Here is a piece of news item from The Hindu.
Historian Romila Thapar asked a full house of Delhi’s intelligentsia on
Sunday why changes in syllabi and objections to books were not being
challenged.
Prof. Thapar was delivering the third Nikhil Chakravartty Memorial
Lecture here on Sunday, titled ‘To Question or not to Question: That is
the Question.”
“There are more academics in existence than ever before but most prefer
not to confront authority even if it debars the path of free thinking.
Is this because they wish to pursue knowledge undisturbed or because
they are ready to discard knowledge, should authority require them to do
so,” the eminent historian asked.
... When it comes to religious identities and their
politics, we witness hate campaigns based on absurd fantasies about
specific religions and we no longer confront them frontally. Such
questioning means being critical of organisations and institutions that
claim a religious intention but use their authority for non-religious
purposes,” she said.
Prof. Thapar rued the fact that not only were public intellectuals
missing from the front lines of defending liberal values, but also
alleged a deliberate conspiracy to enforce what she termed a “Lowest
Common Denominator” education.
“It is not that we are bereft of people who can think autonomously and
ask relevant questions. But frequently where there should be voices,
there is silence. Are we all being co-opted too easily by the comforts
of conforming,” she asked.
Her audio lecture is available here.
No comments:
Post a Comment