Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

In a book release on Monday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Pranab Mukherjee was accompanied by a special guest, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. In his grace, Sen emphasized on the importance of autonomy in higher education, and voted that universities cannot be run like “government departments”.

Sen kept the point forward that  during the colonial times, universities weren’t given autonomy by the colonisers due to fear (of revolt or dissent) and that has remained as the university system has developed over the years. “This is the time for change. We wouldn’t have any great university in the world if it was run like a government department. The pursuit of independence and autonomy is central to the cause of a university,” inspired Sen. He introduced that a way to go forth with that would be to grant autonomy to more private universities and also provide endowments.

It is notable that this Indian prodigy has been surrounded by controversies in the recent times, accredited to the battle between CBFC and his documentary directed by much credited Suman Ghosh. Apparently, the CBFC has agreed to give a green signal to the documentary with the ‘U/A’ tag, but only after a few words are muted from the film. The words that the CBFC demands for muting are Cow, Gujarat, Hindutva and alike.

The reason, much unclear though, can be taken to be the fact that the rightist party BJP does not get along with the intellectual Amartya Sen, who is an atheist, and he returns the favour well.

The controversy has risen the question in many minds if fundamental rights like the Right to Freedom of Expression can really be exercised in the country anymore, grateful to the rising ‘intolerance’ among fellow citizens. Some even raise questions if the country is a democracy anymore or not.

As a record, CBFC has censored films like Udta Punjab and Lipstick Under My Burkha in the last two years, which was later waived off by the judiciary, only after having a few cuts. These moves, in an artist’s context, are restricting his/her exercise of Freedom of Expression. But, despite the CBFC’s command, Ghosh is all set to release the film without a single cut.

READ: ‘Indu Sarkar’: CBFC asks for 14 cuts in the film!

READ: The new “Lipstick Under My Burkha” poster criticised by CBFC chief!

By Rupal