ucknow University’s third-year BCom students on Saturday were given a question paper that appeared to be a test of their knowledge of the schemes the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has launched in India.
In the Indian Economic Structure paper, the first question for 40 marks asked students to explain schemes such as Digital India, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Startup India. Another question, for 15 marks, asked the students to explain the measures that the Centre had taken to generate employment opportunities in the country.
The head of the Department of Applied Economics at Lucknow University, Professor RS Maheshwari, reasoned that this was the institute’s way of ensuring that students were aware of developments in the country. “We are not politicians, we aren’t concerned with who is in power,” he told The Wire, adding that the questions should not be given a political angle. “Our objective is to make sure students don’t just have bookish knowledge.”
This is not the first time a university in Uttar Pradesh has framed questions related to the government and its policies.
In November, history students at Banaras Hindu University were asked to describe the sacrifice of Rajput queen Padmini in medieval India. Most historians believe Padmini was not a real person, unlike what Rajput folklore claims.
In December, postgraduate students of BHU were asked to write essays on the “nature of the GST [Goods and Services Tax]” in Kautilya’s book Arthashastra and the role of Manu as the “first Indian thinker of globalisation”. The professor who prepared the questions is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Students of the university had said Hindutva was being forced on them.
