Andre Béteille | 1934-2026: Teacher, thinker and scholar, a founding father of sociology in India

Béteille, one of India’s most influential sociologists and a scholar whose work reshaped the study of caste, class, and inequality in the subcontinent, died on Tuesday night in New Delhi after a prolonged, age-related illness. He was 91.

5 min readNew DelhiFeb 5, 2026 09:09 AM IST

Andre Beteille

Some mornings at the Delhi School of Economics in the 1990s, before the gates opened and the corridors filled with teachers and students, André Béteille would be already inside. Even if he had to climb over the railing to reach his ground-floor office.

“He was one of those institution people who was there every day in his office from 8.30 in the morning to at least 5 o’clock,” said Janaki Abraham, professor of Sociology at DSE and one of Béteille’s former students. “Sometimes, if he had work, he would stay longer.”

“He would be walking up and down, or talking to students,” Abraham said. “He loved talking to students.”

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Béteille, one of India’s most influential sociologists and a scholar whose work reshaped the study of caste, class, and inequality in the subcontinent, died on Tuesday night in New Delhi after a prolonged, age-related illness. He was 91.

Born in West Bengal to a French father and an Indian mother, Béteille grew up navigating cultures, languages, and traditions. After completing his MA at Calcutta University, he moved to Delhi in 1959.

Sociology was still a new discipline in India then, and the department at D School had just one other professor, its founder M N Srinivas. Over the next few decades, Srinivas and Béteille would turn the department into a national and international centre of sociological thought.

Béteille taught at D School until his retirement in 1999. He wrote on caste, landholding structures, political institutions, education, and social justice, always in language that was accessible to students. Among his best known works are Caste, Class and Power (1965), Society and Politics in India (1991), and Equality and Universality: Essays in Social and Political Theory (2002). Béteille was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2005 for his contribution to literature and education.

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‘What I’d start with is just what a dedicated teacher he was,” Abraham said. “His lectures were always crystal clear.” Béteille taught kinship, sociological theory, political sociology, and was very influenced by the British social anthropologists Evans Pritchard and Meyer Fortes, she added.

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Those who knew him agree that teaching was central to his life. “He wrote several books and received many awards,” Abhijit Dasgupta, former head of the sociology department at D School said. “But teaching mattered most to him.”

From 1959 to 1999, Dasgupta said, Béteille “never missed any classes,” except for a handful of visiting fellowships abroad. He was also unfailingly accessible – what distinguished him, his peers and students recalled, was how seriously he took students.

“Whether you were a student or older, he treated you as an equal. He genuinely wanted to hear what you were saying,” Abraham said. He would read students’ work closely and quickly – “Within a couple of days, he would tell you, ‘I’ve read it; you can come and discuss it’,” Abraham said. And he would share his own writing with the same openness.

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Dasgupta recalled an incident when a scholarship selection committee had to choose between two candidates who were tied on merit, but one of whom was from an economically weaker section. Béteille argued that the student from the disadvantaged background should be supported.

“He strongly believed in affirmative action. If all other things are equal, preference should be given to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, [Béteille believed],” Dasgupta said.

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“But what comes to mind among my memories of my father is his love for literature and poetry,” Béteille’s elder daughter, Radha Béteille, told The Indian Express. “And his ability to hold a tune – he could whistle a whole Tagore song effortlessly.”

His younger daughter, Tara Béteille, remembered the long walks through the Ridge and the university gardens. “My father loved the company of children. He had infinite patience with them, and treated them like mini adults,” she said. “We had so much to chat about – from the solar system to poetry to soccer. He was also an excellent singer, which many people may not know.”

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After retiring from the University of Delhi, Béteille was associated with the Indian Council of Social Science Research and later Ashoka University, where he served as Chancellor from 2014 to 2017.

In a tribute posted on X, historian Ramachandra Guha described Béteille as “a moral and intellectual anchor”, and “the Indian scholar I most admired”.

