Recently, India’s University Grants Commission (UGC) released guidelines to frame the syllabus of the proposed new four-year undergraduate degree courses. The objective of the proposal is to mainstream India’s intellectual traditions, philosophical inheritance, and political philosophy into higher education. Yet, looking closely, there appears to be a more serious concern — an attempt to replace the spirit of rational inquiry and constitutional values with glorification of myths and ideological propaganda.
The proposal clearly states that mythical ideals and narratives of cultural pride will be embedded across disciplines, including political science, sociology, commerce and even chemistry. Commerce students will learn about Rama Rajya as a model for equitable governance under the rubric of corporate social responsibility. Students studying political science will read V.D. Savarkar’s The Indian War of Independence as one of the nine essential texts dealing with the freedom movement. Deendayal Upadhyaya and other thinkers from the Hindutva camp will also find themselves included in the canon of modern political thought.
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