Letters to The Editor — May 7, 2025
'Civil defence' drills
The drills amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan put us in a certain mode of uncertainty about the future. Nobody knows how a war will pan out, but everybody knows that it will exact a terrible cost. A war between two nuclear-armed neighbours can be described in one word — 'annihilation'. In this day and age, a war does not produce a winner. Alternatives to war should be tried. Instead of being swayed by nationalist and religious sentiments, they must hold themselves back from fighting a war by some sense of self-preservation.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
Karl Marx statue
While the plan to have a statue of Karl Marx in Chennai is one that should be appreciated, it is hoped that there will be a change and that it will be installed opposite the Triumph of Labour statue on Marina Beach as Marx stood for the triumph of labour. The plan to have it at the entrance of the Connemara Public Library should be changed as it should not become another museum piece.
N.G.R. Prasad,
Chennai
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Hindustan Times
29-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Doctors, teachers and junior bankers of the world, unite!
The best place to consider class consciousness in Britain today is beneath the canvas of a £283-per-night ($381) yurt at Hay Festival, a literary jamboree in Wales. Revolutionary fervour is building among those who 'glamp', as if someone had given Colonel Qaddafi a subscription to the London Review of Books. Class consciousness is a simple concept. Before an oppressed class can throw off their shackles, they must know how hard they have it. Karl Marx had workers in mind when he devised it. Increasingly those who are most aggrieved in British society are not those at the bottom but those stuck in the middle. Overtaxed by the state, underpaid by their employers and overlooked by politicians, middle-class consciousness is growing. It started with Brexit. For many in the middle class—the relatively well-off, well-educated band of voters who make up about a third of the country—this was a radicalising moment. Comfortable lives were rudely interrupted by politics. Marches against Britain's departure from the eu represented the 'id of the liberal middle classes', argues Morgan Jones in 'No Second Chances', a forthcoming book about the campaign to undo Brexit. Britain's middle class is less disparate than it seems. The banker and the bookseller have much in common. Even those in normal jobs now face high marginal-tax rates. Strangely, the Conservatives bequeathed an overly progressive tax system to Labour. Direct taxes on median earners have never been lower; those who earn even slightly above are hammered. What ails a junior banker today will haunt a teacher tomorrow. If teachers accept a proposed 4% pay rise, the salary of the median teacher will hit £51,000—shunting them into the 40% tax bracket. A tax bracket designed for the richest will soon hit a put-upon English teacher watching 'The Verb', Radio 4's poetry show, in a tent near the Welsh border. It should be no surprise that middle-class unions are now the most militant. Resident doctors—formerly called 'junior'—were offered 5.4% by the government, but the British Medical Association has called a strike ballot. It wants almost 30%. This would be its 12th strike since 2023. Labour had tried to buy goodwill by agreeing a pay rise worth 22% in 2024. It did not work. 'Bank and build' is the mantra of the middle-class Mensheviks. Before their stonking pay rise, doctors liked to point out that some young doctors earned less than a barista in Pret A Manger. It was a delicate point. Everyone likes doctors; no one likes snobs. Yet it is a grievance that afflicts an increasing number of middle-class workers. Graduate salaries are often squished in real terms while the minimum wage cranks ever higher. Cleaners and barmen enjoy better pay thanks to the state; middle-class jobs are left at the mercy of the market. The gap between a publisher on a jolly in the Welsh countryside and the person serving them gourmet macaroni cheese is shrinking. Some do not like this. The history of class in Britain is the history of status anxiety. Partly, middle-class consciousness is a defensive move. When Labour looks to raise money, broad-based tax rises are ruled out. That means niche attacks on the middle classes are in. Pension pots are a tempting target. The Treasury gazes longingly at ISAs, the tax-free saving accounts that are a tremendous bung to middle-class people. Middle England feels about ISAs the same way rural America feels about shotguns. Being ignored and, at times, abused by politicians is a new sensation for the middle classes. For decades, their wants and needs drove political debate. As recently as 2017, entire books were written about the exclusion of the working class from British politics, arguing that the middle classes had a monopoly on political attention. Brexit inverted this deal. Now every major party (except the Liberal Democrats, who speak for England's most prosperous corners) falls over itself to offer something to an imagined working-class voter. If Brexit taught anything, it was that voters in want of attention eventually throw a tantrum. Aux barricades, doc It is easy to mock the middle class. Perhaps the well-off whingeing about their tax burden, or taking to the streets because a holiday in Europe is now less convenient, is inherently ridiculous (much like spending £283 on a night in a yurt). Politicians can overlook such voters only for so long. It is hard to rule without them; they are simply too numerous to ignore. From the grumpy Remainer to the junior banker scouring Reddit for ways to cut his tax bill to the doctor on the picket line, middle-class consciousness is spreading. Few are content—least of all those in a luxury tent. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
