Issued by academics, teachers and concerned members of the academic community, on an initiative by Democratic Teachers’ Initiative

We, the undersigned, wish to draw your attention to an email communication issued by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, to the Registrars of several Central Universities on 27 September 2026, marked “Urgent” and seeking comments and information concerning courses and prescribed readings.

The email refers to a communication received from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and seeks comments from the concerned universities on an anonymous post on X, along with details of the number of students enrolled in the courses mentioned in that post. The X post listed readings from the curricula of different universities, including major works by B.R. Ambedkar, Jyotirao Phule, E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, Gail Omvedt, Sharmila Rege, Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, Uma Chakravarti and other scholars.

Our concern is not merely about the particular books or readings mentioned in the post. It is about the institutional process through which an academic matter has been taken up in the first place.

Curriculum-making is a core academic function of a university. The selection, revision and evaluation of prescribed readings ought to be deliberated upon through the established academic and statutory bodies of the university—Departments, Boards of Studies, Faculties, Schools and Academic Councils—where subject experts assess the scholarly relevance, disciplinary value and pedagogical purpose of particular texts.

The autonomy of Central Universities derives from their statutory status under their respective Acts of Parliament, together with the academic and administrative structures established under those Acts, statutes and ordinances. Such institutional autonomy is fundamental to the functioning of universities and protects academic decision-making from arbitrary governmental, political or external interference.

It is therefore deeply concerning if duly approved academic curricula and teaching-learning processes are subjected to scrutiny on the basis of an anonymous social-media post, particularly when the post characterises scholarly works through politically charged labels such as “anti-Hindu” or “leftist.”

The reference to the Prime Minister’s Office in an official communication is particularly significant. If academic curricula are to be examined or questioned through executive channels in response to anonymous social-media complaints, it raises serious questions about the appropriate boundaries between executive authority and the statutory academic institutions of universities. Such a process may also have a chilling effect on teachers, researchers and academic bodies, discouraging the study and teaching of contested or politically sensitive subjects.

The issue assumes even greater significance because several of the works mentioned concern foundational questions of caste, social inequality, gender, religion, democracy and political thought. Universities must remain spaces in which such works can be studied critically, debated rigorously, contextualised and, where necessary, challenged through scholarly argument. Their academic and pedagogical value cannot appropriately be determined by their perceived political acceptability.

We are also concerned to note that, based on the information presently available to us, the communication appears to have been issued directly by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, rather than being a communication forwarded by the UGC. If this is indeed the case, it is important that the UGC clearly affirm that such executive interventions cannot substitute for, or circumvent, the established academic procedures of universities.

Boards of Studies, Departmental Committees, Faculties and Academic Councils must not be undermined by interventions triggered by anonymous, unverified or politically motivated sources. Nor should the disciplinary competence of teachers and subject experts be subjected to indirect political scrutiny through such mechanisms. Executive communication should not become a substitute for established statutory and academic procedures.

We therefore urge the UGC to:

1. Clarify its position regarding the Ministry of Education communication dated 27.09.2026, including whether the UGC had any role in initiating, forwarding or facilitating the said communication.
2. If, as presently appears, the communication was issued directly by the Ministry of Education and was not forwarded by the UGC, publicly reaffirm the UGC’s commitment to the academic autonomy of universities and to established statutory procedures governing curriculum-making.
3. Denounce any attempt to interfere with the academic functioning of universities through anonymous social-media complaints or politically motivated scrutiny of prescribed readings, and make clear that such interventions cannot substitute for the deliberations of duly constituted academic bodies.
4. Urge the Ministry of Education to withdraw the communication dated 27.09.2026, or, at the very least, to clarify that it does not constitute a direction to review, reconsider or alter duly approved curricula outside the statutory procedures of the concerned universities.
5. Ensure that Boards of Studies, Departments, Faculties, Schools and Academic Councils retain their legitimate authority over curriculum and prescribed readings within their respective statutory frameworks.
6. Reaffirm that academic decisions must be based on scholarly and pedagogical considerations and determined through appropriate academic processes, rather than through executive scrutiny prompted by anonymous or unverified social-media material.

