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

Sub: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context:

The “Free to Think 2024” annual report, published by the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, indicates a significant decline in India’s academic freedom over the past decade.
SAR is a network of 665 universities across the globe.
The report analysed 391 attacks on higher education communities across 51 countries between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024

About the Academic Freedom Index:

The Academic Freedom Index (AFI) is a tool designed to assess and measure the level of academic freedom in various countries around the world.
It is published by Global Public Policy Institute as a part of a global time-series dataset (1900-2019) in collaboration with Scholars at Risk (SAR) and V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy).
The scores are scaled from 0 (lowest) to 1 (highest)
Indicators:
- Freedom to research and teach
- Institutional Autonomy
- Freedom of academic exchange and dissemination
- Campus integrity
- Freedom of academic and cultural expression

Decline in India’s performance:

India’s score on the Academic Freedom Index dropped from 6 points in 2013 to 0.2 points in 2023.
This score categorizes India as “completely restricted”, marking its lowest point since the mid-1940s.

Threats to Academic Freedom:

Government’s attempts to exert political control over universities.
There is an imposition of a Hindu nationalist agenda on educational policies, alongside limitations placed on student protests.
Restrictions Imposed by Institutions:
- Notable universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and South Asian University (SAU) implemented new policies that restrict student expression.
- JNU has barred protests near academic buildings.
- SAU has prohibited protests on campus altogether.
Political Conflicts:
- The BJP-led Union government has engaged in disputes with state governments over the control of higher education.
- In Kerala, a conflict arose when Governor Arif Mohammed Khan opposed a legislative amendment that would replace him as Chancellor of state universities.
- Similar struggles for control of higher education have occurred in other states, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Punjab.