Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
$stackFrame = (int) 1
$trace = [
	(int) 0 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php',
		'line' => (int) 2421,
		'function' => 'deprecationWarning',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.'
		]
	],
	(int) 1 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
		'line' => (int) 73,
		'function' => 'offsetGet',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'catslug'
		]
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php',
		'line' => (int) 610,
		'function' => 'printArticle',
		'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 120,
		'function' => 'invokeAction',
		'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 94,
		'function' => '_invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php',
		'line' => (int) 235,
		'function' => 'dispatch',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication',
		'object' => object(App\Application) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 162,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 88,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 96,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 51,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php',
		'line' => (int) 98,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php',
		'line' => (int) 39,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	]
]
$frame = [
	'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
	'line' => (int) 73,
	'function' => 'offsetGet',
	'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
	'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {
		trustProxy => false
		[protected] params => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] cookies => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _environment => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] url => 'latest-news-updates/historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583/print'
		[protected] base => ''
		[protected] webroot => '/'
		[protected] here => '/latest-news-updates/historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583/print'
		[protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] _input => null
		[protected] _detectors => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _detectorCache => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {}
		[protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {}
		[protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {}
		[protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] emulatedAttributes => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] protocol => null
		[protected] requestTarget => null
		[private] deprecatedProperties => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	},
	'type' => '->',
	'args' => [
		(int) 0 => 'catslug'
	]
]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 73
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
$message = 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
$stackFrame = (int) 1
$trace = [
	(int) 0 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ServerRequest.php',
		'line' => (int) 2421,
		'function' => 'deprecationWarning',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead.'
		]
	],
	(int) 1 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
		'line' => (int) 74,
		'function' => 'offsetGet',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => 'artileslug'
		]
	],
	(int) 2 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Controller/Controller.php',
		'line' => (int) 610,
		'function' => 'printArticle',
		'class' => 'App\Controller\ArtileDetailController',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 3 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 120,
		'function' => 'invokeAction',
		'class' => 'Cake\Controller\Controller',
		'object' => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	],
	(int) 4 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php',
		'line' => (int) 94,
		'function' => '_invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(App\Controller\ArtileDetailController) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 5 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/BaseApplication.php',
		'line' => (int) 235,
		'function' => 'dispatch',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 6 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\BaseApplication',
		'object' => object(App\Application) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 7 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 162,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 8 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 9 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 88,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 10 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 11 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php',
		'line' => (int) 96,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 12 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 65,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware',
		'object' => object(Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 13 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Runner.php',
		'line' => (int) 51,
		'function' => '__invoke',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 14 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Http/Server.php',
		'line' => (int) 98,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Runner',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Runner) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => [
			(int) 0 => object(Cake\Http\MiddlewareQueue) {},
			(int) 1 => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {},
			(int) 2 => object(Cake\Http\Response) {}
		]
	],
	(int) 15 => [
		'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/webroot/index.php',
		'line' => (int) 39,
		'function' => 'run',
		'class' => 'Cake\Http\Server',
		'object' => object(Cake\Http\Server) {},
		'type' => '->',
		'args' => []
	]
]
$frame = [
	'file' => '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php',
	'line' => (int) 74,
	'function' => 'offsetGet',
	'class' => 'Cake\Http\ServerRequest',
	'object' => object(Cake\Http\ServerRequest) {
		trustProxy => false
		[protected] params => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] data => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] query => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] cookies => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _environment => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] url => 'latest-news-updates/historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583/print'
		[protected] base => ''
		[protected] webroot => '/'
		[protected] here => '/latest-news-updates/historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583/print'
		[protected] trustedProxies => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] _input => null
		[protected] _detectors => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] _detectorCache => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] stream => object(Zend\Diactoros\PhpInputStream) {}
		[protected] uri => object(Zend\Diactoros\Uri) {}
		[protected] session => object(Cake\Http\Session) {}
		[protected] attributes => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] emulatedAttributes => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
		[protected] uploadedFiles => [[maximum depth reached]]
		[protected] protocol => null
		[protected] requestTarget => null
		[private] deprecatedProperties => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	},
	'type' => '->',
	'args' => [
		(int) 0 => 'artileslug'
	]
]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 74
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Code Context
            if (Configure::read('debug')) {

                trigger_error($message, E_USER_WARNING);

            } else {
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10583,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;education&#039;,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10583,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
		(int) 0 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 10472
$metaTitle = &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;
$metaKeywords = &#039;education&#039;
$metaDesc = &#039;

