[Urban-Media] American Scholars not Welcome in India!

[Peter C. Perdue]

       Dear Shekhar,
       Thanks for the information about India. I take some grim consolation
from the fact that China is no worse than India in denying visa spplications
to Fulbright scholars; just maybe a bit faster in saying no to those they
don't like! It will be interesting to see if our Secretary of State, a
former Stanford provost, cares about this issue at all,
       Peter
       
       Peter C. Perdue
       T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations
       Professor of History
       E51-291, History Faculty
       Massachusetts Institute of Technology
       77 Massachusetts Avenue
       Cambridge MA 02139-4307
       Tel: 617-253-3064
       FAX: 617-253-9406
       Cell: 617-905-3702
       
       -----Original Message-----
From: urban-media-bounces at MIT.EDU [mailto:urban-media-bounces at MIT.EDU] On
Behalf Of Shekhar Krishnan
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 1:34 PM
To: Prachi Deshpande; Svati P Shah; Svati Shah; Manan Ahmed; Nikhil Rao;
Eric Lewis Beverley
Cc: urban-media at mit.edu
Subject: [Urban-Media] American Scholars not Welcome in India!
       
       Have a look at this story from the Indian Express and my blog post.
       Looking forward to your comments and disagreements. 
       
       http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/23071.html
       http://www.heptanesia.net/2007/02/11/need-for-regime-change/
       
       Best, 
       
       
       S.K.
       
       --
       
       "Are you an American scholar? You aren't welcome in India"
       
       That's the signal from the UPA to Fulbright scholars in the US:
delaying
       their visas for weeks, months; rejecting their research proposals
       without any reason. Even asking them to change their subject. This
when
       Indo-US equation couldn't have been better 
       
       THE SUNDAY EXPRESS 
       Shubhajit Roy 
       
       
       Posted Sunday 11 February 2007
        
       NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 10 :For all the talk about a buzzing, confident
       India, there couldn't be a better - or, to be more accurate, worse -
       showcase of how some things haven't changed than this: the country,
       which is on its way towards signing a landmark nuclear deal with the
       United States, whose engagement with Washington is a centrepiece of
its
       foreign policy, makes US scholars virtually bend and crawl when it
comes
       to their visiting India for research. 
       
       The Sunday Express accessed latest official records on the Indo-US
       Fulbright programme, one of the most prestigious bilateral
       scholar-exchange programmes, under which about 100 scholars from
India
       go to the US and an equal number of Americans come here to pursue
       research with relevant institutions. Fulbright scholars - including
       graduates from premier universities, like Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley
       and Chicago - have gone on to win 34 Nobels and more than 60 Pulitzer
       Prizes. 
       
       Records show that for US scholars, the last two years - since the UPA
       came to power - have been the worst in the 57-year history of the
       programme. Not only has the Government kept the highest number of
       scholars waiting for anywhere between anywhere between six months to
21
       months - effectively derailing their entire schedule - it has also,
in
       several cases, rejected research proposals without giving any reason.

       
       Sample the subjects rejected by the babus of this "secular"
Government:
       Democratization in Kerala and the role of associations; perceptions
of
       Muslim women; Left politics in Mumbai; how migration affects Hindus
and
       Muslims in Hyderabad and Dubai. Many scholars refused to re-apply
while
       some changed their subjects to get a visa (see chart). 
       
       Significantly, the scholars get no explanation why their research
       proposals have been rejected. 
       
       While Indian scholars, selected under the Fulbright programme, get
their
       visas from anywhere between two hours to two weeks, US scholars are
told
       that the Indian government needs "three months" to process their
       application. Even those three months are only on paper. 
       
       At the beginning of the academic year, in August 2006, when the
       Fulbright scholars should have been in India, there were 93
applications
       pending for grant of visas of a total of 100. And this included not
just
       last year's pending applications, but also some from 2005. 
       
       So delayed was the process that the Fulbright Commission in India,
       popularly known as the United States Educational Foundation in India
       (USEFI), had little choice but to cancel its August orientation
       programme. And 33 scholars sent an angry letter to US Secretary of
State
       Condoleezza Rice asking her to intervene. 
       
       As of today, over six months into the academic year, there are still
       eight applications pending. Another seven are still waiting for their
       visas after they changed their subject. 
       
       Key to the delay is the stifling red tape: HRD, the nodal ministry,
       first gets the visa applications from scholars through USEFI; it then
       sends each scholar's file to the Ministry of External Affairs and the
       Home Ministry which, in turn, asks the Intelligence Bureau for
       clearance. Sometimes, even the Ministry concerned is asked to vet the
       subject. For example, the Environment Ministry may be asked to clear
a
       research proposal on India's energy needs. 
       
       While HRD officials do not specify who decides on the "suitability"
of
       the proposal, sources said an "IB-negative report" or a Ministry's
       "concerns" lead to the blacklist. 
       
       When asked to explain the delay, HRD Secretary R P Agarwal said: "Our
       Ministry is only a postbox. We have asked the MEA and Home Ministry
to
       speed up clearances." 
       
       (Tomorrow: Desperate scholars appeal to US Secretary of State) 
       
       shubhajit.roy at expressindia.com
       -- 
       
       Shekhar Krishnan
       400, West 119th Street, Apt.10D
       New York, NY 10027
       U.S.A.
       
       http://www.mit.edu/~shekhar
       http://www.heptanesia.net
       http://www.crit.org.in/members/shekhar
       
       ---
       
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