English. Last year he had written a blog titled “Warning trends observed in DU admissions: Measures needed to foil any design to convert it into another Leftist hub”.

He was called out by Shahi Tharoor (MP) who said, “The use of “jihad” as a synonym for any trend you don’t like is exceeding all limits: now a DU teacher has got attention by absurdly decrying #MarksJihad!”

2/2 …is ridiculous. If “Jihad” means a struggle (with yourself above all), the Kerala students scoring 100% have struggled against the odds to get to DU. Interview them first if you wish before letting them in, but don’t demonise their marks! This anti-Kerala bias must end now!

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 7, 2021

Relation:

Hate Watch: Communal hatred spread at Rajghat on October 2?
Hate Watch: Twitter influencer Mahesh Vikram Hegde shares anti-namaz video

The post Hate Watch: Kerala students get high scores, DU Prof calls it ‘Marks Jihad’! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The draft syllabus of BA (Hons) English literature was already formed in a most democratic manner prior to the “mala fide” interventions of the Oversight Committee, said multiple department professors of the Delhi University (DU) in a public statement circulated recently.

On September 3, 2021, members of sub-committees responsible for the English syllabus and other professors, circulated an open letter condemning the deletion of Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi, Tamil Dalit writer Bama’s Sangati as well as Sukirtharani’s two poems Debt and My Body. The letter, undersigned by 115 DU teachers, said these texts congeal caste and gender oppression with that of patriarchal state violence.

In it, members said, “The Oversight Committee [OC] single-handedly seeks to destroy a syllabus that has been put together after years of careful discussion and debate, where democratically elected committees have chosen democratically diverse texts that seek to represent all sections of society.”

Responding to the August 26 press release of the institution, teachers said the OC flagrantly violated and bypassed the entire democratic process. They demanded the immediate reinstatement of Mahasweta Devi, Bama and Sukirtharani texts in the Core Women’s Writing Paper of semester 5.

“We also demand that the Oversight Committee should immediately pass the syllabus for Semester 6 (without any changes) rather than starting the process just before the commencement of the next semester,” said the letter.

Teachers spoke about how the department has suffered a lack of official syllabus every semester since July 2019 due to the intervention of the OC. However, this year the DU notified the English Honours syllabus, including all the proposed Discipline Specific Elective papers, 44 days after the fifth semester began. Further, the authorities used the Emergency powers of the Vice Chancellor for an academic matter.

“Since the Delhi University Press Release has been issued “for the information of all concerned” we feel it is imperative for us to put in the public domain that the English Department has repeatedly put on record that it is unwilling to make changes in the Women’s Writing paper,” said the press release.

When the deletion of the concerned texts was first recommended, the English Department, mandated by members of the syllabus committees, wrote to the OC twice to explain academic and pedagogic reasons for the inclusion of the texts. However, far from retaining the texts, the OC allegedly refused to include any story by Mahasweta Devi.

“The HOD’s final agreement was obtained through what we believe is coercion, that too without necessary endorsement from syllabus subcommittees or more importantly, the GBM of English teachers which initiated the democratic syllabus making in the first place, completely negating the claim that the syllabus was finalized after due deliberations with and the recommendations of the Head, Department of English,” the English teachers said.

Teachers also condemned the claims that the finalised syllabus was posted on the DU website on August 26, when in fact the OC was yet to replace Bama and Sukirtharani poems to complete the poetry sub unit. Members also expressed shock at DU’s statement that diversity and inclusion can be done without consideration of religion, caste and creed.

Additionally, the open statement pointed out that the use of terminology like ‘language course’ and the ignorance of what constitutes literary studies is directly responsible for the unacademic decisions taken by the Oversight Committee.

In their statement, teachers asked, “Those [writers] that have been excluded are already members of a historically excluded community. The voices that have been throttled are those of Dalit and non-Dalit women writers writing about Dalit/tribal women. What else could be less inclusive than excluding these powerful Women narratives?”

Teachers emphasised that the DU syllabus includes diverse texts and readings to sensitise students to social issues through stories, poems, plays and essays. The goal is to take students out of their comfort zone and make them think critically. As such, they demanded the immediate inclusion of the aforementioned texts in English literature courses.

Related:

DU should apologise to Bama, Sukirtharani and Mahesweta Devi: Dalit Intellectual Collective
Censorship in learning tarnishes India’s international image: DTF member Dhusiya
From ripples to waves: Experts discuss the power of Dalit literature
51 Reasons to say goodbye to NEP 2020: AIFRTE

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Delhi University must not only reinstate recently deleted texts of writers Bama, Sukirtharani and Mahesweta Devi but also apologise to them, said Dalit Intellectual Collective in an open letter to Vice Chancellor P. C. Joshi. Backed by professors, students, activists and journalists across India, the letter condemned the select removal of three women writers (two Tamil and one Bengali) from the English literature syllabus of the university.

“The exertion of Brahmanical, patriarchal, communal prejudice and domination in higher education once again becomes painfully visible. These authors’ writings accentuate the life-narratives of Adivasis, Dalits, marginalised women and minorities,” said the Collective.

Members expressed shock that the University removed selections from the novel Sangati (Events), two poems “Kaimaru” (Debt) and “En Udal” (My Body), and the short story Draupadi, as per recommendations of the Oversight Committee, despite opposition from at least 16 Academic Council members.

Although literature has historically told stories of state-oppression on Adivasi women, the discrimination faced by Dalit women in caste-infected Indian villages, and manual scavenging, the Oversight Committee claimed that these texts “hurt sentiments” and “(are not) inclusive in nature to depict the true picture of the society”.

The Dalit Intellectual Collective asked, “Whose sentiments were hurt by these texts? Surely not the sentiments of those whose oppression was portrayed here! Must the sentiments of the privileged always shape academic programs?”

Members pointed out that women’s studies and Dalit studies in academia changed the literary scene in India in the past few decades, enriching the Social Science disciplines. The three women writers belong to this group of protest literature.

Rather than excluding these women, the group called for the inclusion of many more such voices from different regions and languages across India.

Related:

Censorship in learning tarnishes India’s international image: DTF member Dhusiya
From ripples to waves: Experts discuss the power of Dalit literature
51 Reasons to say goodbye to NEP 2020: AIFRTE

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