In yet another disturbing development, an academic conference at JNU has been cancelled by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research on the grounds that it included papers on tribal religion and papers to be delivered by foreigners. This is shameful. The ICPR head, Prof. S. R. Bhatt, defended the decision with a series of transparently feeble arguments.
I was shocked to learn that JNU even had to submit conference planning to the ICPR for vetting and approval in the first place. It is a fundamental tenet that a university should be intellectually independent.
Dominik Wujastyk