Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Two Dalit authors have been removed from the English syllabus of Delhi University along with a short story of Sahitya Akademi, Jnanpith and Ramon Magsaysay Award-winning writer Mahasweta Devi.
According to the reports, after the Oversight Committee (OC) of the university took the decisions, the Academic Council (AC) held a meeting on Wednesday where 15 members submitted a note of dissent against the OC and its functioning.
AC members stated that the Committee as an afterthought suddenly asked the English department to delete the celebrated short story of Mahasweta Devi, ‘Draupadi’ – a story about a tribal woman – without giving any academic logic. This is notwithstanding the fact that ‘Draupadi’ has been taught by the University of Delhi since 1999 owing to its seminal academic value. The Committee refused to accept any short story by Mahasweta Devi despite her iconic status globally as a writer and being a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award and Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India.
They further complained that these arbitrary and academic changes were “imposed without sharing any feedback from the stakeholders either with the syllabus committee of the department or with the Committee of Courses. They also contended that the OC continued to harass History, Political Science and Sociology departments “while approving their revised LOCF syllabus: that too only for Semester V.
