Sir — Academic freedom is increasingly under assault from authoritarian Governments worldwide. This assault is usually supported by Right-wing student groups who act as provocateur within them. In India, assault on academic freedom ranges from curbs on academic and extracurricular events to brutal assaults on students.
However, the concept of academic freedom is complex and needs to be placed in a wider institutional context. While academic freedom was critical to earlier visions of the Indian university, as shown by various commissions on higher education, it is now increasingly devalued in favour of administration centralisation and standardisation. Privatisation and the increase in precarious has also contributed to the shrinking of academic freedom.