The Hindu editorial on 23/08/2023 argues that the recent legal and administrative actions against the research institution CSDS-Lokniti are part of a broader, deliberate government campaign to silence independent and critical voices in India.
The article highlights how an FIR was filed against a researcher over an erroneous social media post that was quickly corrected and deleted. It contends that the government is weaponising an honest mistake to launch a wider attack on the institution. The editorial places this incident within a larger pattern of targeting academic bodies, citing the similar treatment of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR)—which lost its foreign funding license—and the government's own suppression of official data, such as the delayed Census.
The piece defends institutions like CSDS-Lokniti, emphasizing their vital democratic role in providing rigorous, evidence-based analysis essential for good governance. It concludes that this campaign of administrative harassment not only harms the national interest by stifling critical feedback but is also the direct cause of India's plummeting rank in the global Academic Freedom Index.
0 Comments