DU committee sends economics, history courses back for revision after objections

The Delhi University standing committee on academic matters has discussed additional elective courses proposed for the second semester of the two-year postgraduate programme in the Economics and History departments and sought revision after objections were raised to the syllabus of an elective titled Economics and Gender, an official statement said.

In the meeting held on Monday, the members objected that Economics and Gender included themes such as intimate partner violence, domestic violence, workplace violence and crimes against women, which did not correspond with economics and that few elective courses were not structured chronologically, it said.

The members also argued that these topics did not correlate with Economics and were misaligned with the course title, the statement said.

Dhanpal Singh, associate professor, Keshav Mahavidyalaya and member, standing committee, who opposed the course, said members objected to the manner in which the syllabus was presented, and members expressed strong reservations about Unit 3 on Crime and Gender.

Monami Sinha, associate professor, Kamala Nehru College and member, Standing Committee, defended the course, stating that the economic costs of violence against women constitute a well-established area of economic inquiry with substantial scholarly literature.

“India’s low female workforce participation, coupled with social norms, domestic violence and safety concerns, significantly influences women’s participation in the labour market. Despite these clarifications, the objecting members remained unconvinced and the course was sent back for revision,” Sinha said.

The Department of History also tabled its DSCs and DSEs for the second semester, with members objecting to what they described as a syllabus “skewed” towards global history, the statement said.

The head of the department responded that, taken across the programme, around 70 per cent of the syllabus focused on Indian history, with about 30 per cent on global history, adding that no credible history programme could exclude global perspectives, it said.

Further, objections were also raised to the inclusion of “society” in the title Themes in Ancient Indian Economy and Society. While members argued that social readings should be removed, several texts were ultimately dropped, including works by Shireen Moosvi and Indrani Chatterjee and Richard M Eaton, the statement read.