DU proposes axing Ambedkar from philosophy course: The TL;DR

The Standing Committee’s suggestion: According to sources, the suggestion to drop the course from BA Programme (Philosophy) was first made on May 8, and was discussed in the meeting of the department’s postgraduate and undergraduate curriculum committee held on May 12.

However, Standing Committee Chairperson and Dean of Colleges Balram Pani told The Indian Express that this suggestion was not given by the committee. “The suggestion was that new courses and old courses should be mixed together… We suggested philosophies of thinkers from all backgrounds should be added.”

Flipside: Sources say that there was indeed a suggestion to withdraw the course.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts Amitava Chakraborty, who was present in the May 8 meeting, told The Indian Express that among the various proposals made, a suggestion was “to align the contents of the course ‘Philosophy of B R Ambedkar’… and to offer courses of other philosophical thinkers of India representing different approaches and schools of thought, so that students have options to choose any thinker they wish to study.”

Read the full report here Delhi University panel proposes to drop course on Ambedkar, Philosophy dept opposes

The department’s response: The philosophy department’s curriculum committee resisted the proposal to remove the paper noting that “Ambedkar is an indigenous thinker representative of the social aspirations of a majority of people in the country.” The department further pointed out that research on Ambedkar is on the rise.

The fallout: On Monday, a sub-committee constituted by the Standing Committee to deliberate over the syllabus revision suggested that the elective on Ambedkar’s philosophy be retained. It suggested that a few other electives on other thinkers can be added to give the students more options.

What’s next: A member of the Standing Committee has said that no modifications to the curriculum had been made yet. The final decision on this front lies with the Academic Council, the apex decision-making body on academic matters.