Six Tables that tell the story of Academic Unfreedom in India

The Indian Academic Freedom Network presents the following tables to help readers get a quick overview of the decline in academic freedom in India. We have tried to record all incidents that we could find in national English newspapers or news portals, irrespective of the political affiliation of the groups infringing academic freedom.

These tables are an updated, expanded version of the annexures first prepared in June 2020 by Nandini Sundar and Gowhar Fazli as part of a status report in response to a call for submissions on academic freedom by the UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

The contents of these tables are based on research and inputs by Sumit Kumar and Rajat Sonkar (2020); Ananya Redkar (2021); Mohona Chaudhuri, Madiha Iqbal, and Uttam Kumar (2022); Ateen Das, Saniya Rizwan, and Arul Singh (2023); and Ashwin Thomas, Tulip Bannerjee, Samra Iqbal, and Vedant Nagrani (2024).

Please note that the entries are not exhaustive but merely illustrative. Readers are encouraged to fill any gaps that they notice by emailing indiaacademicfreedom@gmail.com.

These tables were first published on The Wire

• CENSORSHIP OF BOOKS/INTERFERENCE WITH UNIVERSITY SYLLABI

• DENIAL OF PERMISSION/DISRUPTION OF SEMINARS/MEETINGS/EVENTS ON CAMPUS

• ARRESTS OF/CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST FACULTY AND STUDENTS

• PHYSICAL ATTACKS ON STUDENTS AND FACULTY

• TERMINATION/SUSPENSION OF FACULTY AND STUDENTS

• DENIAL OF RESEARCH VISAS/RESTRICTIONS ON ACADEMIC EXCHANGE