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Business Standard
23-05-2025
- Business Standard
DU Executive Council's curriculum changes spark protest from faculty
Delhi University's Executive Council (EC), in its 1,275th meeting on Friday, approved sweeping changes to the syllabus across departments including Psychology, Sociology, and English. It also cleared new academic programmes in journalism and nuclear medicine, introduced uniform rules on teacher seniority, and took key administrative decisions. Curriculum revamp: Psychology and Sociology The elective paper Psychology of Peace will no longer include case studies on conflict. Instead, it will incorporate Indian epics to illustrate peace and conflict resolution. A unit on dating apps has also been removed from the Relationship Science paper. In Sociology, foundational theorists such as Karl Marx and Thomas Robert Malthus have been dropped from the Population and Society paper. A section on Sociology of Food has also been omitted. The Sociology of Law paper will now focus more on Indian authors, particularly those writing on religion. The meeting saw sharp opposition from elected EC members, who decried the revisions as 'ideological interference' and an erosion of academic independence. Particularly contested were the removals of case studies on Kashmir, Palestine, India-Pakistan tensions, and the Northeast, which were replaced with references from religious texts such as the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita. EC member Rudrashish Chakraborty, Associate Professor at Kirori Mal College, called the changes 'an abject compromise on course quality' and 'a complete disregard for disciplinary expertise.' He warned that such ideological impositions could diminish Delhi University's global academic credibility. New academic programmes and structural reforms The university will introduce a two-year M.A. in Journalism, to be offered by both the Hindi and English departments. A BSc in Nuclear Medicine Technology will also be launched at the Army Hospital (R&R) under the Faculty of Medical Sciences, specifically for qualified Armed Forces Medical Services personnel. The EC also approved a uniform policy for determining teacher seniority—prioritising age when qualifications are equal, followed by Academic Performance Indicator (API) scores. EC member Aman Kumar told PTI that Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh has constituted a nine-member committee to examine a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) notification mandating periodic reviews of employees aged 50 and above, which may result in compulsory retirement. The panel will assess its impact on DU staff. NEP rollout and national alignment Registrar Vikas Gupta addressed queries around the new four-year undergraduate structure introduced under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. He assured members that students will benefit from multiple exit and re-entry options, with official certifications at each stage. The meeting began with a tribute to the victims of the recent Pahalgam terror attack. A resolution was passed expressing support for the Centre's counterterrorism initiative, Operation Sindoor. Academic autonomy in focus Despite the administration's emphasis on modernisation and national priorities, critics warned the curriculum overhaul could undermine the university's academic standing. 'These decisions may serve short-term political objectives, but they will harm Delhi University's long-term academic integrity,' Chakraborty said.
New Indian Express
23-05-2025
- New Indian Express
'Mutilation of academic disciplines': DU Executive Council approves curriculum overhaul amid strong criticism
NEW DELHI: Delhi University's Executive Council in its 1275th meeting held on Friday approved sweeping revisions to the curriculum in various departments, including Psychology, Sociology and English, while also clearing new programs in journalism and nuclear medicine, uniform teacher seniority rules and administrative measures. The Executive Council (EC), the highest statutory body, approved revisions to the elective paper Psychology of Peace, replacing conflict-based case studies with references from the Indian epics for peace and conflict resolution. In Relationship Science, a unit examining dating apps was also dropped. Sociology curriculum changes removed foundational theorists like Karl Marx and Thomas Robert Malthus from the paper Population and Society and scrapped a unit on the Sociology of Food. Meanwhile, the Indian authors, particularly those focused on religion, were emphasized in the Sociology of Law. The meeting was, however, marked by strong dissent from several elected EC members over what they termed "ideological interference" and "systematic erosion of academic autonomy." Controversial syllabus changes include the removal of case studies involving Kashmir, Palestine, India-Pakistan tensions and the Northeast, replaced by the Indian religious texts such as the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita.
