ISA Statement on Academic Freedom in India
Marijke Breuning, Mark A. Boyer, Meera Sabaratnam | 29 April 2024 | International Studies Association
The International Studies Association (ISA) expresses grave concern over the declining state of academic freedom in India. In particular, we are concerned that academic freedom and institutional autonomy are being systematically eroded by political control and interference by the state and/or ruling parties. India has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) without filing a reservation to article 15.3 that protects the “freedom indispensable for scientific research”.
Most recently, one of our members, Professor Nitasha Kaul, was detained at the border and refused entry to India when she arrived to fulfil an academic speaking engagement at the invitation of the Karnataka Government, despite holding the relevant travel authorisations. Another of our members, Professor Ashok Swain, has had his Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cancelled for reasons which appear to relate to his criticism of government policy, has been refused entry to the country, and prevented from engaging in academic research and exchange in India, even on official invitation. We understand that other scholars have also been refused entry whilst on normal academic business, including anthropologist Professor Filippo Osella. In these cases, it seems that the central government was involved in refusing the academics entry. Political interventions in the normal conduct of academic business which block the exchange of scholarly research, ideas and information are directly contrary to international standards of academic freedom.
We are also concerned with apparent violations of academic freedom within various university settings, such as the circumstances leading to the resignation of Professor Sabyasachi Das from Ashoka University, previous reports of physical harassment of scholars and students on JNU campus, and most recently, direction to promote political messaging in favour of the ruling party on campus near election time.
Apart from the impact on directly affected individuals, these attacks on academic freedom are likely to produce a much wider chilling effect on the production and exchange of scholarship and science, which in turn is related to the qualities of freedom of speech and democracy. We note that India’s score on the globally respected and peer-reviewed Academic Freedom Index has been declining for the last decade, across the measures of ‘freedom to research and teach’, ‘institutional autonomy’, ‘campus integrity’, ‘academic exchange and dissemination’ and ‘academic and cultural expression’. The 2024 report also shows that academic freedom in India has fallen as societal polarization has increased.
We call upon all parties in India to ensure that academic freedom is upheld and seen to be upheld, for the sake of India’s scholarly community and its colleagues worldwide.
The ISA is the largest and most respected scholarly association in the field of international studies, counting nearly 8000 members across over one hundred countries. For further information about ISA’s deliberative processes on academic freedom concerns and the committee’s mandate from the Governing Council, please see: https://www.isanet.org/ISA/Governance/Committees/Academic-Freedom.
Marijke Breuning, ISA President 2024-2025
Mark A. Boyer, ISA Executive Director
Meera Sabaratnam, Chair, ISA Academic Freedom Committee