New Delhi: Ashoka University has allocated one of the two courses taught by Sabyasachi Das, who resigned following political controversy over one of his research papers, to another teacher the student-run campus newspaper reported. The instructor for the second course has not been announced yet.
The update was reported by The Telegraph, which also noted that the economics department, which had earlier called a strike until Das was offered his role back, has also withdrawn this call “without any concessions being made publicly by the management.”
In a tweet on August 25, the student-run Edict tweeted an update: “Professor Sabyasachi Das’s two scheduled sections of Development Economics (ECO-3500), a mandatory course for all economics majors at Ashoka University, have now been allotted to other instructors. The course is offered every Monsoon semester. One of the sections (ECO-3500-1) will be taught by Professor Hemanshu Kumar in Das’s stead. The instructor details for the second section have not been updated as of yet.”
Classes for the current academic year began on Monday, August 28.
On the same day, The Wire had reported, Intelligence Bureau officials had visited the university, seeking to interview Das and faculty members of the economics department on his paper, ‘Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy’. This paper had sought to illustrate with the use of econometrics possible electoral manipulation in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The paper led to rounds of controversy, a chunk of it led by supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Das eventually resigned after the university first issued a statement distancing itself from Das’s paper and then said it would begin an inquiry into the paper.
Economics professor Pulapre Balakrishnan quit shortly afterwards, in solidarity. Later, Balakrishnan released a letter urging the university leaders to ensure that it does not lose its spirit of freedom.
The Telegraph report noted that the economics department teachers who had said that they would “find themselves unable to carry forward their teaching obligations, if Das was not offered the job he quit” and asked the management to stop evaluating faculty research withdrew the call after three days – “without any concessions being made publicly by the management.”
The report carries quotes by Jayati Ghosh, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the US, and Prabhat Patnaik, who taught economics at JNU and was vice-chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board. Both Ghosh and Patnaik noted that the reallocation of courses and the perceived sliding back into normalcy do not bode well for academic freedom. Patnaik said this attitude rules out “virtually all research in the social sciences.”