Vidheesha Kuntamalla

Vidheesha Kuntamalla is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express, based in New Delhi. She is known for her investigative reporting on higher education policy, international student immigration, and academic freedom on university campuses. Her work consistently connects policy decisions with lived realities, foregrounding how administrative actions, political pressure, and global shifts affect students, faculty, and institutions. Professional Profile Core Beat: Vidheesha covers education in Delhi and nationally, reporting on major public institutions including the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Jamia Millia Islamia, the IITs, and the IIMs. She also reports extensively on private and government schools in the National Capital Region. Prior to joining The Indian Express, she worked as a freelance journalist in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for over a year, covering politics, rural issues, women-centric issues, and social justice. Specialisation: She has developed a strong niche in reporting on the Indian student diaspora, particularly the challenges faced by Indian students and H-1B holders in the United States. Her work examines how geopolitical shifts, immigration policy changes, and campus politics impact global education mobility. She has also reported widely on: * Mental health crises and student suicides at IITs * Policy responses to campus mental health * Academic freedom and institutional clampdowns at JNU, South Asian University (SAU), and Delhi University * Curriculum and syllabus changes under the National Education Policy Her recent reporting has included deeply reported human stories on policy changes during the Trump administration and their consequences for Indian students and researchers in the US. Reporting Style Vidheesha is recognised for a human-centric approach to policy reporting, combining investigative depth with intimate storytelling. Her work often highlights the anxieties of students and faculty navigating bureaucratic uncertainty, legal precarity, and institutional pressure. She regularly works with court records, internal documents, official data, and disciplinary frameworks to expose structural challenges to academic freedom. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2024 & 2025) 1. Express Investigation Series JNU’s fault lines move from campus to court: University fights students and faculty (November 2025) An Indian Express investigation found that since 2011, JNU has appeared in over 600 cases before the Delhi High Court, filed by the administration, faculty, staff, students, and contractual workers across the tenures of three Vice-Chancellors. JNU’s legal wars with students and faculty pile up under 3 V-Cs | Rs 30-lakh fines chill campus dissent (November 2025) The report traced how steep monetary penalties — now codified in the Chief Proctor’s Office Manual — are reshaping dissent and disciplinary action on campus. 2. International Education & Immigration ‘Free for a day. Then came ICE’: Acquitted after 43 years, Indian-origin man faces deportation — to a country he has never known (October 2025) H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear? (September 2025) Khammam to Dallas, Jhansi to Seattle — audacious journeys in pursuit of the American dream after H-1B visa fee hike (September 2025) What a proposed 15% cap on foreign admissions in the US could mean for Indian students (October 2025) Anxiety on campus after Trump says visas of pro-Palestinian protesters will be cancelled (January 2025) ‘I couldn’t believe it’: F-1 status of some Indian students restored after US reverses abrupt visa terminations (April 2025) 3. Academic Freedom & Policy Exclusive: South Asian University fires professor for ‘inciting students’ during stipend protests (September 2025) Exclusive: Ministry seeks explanation from JNU V-C for skipping Centre’s meet, views absence ‘seriously’ (July 2025) SAU rows after Noam Chomsky mentions PM Modi, Lankan scholar resigns, PhD student exits SAU A series of five stories examining shrinking academic freedom at South Asian University after global scholar Noam Chomsky referenced Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an academic interaction, triggering administrative unease and renewed debate over political speech, surveillance, and institutional autonomy on Indian campuses. 4. Mental Health on Campuses In post-pandemic years, counselling rooms at IITs are busier than ever; IIT-wise data shows why (August 2025) Campus suicides: IIT-Delhi panel flags toxic competition, caste bias, burnout (April 2025) 5. Delhi Schools These Delhi government school grads are now success stories. Here’s what worked — and what didn’t (February 2025) ‘Ma’am… may I share something?’ Growing up online and alone, why Delhi’s teens are reaching out (December 2025) ... Read More

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