
'Mutilation of academic disciplines': DU Executive Council approves curriculum overhaul amid strong criticism
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.
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Nominated members of Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha, and the Assemblies, and members of state Legislative Councils, are not part of the electoral college. 2. The votes are weighted, their value determined by the population of each state as per the Census 1971. The value of each MLA's vote varies from a high of 208 in Uttar Pradesh to a low of 7 in Sikkim. This means that UP's 403 MLAs contribute 208 × 403 = 83,824 votes to the electoral pool, while Sikkim's 32 MLAs contribute 32 × 7 = 224 votes. The weighted votes from all the Assemblies add up to 5.43 lakh. 3. The process demands that the 776 MPs (543 in Lok Sabha, 233 in Rajya Sabha) should contribute the same total of votes as the MLAs. Thus, the value of each MP's vote is 5.43 lakh divided by 776, rounded off to 700. The combined electoral pool from the Assemblies and Parliament adds up to 10.86 lakh. (1) Consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2013) 1. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha are not members of that House. 2. While the nominated members of the two Houses of the Parliament have no voting right in the presidential election, they have the right to vote in the election of the Vice President. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 (2) Who among the following have held the office of the Vice President of India? (UPSC CSE 2008) 1. Mohammad Hidayatullah 2. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed 3. Neelam Sanjiva 4. 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