{"id":4415,"date":"2016-06-16T12:26:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T06:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415"},"modified":"2016-06-16T12:26:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T06:56:35","slug":"meena-t-pillai-resignation-academics-indian-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4415","title":{"rendered":"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/span><\/p><\/div>

n her first book, <\/span>The Origins of Totalitarianism<\/span><\/i>, the American political theorist Hannah Arendt writes: \u201cThere is hardly a better way to avoid discussion than by releasing an argument from the control of the present and by saying that only the future will reveal its merits.\u201d Arendt\u2019s book, released back in 1951, is eerily analogous to the climate of India today, as suppressing and controlling the present \u2013 and the past \u2013 seems to have become a rule of thumb for the <\/span>central government<\/span><\/a>. A circular released by the Human Resource and Development ministry on March 13, apparently directed universities under the centre\u2019s arm to admit students only if their PhD topics fall in line with \u201cnational priorities\u201d. Citing the notice as \u201cfeudal\u201d, on the 24th, Director at the Centre for Cultural Studies of the Kerala Central University, Meena T Pillai, resigned in protest.<\/span>\n\nThe HRD ministry, however, <\/span>backtracked<\/span><\/a> on the circular, stating that it hadn\u2019t issued any such directive, restricting the choice of research subjects, and that \u201cnational priority\u201d had arisen from the minutes of a meeting with vice chancellors of different universities. Still, it did cause the high-profile resignation.<\/span>\n\nIn an <\/span>interview soon after her resignation, Pillai said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cResearch has to happen in an atmosphere where you can think freely, dissent, and ask questions. All of these are important. So when you say national priority, whose priority becomes national priority?\u201d Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions \u2013 a gash made visible because of Pillai\u2019s dissent. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have probably been forced into submission, their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda. <\/span>\n\nFollowing Pillai\u2019s resignation from the post, her <\/span>university<\/span><\/a> clarified that the circular had been misinterpreted. National interest, it said, is meant for the betterment of the nation. Such a misunderstanding sounds plausible until you consider the second, perhaps more ominous part of the circular \u2013 the part that says no \u201cirrelevant\u201d topics will be allowed, and that students will have to choose from a shelf of topics prepared beforehand. This take-it-or-leave-it strategy is primed to wrest control of spaces that are meant to question conservative visions. <\/span>\n\nIn her interview, Pillai asked a pertinent question \u2013 whose priority becomes national priority? Or rather, whose idea of <\/span>nationalism<\/span><\/a> is the supposed basis here? Would a study of adivasi rights be considered a national priority, or as Pillai asks, \u201cCould you do research on a small tribal community?\u201d Surely not. It has been made clear over the last few years that India\u2019s many religious and cultural minorities, especially the narrative of their past and present struggle, is an aspect of our history that governments of any persuasion would rather see banished from records. The NCERT has started to phase the struggles of <\/span>the Dalit community<\/span><\/a> out of their textbooks, while a <\/span>significant chunk of Mughal history<\/span><\/a> is being drained into the sewers of rejection. All of last year, there were reports of the Rajasthan government <\/span>changing textbooks<\/span><\/a> to reflect the majoritarian view. \u00a0<\/span>\n\n

The browbeating of the academia, goes hand in hand with that of the press, and no government in power is alien to that.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nBut it\u2019s unfair to blame just BJP governments for this anti-intellectual atmosphere. Author Wendy Doniger\u2019s book, <\/span>The Hindus<\/span><\/i>, was pulped under UPA rule, even if the pressure came from Hindutva groups. The browbeating of the academia, goes hand in hand with that of the press, and no government in power is alien to that. As this 2013 article in <\/span>The Mint<\/span><\/a> reminds us, \u201c<\/span>Open magazine reported recently on how Bihar chief minister <\/span>Nitish Kumar<\/span><\/a> would use the state government\u2019s media spends to censor the news, calling him the \u2018<\/span>editor-in-chief<\/span><\/a>\u2019 of Bihar. Daily News & Analysis former editor-in-chief Aditya Sinha went on record about how the Union information and broadcasting ministry under <\/span>Ambika Soni<\/span><\/a> tried to arm-twist his newspaper, threatening to pull government ads if their coverage did not fall in line.