We believe that reaffirming these principles is essential not only for protecting the autonomy of Central Universities but also for preserving the integrity of Indian higher education and the freedom of teachers and students to engage critically with diverse intellectual traditions.

We therefore request the UGC to take cognisance of this matter, pursue the withdrawal of the Ministry’s communication with the Ministry of Education, and issue an appropriate clarification reaffirming non-interference in the established academic functioning of universities.

1. Irfan Habib — Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

2. N. Sukumar — Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

3. Zoya Hasan — Professor Emerita, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

4. Nivedita Menon — Professor (retd.), Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

5. Aditya Mukherjee — Professor (retd.), Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

6. Shobhit Mahajan — Professor (retd.), Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

7. Nandini Sundar — Professor of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

8. Mridula Mukherjee — Professor (retd.) and former Dean, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

9. Avijit Pathak — Professor (retd.), Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

10. Supriya Chaudhuri — Professor Emerita, Department of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal.

11. Sukanta Chaudhuri — Professor Emeritus, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal.

12. Jayati Ghosh — Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts, USA; formerly Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

13. Niraja Gopal Jayal – Professor (retd.), Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

14. Geetha B. Nambissan — Professor (retd.), Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

15. Anita Rampal — Professor (retd.), Department of Education, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

17. Poonam Batra — Professor (retd.), Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi, New Delhi.
18. Udaya Kumar — Professor (retd.), Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

18. Maitrayee Chaudhuri — Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

19. Pratiksha Baxi — Professor, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

20. Ayesha Kidwai — Professor, Centre for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

21. Sadhna Saxena — Professor (retd.), Department of Education, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

22. Apoorvanand — Professor, Department of Hindi, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

23. Madhu Sahni — Professor (retd.), Centre of German Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

24. Ipshita Chanda — Professor (retd.), Department of Comparative Literature and India Studies, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, Telangana.

25. Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra – Professor (retd.), Department of History, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

26. Janaki Nair — Professor (retd.), Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

27. Manisha Priyam — Professor, Department of Educational Policy, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi.

28. Perikala Kesava Kumar — Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

29. Rajiv Kumar Mandal — Professor (retd.), Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

30. Pramod Kumar Bagde — Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

31. Pratima Gond — Professor, Section of Sociology, Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

32. Pranay Krishan — Professor, Department of Hindi and Modern Indian Languages, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.

33. Agniv Ghosh — Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

34. Atul Sood – Former JNUTA President, Professor, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

35. Kena Wani – Assistant Professor, NLSIU, Bangalore, Karnataka.

36. Nandita Narayan – Professor (retd.), Department of Mathematics, St. Stephen’s College, Former DUTA President, University of Delhi.

37. Mithuraj Dhusiya, EC DUTA, Department of English, Hansraj College, University of Delhi.

38. Vikas Gupta – Professor, Former Academic Council Member, Department of History, University of Delhi.

39. Uma Gupta – Associate Professor, Department of Hindi, IP College, University of Delhi.

40. Ashutosh Kumar – Professor, Department of Hindi, University of Delhi.

41. Radhika Menon – Associate Professor, Mata Sundari College, Department of Education, University of Delhi.

42. Ashutosh Pandey – Professor, Satyawati College, Department of Hindi, University of Delhi.

43. Gopalji Pradhan – Professor, School of Letters, Ambedkar University Delhi.

44. Meera Vishwanathan – Historian, Delhi.

45. Mona Das – Associate Professor, Satyawati College, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi.

46. Manish Jain – Associate Professor, School of Education Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi.

47. Rina Ramdev – Professor, Department of English, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi.

48. Hriday Kant Dewan — Academic, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, Karnataka.
49. Debaditya Bhattacharya – Associate Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

50. Sandhya Devesan – Department of English, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi.
51. Kaustav Banerjee – Associate Professor, Global Studies, Ambedkar University Delhi.
52. Anuj Goyal – Department of Economics, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi.

53. Jitendra Meena – Academic Council member, Shyamlal College, Department of History, University of Delhi.
54. Ratanlal – Associate Professor, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi.
55. Latika Gupta – Assistant Professor, University of Delhi.
56. Suresh Babu – Professor, Zakir Hussain Centre for Education Studies, JNU.