Licence raj for academic seminars

A new notification by the Ministry of Education that requires public-funded institutions to seek permission from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) before organising virtual seminars will deal a serious blow to academic freedom and deny opportunities to students, teachers and scholars to learn and benefit from interaction with their peers elsewhere. The order has made it compulsory for the institutions to take approval for the events and for the list of participants. Permission is also required if the discussion is about the “security of the State, border, North-East states, Jammu & Kashmir or any other issues which are related to India’s internal matters.” There will also be appropriate level scrutiny to identify the nature and sensitivity of data or contents, or presentation or information. Events with foreign funding, and those “involving sensitive subjects with provisions for sharing of data in any form” will also need prior permission.

These are very restrictive guidelines and make it difficult for students and scholars to pursue their academic and professional work and activities effectively. There are already some restrictions on holding physical seminars and these have now been extended to online events. While the need to constrain physical events is also questionable, there is even less justification for the curbs on online events which can easily be monitored. Freedom of functioning and openness in academic and research activities of institutions is a key requirement in a democratic society. It is also essential for their excellence. Knowledge has no borders and a lot of research and studies have become globalised. Some fine scholars on India and matters that are important in the country live and work abroad. The negative list of subjects will make understanding of such subjects, places and areas that come under them difficult. “Issues related to internal matters’’ is a broad expression that has not been defined, and any discussion on any subject can be restricted under the rubric.

The implementation of the guidelines will hamper the growth and development of academic institutions and the cause of higher education in the country. There is no major institution that meets global standards of excellence in the country, and such restrictive guidelines can only bring the levels further down. The result will be that Indian scholars will be cut off and isolated from global trends and scholarship. National security is a legitimate concern but institutions and scholars are not unaware of its imperatives and their responsibilities. In some universities and institutions, virtual seminars are held every week and getting approvals for each of them from the ministry will prove burdensome and impractical. Many institutions will feel discouraged and stop holding such seminars. The loss will be the students’, the scholars’ and the nation’s.