The impact of government control on academic freedom

The Indian-administered Kashmir is officially called the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which used to be one of the Indian states before the abrogation of Article 370. Now it has been converted into a Union Territory, which implies direct federal rule. By being an Indian state, it used to enjoy special status under articles 370 & 35A of the Indian Constitution. It had the power to form any independent policy without interference from the central government of the Indian state. The erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, which also included the Ladakh region, had its own separate constitution and a flag. Also, in the early 1950s, it also used to have its own president & prime minister, but this provision was removed during the same decade.

This special status provided the former State of Jammu and Kashmir with certain autonomy with full control over the domestic realm of the region, but leaving defense, communication, and foreign affairs under Indian jurisprudence. To move further into details, one of the powers was to review any laws passed by the Indian parliament. If the state assembly of Jammu and Kashmir passed that law, only then could it have been applicable in the state. But after the abrogation of articles 370 & 35A on August 05th, 2019, all these privileges were abolished, and the Indian government gained free access to ruling the valley.

One of its targets became the education system in the valley. Several changes were brought to the region, one of which was changing the traditional academic calendar from the autumn session to the spring session to align it with the rest of the Indian states. But this provision was reversed by the newly elected government of Jammu and Kashmir, as it was unpopular with the general population.

The new academic session in Kashmir usually starts in November, aligning with local climatic conditions. But due to the revoking of the articles, people of Kashmir were at the mercy of the Indian government, as they didn’t have any authority to speak on this matter. The ruling BJP government didn’t stop there; they also tried to remove any traces or history of the Kashmir conflict from academic literature. The school curriculum was modified to suit the government’s ideology & interest. Recently, there were reports in which a portion of Mughal history was removed from the books, which was received with backlash among various scholars of academia.

The government even went beyond this; one of their moves was to monitor & curtail any new academic research that does not align with their ideology. One such example is Kashmir, where the government has directives on preventing any new research from happening on the themes of the Kashmir Conflict. Research scholars who have chosen their topics of research revolving around the Kashmir issue were not accepted by the university. One of the universities of Kashmir verbally issued a notice stating that any research topic concerning the Kashmir Movement will be rejected by the university. This move jeopardized the careers of those students who had already chosen research topics concerning Kashmir. It also choked their academic freedom to pursue research of their own discretion.

There are several reasons why this has happened; one of them is that the BJP-led government is image-conscious and is trying to portray some sense of normalcy in the valley post-abrogation of the article. The other is the government’s interest in preventing any other flare-up of violence in the valley and sustaining fragile peace. So, any new academic research that ignites the suffering of Kashmiri people is censored. An Indian state may have various other reasons, for example, in the name of national interest. But this excuse of national interest is not attached to Jammu and Kashmir only; even in Kerala, such directives were issued in which the Central University of Kerala received an order from the central government stating that all researchers should pursue topics of national interest.

Indian states' concern for national interest is genuine, but it should have some clarity, like what they mean by the so-called national interest & also how a particular research topic threatens India’s interest. The government must keep a balance between so-called security concerns and the fundamental rights of its citizens. Censoring the academic research violates Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees its citizens freedom of expression. It also hampers the critical analysis of societal issues, which is detrimental to the development of the nation.

Research is considered one of the problem-solving tools; it’s where academic debates occur. Its importance lies in investigating various possible methods for tackling several issues affecting society. Let’s take, for example, the issue of the Kashmir Conflict. Suppose that if more unbiased research were conducted on the topic, it would be easier to solve it in the future. As implied, researchers indeed act as guides for the government or any other organization in solving the issues.

Any research that highlights shortcomings of any political party or government in general should be handled maturely. Also, funding of any research project should not be a reason to decide the topic & control the outcome. Eventually, this research is for the sake of public interest, and a democratic nation like India must not censor the research that it doesn’t like.