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <br /><div align="justify"><em>The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic<br /></em><br />Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.<br /><br />The essay, &ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.<br /><br />&ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.<br /><br />His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&rdquo;<br /><br />A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&rdquo; she added.<br /><br />In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&rdquo; he rued.<br /><br />Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.<br /><br />&ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&rdquo;<br /><br />University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.<br /><br />&ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,&rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.<br /><br />The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.</div>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$maxBufferLength = (int) 8192
$file = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php'
$line = (int) 853
$message = 'Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853'
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Code Context
            $response->getStatusCode(),

            ($reasonPhrase ? ' ' . $reasonPhrase : '')

        ));
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10583,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;education&#039;,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10583,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
		(int) 0 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 10472
$metaTitle = &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;
$metaKeywords = &#039;education&#039;
$metaDesc = &#039;

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <br /><div align="justify"><em>The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic<br /></em><br />Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.<br /><br />The essay, &ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.<br /><br />&ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.<br /><br />His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&rdquo;<br /><br />A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&rdquo; she added.<br /><br />In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&rdquo; he rued.<br /><br />Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.<br /><br />&ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&rdquo;<br /><br />University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.<br /><br />&ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,&rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.<br /><br />The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.</div>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$reasonPhrase = 'OK'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitStatusLine() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 54
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Code Context
                    $value

                ), $first);

                $first = false;
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {

	'status' => (int) 200,
	'contentType' => 'text/html',
	'headers' => [
		'Content-Type' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		]
	],
	'file' => null,
	'fileRange' => [],
	'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
	'cacheDirectives' => [],
	'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
        "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&lt;link&nbsp;rel="canonical"&nbsp;href="<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">);&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>/<span style="color: #0000BB">&lt;?php&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">echo&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-&gt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?&gt;</span>.html"/&gt;
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta&nbsp;http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type"&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html;&nbsp;charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/&gt;
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr68004a2b299d4-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = &#039;/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp&#039;
$dataForView = [
	&#039;article_current&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
		&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
		&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece&#039;,
		&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
		&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
		&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
		&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583&#039;,
		&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
		&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
		&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10583,
		&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
		&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
		&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [[maximum depth reached]],
		&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;
	
	},
	&#039;articleid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
	&#039;metaTitle&#039; =&gt; &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
	&#039;metaKeywords&#039; =&gt; &#039;education&#039;,
	&#039;metaDesc&#039; =&gt; &#039;

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;English&#039;,
	&#039;SITE_URL&#039; =&gt; &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;,
	&#039;site_title&#039; =&gt; &#039;im4change&#039;,
	&#039;adminprix&#039; =&gt; &#039;admin&#039;
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	&#039;id&#039; =&gt; (int) 10472,
	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;,
	&#039;subheading&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;description&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;
&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
	&#039;credit_writer&#039; =&gt; &#039;The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece&#039;,
	&#039;article_img&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;article_img_thumb&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;status&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;show_on_home&#039; =&gt; (int) 1,
	&#039;lang&#039; =&gt; &#039;EN&#039;,
	&#039;category_id&#039; =&gt; (int) 16,
	&#039;tag_keyword&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;seo_url&#039; =&gt; &#039;historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583&#039;,
	&#039;meta_title&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_keywords&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;meta_description&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;noindex&#039; =&gt; (int) 0,
	&#039;publish_date&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	&#039;most_visit_section_id&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;article_big_img&#039; =&gt; null,
	&#039;liveid&#039; =&gt; (int) 10583,
	&#039;created&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;modified&#039; =&gt; object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	&#039;edate&#039; =&gt; &#039;&#039;,
	&#039;tags&#039; =&gt; [
		(int) 0 =&gt; object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	&#039;category&#039; =&gt; object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	&#039;[new]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[accessible]&#039; =&gt; [
		&#039;*&#039; =&gt; true,
		&#039;id&#039; =&gt; false
	],
	&#039;[dirty]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[original]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[virtual]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[hasErrors]&#039; =&gt; false,
	&#039;[errors]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[invalid]&#039; =&gt; [],
	&#039;[repository]&#039; =&gt; &#039;Articles&#039;

}
$articleid = (int) 10472
$metaTitle = &#039;LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN&#039;
$metaKeywords = &#039;education&#039;
$metaDesc = &#039;

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &amp;mdash; the Academic Council&#039;s recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay, &amp;ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&amp;rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&amp;rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &amp;ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &amp;ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&amp;rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &amp;ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&amp;rdquo; she added.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &amp;ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&amp;rdquo; he rued.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &amp;ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department&#039;s views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&amp;rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&amp;rdquo;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita&#039;s father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don&#039;t want to teach such things to our students,&amp;rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
$lang = &#039;English&#039;
$SITE_URL = &#039;https://im4change.in/&#039;
$site_title = &#039;im4change&#039;
$adminprix = &#039;admin&#039;</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583.html"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
          media="all"/>
    <title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN | Im4change.org</title>
    <meta name="description" content="

