The Crossbill News Desk
The Delhi University administration has called off one of the Delhi School of Economics’ longest-running academic seminars, drawing criticism from faculty members who described the move as arbitrary and without explanation.
The seminar, titled ‘Land, Property and Democratic Rights,’ was scheduled for October 31 as part of the Department of Sociology’s long-standing ‘Friday Colloquium’ series.
Dr. Namita Wahi, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, was slated to speak on constitutional changes and judicial interpretations of the Right to Property, The Wire reported.
According to faculty members, the direction to cancel the event came from Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh and Registrar Vikas Gupta, though no formal reason was communicated.
Sociologist Nandini Sundar, who convened the colloquium and teaches at DSE, expressed her dissent publicly.
“Since I can no longer guarantee the intellectual integrity of the research colloquium and that it will not be cancelled arbitrarily at the last minute, I have resigned as convenor of the colloquium,” she wrote on social media.
Sundar further claimed that the event was cancelled without any formal reasons given.
“No reasons for the cancellation were given, in writing or otherwise, so we can only speculate that the RSS-led Government is scared of any discussion around land and democratic rights,” she wrote further in her social media note.
In her post, she described the Friday Colloquium as one of the “oldest institutions of the Department of Sociology, at the Delhi School of Economics, and has functioned independently through the Emergency and all the other decades since the dept was set up.”
“The colloquium is not like any other seminar being cancelled – something we have sadly become inured to in the last decade. It was part of our teaching practice and graduate students are required to attend. It was a space for serious discussion where our students interacted with some very fine minds, and speakers came away impressed by the quality of our students,” she added.
The seminar, titled ‘Land, Property and Democratic Rights,’ was scheduled for October 31 as part of the Department of Sociology’s long-standing ‘Friday Colloquium’ series.
Dr. Namita Wahi, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, was slated to speak on constitutional changes and judicial interpretations of the Right to Property, The Wire reported.
According to faculty members, the direction to cancel the event came from Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh and Registrar Vikas Gupta, though no formal reason was communicated.
Sociologist Nandini Sundar, who convened the colloquium and teaches at DSE, expressed her dissent publicly.
“Since I can no longer guarantee the intellectual integrity of the research colloquium and that it will not be cancelled arbitrarily at the last minute, I have resigned as convenor of the colloquium,” she wrote on social media.
Sundar further claimed that the event was cancelled without any formal reasons given.
“No reasons for the cancellation were given, in writing or otherwise, so we can only speculate that the RSS-led Government is scared of any discussion around land and democratic rights,” she wrote further in her social media note.
In her post, she described the Friday Colloquium as one of the “oldest institutions of the Department of Sociology, at the Delhi School of Economics, and has functioned independently through the Emergency and all the other decades since the dept was set up.”
“The colloquium is not like any other seminar being cancelled – something we have sadly become inured to in the last decade. It was part of our teaching practice and graduate students are required to attend. It was a space for serious discussion where our students interacted with some very fine minds, and speakers came away impressed by the quality of our students,” she added.
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