The Slow Death Of The University In India; As Academic Freedom Is Lacking
John J. Kennedy | 21 April 2026 | Deccan Chronicle
There is something deeply disturbing about the latest Academic Freedom Index (AFI) 2026 update. Prepared by researchers at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the V-Dem Institute, it clearly points to a slow, steady erosion of academic freedom at universities and other institutions across the world. In fact, according to the data, more than 50 countries have seen a decline in the past decade, while only nine have improved. India’s story sits squarely within this troubling pattern.
What makes it particularly worrying is not the scale of the decline but its nature. Unlike the sharp, visible setbacks seen in some countries, India’s academic freedom has been slipping quietly, almost imperceptibly, since around 2013. There have been no singular moments of rupture. Instead, there has been a gradual accumulation of pressures, each small enough to be explained away, but together powerful enough to reshape the system. A crisis that unfolds slowly rarely feels like a crisis at all…