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from..."/>
    <script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
    <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function () {
            var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
            var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
            $("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
                .attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
                .load(function () {
                    pic_real_width = this.width;   // Note: $(this).width() will not
                    pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
                });
        });
    </script>
    <style type="text/css">
        @media screen {
            div.divFooter {
                display: block;
            }
        }

        @media print {
            .printbutton {
                display: none !important;
            }
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="top_bg">
            <div class="divFooter">
                <img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
                     alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
            </div>

        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td id="topspace">&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr id="topspace">
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td width="100%">
            <h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
                <strong>Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN</strong></h1>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
                <br /><div align="justify"><em>The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic<br /></em><br />Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.<br /><br />The essay, &ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.<br /><br />&ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.<br /><br />His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&rdquo;<br /><br />A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&rdquo; she added.<br /><br />In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&rdquo; he rued.<br /><br />Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.<br /><br />&ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&rdquo;<br /><br />University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.<br /><br />&ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,&rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.<br /><br />The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.</div>               </font>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>&nbsp;</td>
    </tr>

    <tr>
        <td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
            <form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
                         onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
        </td>
    </tr>
</table></body>
</html>'

}
$cookies = []
$values = [
	(int) 0 => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
]
$name = 'Content-Type'
$first = true
$value = 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitHeaders() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 55
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39

<head>

    <link rel="canonical" href="<?php echo Configure::read('SITE_URL'); ?><?php echo $urlPrefix;?><?php echo $article_current->category->slug; ?>/<?php echo $article_current->seo_url; ?>.html"/>

    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>

$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp'
$dataForView = [
	'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

		'id' => (int) 10472,
		'title' => 'Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN',
		'subheading' => '',
		'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
<em>The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic<br />
</em><br />
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.<br />
<br />
The essay, &ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.<br />
<br />
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&rdquo; she added.<br />
<br />
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&rdquo; he rued.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,&rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.<br />
<br />
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
</div>',
		'credit_writer' => 'The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece',
		'article_img' => '',
		'article_img_thumb' => '',
		'status' => (int) 1,
		'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
		'lang' => 'EN',
		'category_id' => (int) 16,
		'tag_keyword' => '',
		'seo_url' => 'historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583',
		'meta_title' => null,
		'meta_keywords' => null,
		'meta_description' => null,
		'noindex' => (int) 0,
		'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
		'most_visit_section_id' => null,
		'article_big_img' => null,
		'liveid' => (int) 10583,
		'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
		'edate' => '',
		'tags' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
		'[new]' => false,
		'[accessible]' => [
			[maximum depth reached]
		],
		'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[hasErrors]' => false,
		'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
		'[repository]' => 'Articles'
	
	},
	'articleid' => (int) 10472,
	'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN',
	'metaKeywords' => 'education',
	'metaDesc' => '

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from...',
	'disp' => '<br /><div align="justify"><em>The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic<br /></em><br />Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.<br /><br />The essay, &ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.<br /><br />&ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.<br /><br />His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&rdquo;<br /><br />A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&rdquo; she added.<br /><br />In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&rdquo; he rued.<br /><br />Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.<br /><br />&ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&rdquo;<br /><br />University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.<br /><br />&ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,&rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.<br /><br />The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.</div>',
	'lang' => 'English',
	'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/',
	'site_title' => 'im4change',
	'adminprix' => 'admin'
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {

	'id' => (int) 10472,
	'title' => 'Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN',
	'subheading' => '',
	'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
<em>The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic<br />
</em><br />
Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.<br />
<br />
The essay, &ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.<br />
<br />
His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&rdquo; she added.<br />
<br />
In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&rdquo; he rued.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&rdquo;<br />
<br />
University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,&rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.<br />
<br />
The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.
</div>',
	'credit_writer' => 'The Hindu, 15 October, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article2539006.ece',
	'article_img' => '',
	'article_img_thumb' => '',
	'status' => (int) 1,
	'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
	'lang' => 'EN',
	'category_id' => (int) 16,
	'tag_keyword' => '',
	'seo_url' => 'historians-protest-as-delhi-university-purges-ramayana-essay-from-syllabus-by-vijetha-sn-10583',
	'meta_title' => null,
	'meta_keywords' => null,
	'meta_description' => null,
	'noindex' => (int) 0,
	'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
	'most_visit_section_id' => null,
	'article_big_img' => null,
	'liveid' => (int) 10583,
	'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
	'edate' => '',
	'tags' => [
		(int) 0 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
	],
	'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
	'[new]' => false,
	'[accessible]' => [
		'*' => true,
		'id' => false
	],
	'[dirty]' => [],
	'[original]' => [],
	'[virtual]' => [],
	'[hasErrors]' => false,
	'[errors]' => [],
	'[invalid]' => [],
	'[repository]' => 'Articles'

