Made by Academics, Marked by Politics: An Analytic Study of Gradually Vanishing Liberal Voices from Academic Curriculum

Abstract

This study will investigate the removal of liberal voices from Indian university curricula. It will further discuss the gradual shift that is taking place in academia and how the academic policies are increasingly suppressed by the ruling elites in India and around the world. The paper will review the removal of Arundhati Roy’s "Walking with the Comrades" from Manomaniam Sundaranar University and Mahasweta Devi’s "Draupadi" from the Delhi University syllabus by naming them as anti-national and inappropriate for the students. The paper will also investigate the texts queued for exclusion from academic curricula. The paper will be a critical reflection of how liberal thoughts have been continuously marginalized in Indian educational institutions. And highlight the larger pattern of undemocratic encroachment on higher education, where curriculum censorship is undermining democratic values, freedom of expression, and critical thinking from the academia.The paper will draw attention to a governance theory, a critical theory, and an institutional perspective, and critiques the use of censorship by ruling elites as a strategy to shut out dissent and promote ideologically aligned narratives in the education system. The Study will explore the broader consequences of authoritarianism on democratic educational patterns and its impact on the intellectual perspective of students and on literary studies, paving the way for a deeper understanding of academic censorship and the evolving role of the humanities in a politically changed climate.