NEW DELHI: Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh confirmed that he would use his emergency powers to ensure the proposal of including ancient Sanskrit text Manusmriti in History syllabus is not placed before the Academic Council (AC).
Following strong opposition from faculty members, the Vice Chancellor on Tuesday emphasised that the varsity over rules subjects which are not worth the consideration before DU administration.
The latest decision to incorporate Manusmriti and Tuzuk-i-Baburi (Baburnama), the memoir of Mughal emperor Babur, in the syllabus was approved by the History Department’s Joint Committee of Courses on February 19.
However, it is yet to be cleared by DU’s Academic Council and Executive Council.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi, Prof. Yogesh Singh, said, “We have no plan to introduce any course or study material like Manusmriti or Baburnama in DU. Such subjects are not worth the consideration before the DU administration and will be over ruled in future also.”
The Vice Chancellor said that Baburnama is the autobiography of a tyrant anyway. He said that there is no need to teach it and it holds no relevance in this time either.
He also stated that under the New Education Policy (NEP 2020), they want to bring new courses in accordance with Indian traditions that benefit the country and society.
“We are moving towards Viksit Bharat. We are moving towards how the country's economy can be strengthened and how the scope of the society can be improved. DU is designing its study material keeping in mind how we can achieve the resolve of becoming a developed nation by 2047,” added Yogesh Singh.
A similar issue took place in July 2024 when Delhi University had found itself in trouble after the Faculty of Law suggested teaching the ancient Hindu legal text Manusmriti to the LLB students.
The Faculty of Law had submitted a proposal to include the Hindu manuscript in unit 5 of an undergraduate programme which invited major criticism from a large section of teachers.
On the issue that led to an uproar in the entire Varsity then, the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also stated that there is no question of including any controversial portion of any script.