}
$articleid = (int) 10472
$metaTitle = 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN'
$metaKeywords = 'education'
$metaDesc = '

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic

Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from...'
$disp = '<br /><div align="justify"><em>The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic<br /></em><br />Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason &mdash; the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department.<br /><br />The essay, &ldquo;Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,&rdquo; which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented.<br /><br />&ldquo;This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,&rdquo; said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay.<br /><br />His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. &ldquo;This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.&rdquo;<br /><br />A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. &ldquo;The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,&rdquo; said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. &ldquo;There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?&rdquo; she added.<br /><br />In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. &ldquo;What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,&rdquo; he rued.<br /><br />Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. &ldquo;They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,&rdquo; said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it.<br /><br />&ldquo;We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.&rdquo;<br /><br />University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court.<br /><br />&ldquo;The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,&rdquo; said a university official not wishing to be named.<br /><br />The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.</div>'
$lang = 'English'
$SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/'
$site_title = 'im4change'
$adminprix = 'admin'

include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51

Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus by Vijetha SN

The essay attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the epic Most academicians at Delhi University are feeling betrayed by their own fraternity, the reason — the Academic Council's recent decision to drop from the history syllabus a celebrated essay by the late scholar and linguist A.K. Ramanujan on the Ramayana, despite intense opposition from the history department. The essay, “Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on translations,” which forms part of the B.A. History (Honours) course, had attracted the ire of Hindutva activists because it talks about 300 different versions of the Ramayana that abound in our country and beyond. And when the decision to scrap the course was put to vote at the Academic Council meeting this past Sunday, only nine of the 120 members dissented. “This is definitely not an academic decision but a glaring example of an academic institution succumbing to pressure from the right wing. The Council has severely compromised on its standards and has conveyed to our students the message that only the ideology that is supported by the majority will be accepted,” said Academic Council member Rakesh Kumar, who was one among the nine to express a dissenting opinion against scrapping of the essay. His opinion is echoed by the present department head, Professor R.C. Thakran. “This essay is rich in academic content and there have been two resolutions in the past in which the history department unanimously agreed that as far as history as a subject is concerned, this piece is important for our students. But the resolution of the Academic Council is binding and we cannot really do anything further about this.” A writ petition had been filed in the High Court on the grounds that the essay hurt religious sentiments. The matter was then taken up by the Supreme Court, which directed the university to seek the opinion of experts and place it before the Academic Council. “The names of the expert team were kept confidential, three of the four members were happy with the essay but the fourth member expressed an opinion that second year students may find it difficult. Nothing religiously offensive was found by these experts,” said Professor Renu Bala, another dissenting Academic Council member. “There was no need to even ask for a vote. The essay should have been kept on its academic merit. Our culture is diverse and so are our legends. We give these students the right to vote when they turn 18, so why not the right to think?” she added. In 2008, activists from the BJP-backed, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had barged into the History Department and vandalised the place, forcing the then department head Professor S.Z.H. Jafri to hide in his own office. “What is the value of my opinion? When the Academic Council has passed this resolution, the history department has no choice,” he rued. Meanwhile, academics are incensed with the manner in which the essay was scrapped. “They had no regard for the report of the expert committee, the history department's views or the arguments put forth by the dissenting members. The Vice-Chancellor just told the Academic Council that the essay should be deleted in the interests of the university and they voted in his favour. This decision conveys to our students that there is no space for dissenting voices,” said Executive Council member, Abha Dev Habib, who had, as an Academic Council member in 2008, been among those who had supported the continuation of the essay despite the controversy surrounding it. “We are disappointed with the Vice-Chancellor, who despite being an academician has indulged in such a regressive act. By removing such texts, a sort of fascism is being encouraged, no educationist will be happy with such a decision.” University officials, however, state that the entire matter is a non-issue and that the whole matter was taken up for hearing by the Academic Council only because they had to provide an answer to the Supreme Court. “The essay says things like Ravana was Sita's father and that Rama and Sita were siblings, so obviously we don't want to teach such things to our students,” said a university official not wishing to be named. The essay will now be replaced with essays by Romila Thapar and R.S. Sharma.