Source: This post on India’s Decline on the Academic Freedom Index has been created based on the article “India slipped on academic freedom index over the past decade: report” published in The Hindu on 8th October 2024.
Why in news?
India’s Academic Freedom Index rankings have significantly declined over the past decade.
About Academic Freedom Index (AFI)
About: The Academic Freedom Index (AFI) offers a distinct approach to understanding and evaluating academic freedom globally.
Released by: Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in collaboration with Scholars at Risk (SAR) and V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy)
Indicators: It measures actual levels of academic freedom using five key indicators: the freedom to conduct research and teach; the freedom of academic exchange and dissemination; institutional autonomy; campus integrity; and the freedom of academic and cultural expression.
Score Range: From 0 (indicating complete repression) to 1 (indicating full academic freedom).
Scores are derived from expert surveys and institutional data.
Annual report: The annual report, published as part of the “Free to Think” series by Scholars at Risk.
India’s Performance:
1. India’s score dropped from 0.6 to 0.2 between 2013 and 2023, marking the lowest score since the mid-1940s.
2. Scholars at Risk is a network of 665 universities worldwide, which monitors global threats to academic freedom.
3. The report states that the BJP-led Union government has been exerting political control over universities, often pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda.
4. Policies restricting student protests have been implemented, particularly at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and South Asian University (SAU).
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