Mr Javadekar’s revenge on historical research in JNU

There is dismay over the decision of the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s decision to cut the Centre for Historical Studies (CHS) to size. The Centre has been awarding 40-50 M.Phil degrees and around 20 Ph.Ds annually. But this year, on the pretext of implementing regulations notified by the University Grants Commission (UGC), JNU appears to have reduced the intake for M.Phil and Ph.D. programmes to zero.

Both Indian and foreign scholars have expressed their shock at the attempt to stifle historical research at JNU. The BJP and right-wing historians have made no secret of their contempt of historical studies in JNU which they believe were influenced by left-leaning historians. And the decision appears to be a part of the campaign to ‘cleanse’ the JNU.

The JNU Teachers’ Association has posted a number of messages of solidarity and shock from academics around the world.

Lawrence A Kimpton Distinguished Professor of History and South Asian Languages and Civilisations at the University of Chicago is quoted as saying, “The Centre for Historical Studies at JNU has been, for decades now, a major and globally-recognized intellectual hub for research and teaching in South Asian history… a large number of young scholars from India who now occupy research and teaching positions in top academic institutions of the world received their original training at the Centre for Historical Studies at JNU. I am truly saddened to know that the admissions regulations may result in the Centre not being able to produce first-rate young scholars in South Asian history.”

Some of the other messages are the following:

Sheldon Pollock, Columbia University: CHS has been a beacon in the dark world of higher education in India. Any attempt to diminish its resources constitutes an attack not only on JNU itself, but on the field of Indian history viewed globally.

David Ludden, New York University: The JNU Centre for Historical Studies is the premier center in India — and one of the best in the world — for training advanced students in History at the MPhil and PhD levels. PhD programs South Asian History in the US, Europe have drawn their best students from the MPhil programs at CHS for many decades. My first CHS MPhil student came to the PhD program in History at the University of Pennsylvania, in the 1980s, and my most recent students are finishing PhDs today, at New York University. The closure of CHS admissions would be a terrible blow to India’s intellectual presence in the world and reflect poorly on the Government of India, in the age of globalization, when the CHS is a major force for the enrichment of India’s global academic authority.

Joya Chatterji, University of Cambridge: CHS is one of the finest international centres for the study of Indian history. Its academic staff have world-leading reputations as scholars, teachers and research supervisors. Its MPhil programme has sent outstanding PhD students to Cambridge for the last thirty years or more; all of whom have gone on to establish their own reputations as great historians.

Mrinalini Sinha, University of Michigan: Speaking from my experience as a former president of the Association for Asian Studies as well as a Professor of Indian history in the US for several years, I cannot underscore the reputation for excellence that the CHS has earned internationally. I was reminded of just how deserving is this reputation when I had the honor earlier this year of being a Visiting Professor at CHS and of participating in that capacity in the Young Scholars’ Conference. The intellectual energy and vitality of that conference was proof, if any was needed, of the synergy between faculty and students that makes the CHS the premium department of Indian history in the world.

Francesca Orsini, School of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS): The Centre for Historical Studies at JNU has been since its inception a powerhouse of historical research. To interrupt such training on a technicality would be a serious error of judgement and harm not just the Centre and the University, but also the international field of Indian history and, most importantly and dramatically, the new generation of students. I hope that the University will desist from such a myopic gesture. Apne pair par kulhari marna isi ko kehte hain.

K. Sivaramakrishnan, Yale University: Some of the best students gaining admission to top PhD programs in the US and UK in recent years, not only in History, but also in Social Anthropology, Archaeology, and inter-disciplinary fields like development studies, science and technology studies, environmental studies, which I know well, continue to come from CHS, JNU. The world of scholarship on South Asian, especially Indian, History will be much poorer for the loss of such training for the next generation of students at JNU.