Nagpur University Stirs Row After Adding BJP, Removing Communist Party from Syllabus – News18

The Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University in Maharashtra has stirred a political controversy in the state with recent changes in the syllabus for its Master in Arts curriculum. The university’s decision to include the history of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its Masters in Arts (MA) 4th Semester syllabus and to remove the history of the Communist Party has drawn criticism from opposition parties.

The Nagpur University has decided to replace the history of the Communist Party with that of the regional parties.

Students in Nagpur University’s MA programme, starting their fourth semester after Diwali, will now study subjects like the history of BJP and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Previously, the university taught about Jan Sangh alongside the history of Congress.

These changes have been approved by the Board of Practice of the History Department at Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University. As a result of updates necessitated by the National Education Policy, the MA History course’s fourth semester underwent some modifications.

The Nagpur University, in 2019, incorporated the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) into its BA syllabus, continuing a trend of syllabus modifications.

Moreover, the course will now cover the BJP’s growth after the Jana Sangh period, discussing its formation and role in providing a stable government at the Centre. This course is optional for students. The curriculum will also explore significant movements from 1980 to 2000, including the impactful Ram Janmabhoomi movement, which changed the course of Indian politics forever.

However, these adjustments have caused some disagreement, with the Congress expressing concerns about the updated syllabus.

Earlier, the Delhi University Academic Council (AC) made several alterations to elective papers in the Economics curriculum for undergraduate students. These changes involve substituting the paper ‘Economics of Discrimination’ with ‘Economic Thought of Ambedkar’. The paper on ‘Production Relations and Globalisation’ was passed with minor modifications, and the reading list for the ‘Economy, State, and Society’ paper was revamped. This new paper will be introduced in the current academic session of 2023-24 and will become part of the university’s Economics syllabus for undergraduates.

Yogesh Singh, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi, formed a committee of six members to review the Economics syllabus. Some members of the Academic Council who disagree with the changes argue that this approach will bypass the democratic process of syllabus development.