Notice sent to SAU PhD student over Noam Chomsky's critique of PM; Sri Lankan scholar resigns
New Delhi: According to The Indian Express, a doctoral research proposal on the ethnography and politics of Kashmir, which referenced American linguist Noam Chomsky's criticism of the NDA government, has resulted in a show-cause notice for a PhD scholar and a disciplinary inquiry for his supervisor at South Asian University (SAU).
Days after the disciplinary inquiry was initiated, Sasanka Perera, a founding member of the Sociology department at SAU and a sociology professor, resigned from the varsity. The PhD scholar has since apologized to the university administration for any offense caused.
Perera, a cultural anthropologist with a Master's and a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, held several positions at SAU, including Chairman of the Department of Sociology, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Vice President. Prior to joining SAU, he spent 20 years at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and was the Founding Chairman of the Colombo Institute for Advanced Study of Society and Culture.
SAU has denied that the PhD proposal triggered Perera's resignation but did not clarify what was objectionable in the proposal. According to university rules, a PhD student must seek approval from the supervisor, the Dean, and/or the Department Board of Studies before commencing fieldwork. The proposal in question was forwarded to the Dean after being approved by the supervisor, but only after a show-cause notice dated May 9 was issued to the student.
The letter pointed out that the cited video was a private YouTube video from 2021, uploaded in 2022 by the scholar. In the video, Chomsky spoke critically about the Modi government. Explanations were requested from the student and the supervisor for selecting that particular topic. The student responded with an apology and took down the video on May 15. An inquiry committee was subsequently formed to investigate the role of the supervisor and the motive behind the proposal.
Amidst all this, Perera submitted his resignation from the university. SAU, which is sponsored by eight SAARC countries and under the Ministry of External Affairs, recently appointed K K Aggarwal as its president after the post had remained vacant for four years.
Responding to questions from The Indian Express, SAU stated that disciplinary action was taken based on the SAARC Intergovernmental Agreement, Rules, Regulations, and Bye-Laws. The inquiry is still pending.
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Navdeep Singh's silver upgraded to gold in men's javelin throw F41 at Paralympics
Paris, Sep 7: India's Navdeep Singh's silver medal was upgraded to gold after Iran's Beit Sayah Sadegh was disqualified following a dramatic men's javelin throw F41 final at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.
This is India's first-ever gold medal in the men's javelin F41 category.
Starting the competition with a foul, the 23-year-old para-athlete from Haryana, who had finished fourth at the Tokyo Games three years ago, came up with a throw of 46.39 metres in his second attempt, propelling him to the second place. But it was his third throw that electrified the stadium.
With a monstrous throw of 47.32 metres, Navdeep shattered the Paralympic record and surged into lead, only for Sadegh to better the Indian's mark and clinch the gold with a record-breaking effort of 47.64 metres in his fifth attempt.
However, the Iranian was disqualified some time after the end of the final, leading to the Indian athlete taking the top spot.
The F41 category is for athletes, who are of short stature.