\u201d And then, of course, we have the Emergency. <\/span>\n\nAcademics are nobody\u2019s favourite people because they work on things that can neither be seen nor validated without the end result; a result that can range from minuscule to major, but is seldom credited to the brains behind it. As for research in the domain of cultural history, perhaps a country struggling with eternal issues like caste and the vagaries of what land belongs to what religion \u2013 <\/span>Ayodhya<\/span><\/a>, for instance \u2013 needs more research and study than ever to better understand historic maladies that continue to cripple us. Despite the line between fact and fiction disappearing (thanks, WhatsApp), undoing years of hard work that academics, scholars, and historians dedicate their lives to. To limit the purview of our academic pursuits to demand of it anything other than rigour and commitment borders on the dictatorial. <\/span>\n\nIn 2015, scholar Ramchandra Guha wrote at length about India\u2019s <\/span>\u201cmissing\u201d conservative intellectuals<\/span><\/a>, attempting to answer the quandary of why \u201cwhile the country has a right-wing party in power, right-wing intellectuals run thin on the ground.\u201d Perhaps, this is an attempt to manufacture a few conservative intellectuals. If students, who eventually become teachers and professors, are limited to pursuing fields the party in power approves of, chances are that they will grow to become the mouthpiece of their governments.<\/span>\n\nThe ruling party\u2019s political blueprint, it has been evident, is not prepared with intellectuals in mind. Rather, the BJP\u2019s contempt for academia and its methodical approach to problem-solving is a <\/span>fairly established fact<\/span><\/a>. Though Pillai claims in the interview that a number of universities have ignored the notice so far, the oppressive nature of the government\u2019s directives to strangle a field it neither respects nor endorses is disquieting. The only surprise here then might be the timing, considering elections are just around the corner. <\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":4416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[2675,7839,6202,3367,7840,7841,33,6058,7842],"class_list":["post-4415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-academia","tag-academics","tag-funds","tag-government","tag-institutions","tag-political-agenda","tag-politics","tag-press","tag-scholars"],"yoast_head":"\nPhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-16T06:56:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1553599245.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Manik Sharma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Manik Sharma\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Manik Sharma\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76\"},\"headline\":\"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-16T06:56:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415\"},\"wordCount\":1003,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1553599245.png\",\"keywords\":[\"academia\",\"Academics\",\"funds\",\"government\",\"institutions\",\"political agenda\",\"politics\",\"press\",\"scholars\"],\"articleSection\":[\"POV\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415\",\"name\":\"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1553599245.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-16T06:56:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76\"},\"description\":\"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1553599245.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1553599245.png\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4415#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76\",\"name\":\"Manik Sharma\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Manik Sharma\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=137\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?","description":"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?","og_description":"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-06-16T06:56:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1553599245.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Manik Sharma","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?","twitter_description":"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Manik Sharma","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415"},"author":{"name":"Manik Sharma","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76"},"headline":"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?","datePublished":"2016-06-16T06:56:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415"},"wordCount":1003,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1553599245.png","keywords":["academia","Academics","funds","government","institutions","political agenda","politics","press","scholars"],"articleSection":["POV"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415","name":"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1553599245.png","datePublished":"2016-06-16T06:56:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76"},"description":"Meena T Pillai\u2019s resignation is only the latest fallout in a series of persistent attacks on India\u2019s academic institutions. A great number of teachers, scholars, and students whose work and livelihood depend on the state\u2019s funds have had their freedoms cut short by an idealistic pursuit of both intelligence and agenda.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1553599245.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1553599245.png","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4415#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PhD in \u201cNational Priority\u201d: Why Does Every Indian Government Have a Beef with Academics?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/8964d05835d3b635d4a359a761d57a76","name":"Manik Sharma","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11b5179257edb242d630c554e7f7b75fa4e35c1e6151c9c7d8f12d92e937bc08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Manik Sharma"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=137"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1553599245.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}