Pratap Bhanu Mehta, in his letter resigning from Ashoka University, says 'it has become abundantly clear to me that my association with the University may be considered a political liability'.
In email to students, Pratap Bhanu Mehta cites ‘prevailing circumstances’ being behind his decision to quit. Ashoka University calls The Edict article 'purely speculative' and 'factually inaccurate'.
In his letter, Arvind Subramanian says Pratap Bhanu Mehta's resignation devastated him, and notes that Ashoka University can no longer provide space for academic expression & freedom.
The report shows only 52.24% of applications were paid scholarships during 2015-19, while 37% were not paid, even though sanctioned amounts were drawn from the treasury.
The House panel recommended that adequate awareness be created so SC students avail benefits of the scheme and the target of 4 crore beneficiaries can be realised in 5 years.
When he stepped down as vice-chancellor of Ashoka University in 2019, Pratap Bhanu Mehta had cited 'academic reasons'. Reasons for his resignation this time are not known.
To begin with, AICTE allows 5 engineering disciplines such as mechanical, civil, electrical to be taught in regional languages. Study material for these disciplines being translated.
Like Turkey and Egypt, Pakistan is one of a handful of powers with the human resources and infrastructure to help secure the Persian Gulf as Trump’s America draws down its military presence.
India’s industrial output growth saw a 10-month low in June, with Index of Industrial Production (IIP) growing by mere 1.5% as against 1.9% in May 2025.
ACM Katre was 2nd IAF chief to die in harness. It was at a memorial lecture in his honour where IAF chief AP Singh revealed that India shot down 6 Pakistani aircraft in Op Sindoor.
Standing up to America is usually not a personal risk for a leader in India. Any suggestions of foreign pressure unites India behind who they see as leading them in that fight.
Very Interesting comments.
The Raw, sweet and smelly core of “Left” is that the “Constitutional Values” must be upheld in the way our politics, particularly the economy is managed- thru “universal education, healthcare and skill development”. We the People, (the sovereign) will have a pleasant journey of life, then.
The “Right” on the other hand believes that “The Economic Growth by ‘unshackled’ entrepreneurial classes (businessmen, industrialists) duly encourged by the policy environment will thru trickle down improve the life of “We the People” -the mango-men.
It is just that “the powerless must be shielded against the exploitation by Powerful (socially and moneyed) : that baalnce is Good Governance .
Hardly anyone in this nation knows about Ashoka University or cares about it. Why is The Print so concerned about this particular university and its professors? What is so special about this university?
One can understand JNU or JMI or BHU making headlines. These are the creme de la creme of Indian liberal arts education. But Ashoka is not even a decade old and is yet to establish its academic credentials.
One wonders what exactly is the motive behind such attention to one particular private university.
@Anirban Roy If you know nothing about Ashoka University, that’s your problem. Once you find the solution, you would understand why it is in the news.
What is this brouhaha about a university professor resigning?! He is more a columnist and less a professor. I have been reading his columns for over a decade now in the print media and digital media. He is a plain old fashioned Modi-baiter masquarading as a self-styled intellectual. Even as late as couple of weeks back, he wrote about the “imperial ambitions” of Modi. He is free to criticise Modi Government its policies and practices. But, he has engaged in relentless personal attack. For a person who claims to be old and outspoken, he should say “who” said that he may be a political liability for this University.
For over two generations, these left-liberal-Marxists have ruled roost in the universities in India. They have stiffled alternative narrative in the universities. Countless Ph.D scholars were denied doctorate for not toeing this official doctrine. Now, the birds are coming home to roost.
He needs to discard the old fake propaganda and narrative which he created himself with his ultra left wing radicals colleagues, which helped them enjoy power through undemocratic means. It seems he has started believing “himself”. Perhaps that’s why he now must give away his make believe world and re-educate himself with the facts that today’s modern world will GOOGLE everything before believing.
It seems Gen. Bajaw of PAK ARMY now believes INDIA has changed but journalist like you or BURQA DUCT and salim bhai aka YY are now the new warriors.
Good riddance. He is an internal enemy of the country – a perfect Macaulay putra. He can regurgitate the mediocre works of mediocre western “thinkers,” but does not know a word of Sanskrit, never read Kalidasa or Kautilya, has no clue of the indic philosophical schools – what good is this western import for India? The European thought arose out of their own wars, struggles, religions – it has little to do with India. We have had our own civilization, struggles, wars, history – that we need to make sense of. Instead of focusing on the latter, implants like PBM give glib lectures on the former without even realizing that they look like trained circus monkeys with no sense of self awareness that they are dancing to a foreign tune. What a disgusting low life!
Mehta is giving too much importance to himself. No one really cares what he writes except for a microscopic elitist inconsequential anglophile minority. He is just one of the last in the fast extincting breed of brown sahibs…
The woke Leftist media seems intent of sensationalizing the departure of a Leftist academic from some nondescript university. Had it been Presidency University or Delhi University or even University of Pune, one would have understood. These happen to be the gold standard of Indian liberal arts education and research. But the attention showered on Ashoka University which was setup barely a few years ago smacks of a hidden agenda. The Leftist cabal seems quite intent on turning this new “liberal arts” university into the next JNU.
The Founders must be appreciated for sensing the danger and taking immediate steps to protect the nascent institution from Leftist ideologues like Prof. PB Mehta.
Typical bhakt diversionary tactics. The departure of any academic- particularly one as eminent as PBM should cause concerns for everyone about the environment we are creating in our educational institutions.
So the founders will all their fancy Harvard degrees decided that money and business is better than fighting for the truth and similar values. Now we know, how many more businessmen in India think in this fashion.
Very Interesting comments.
The Raw, sweet and smelly core of “Left” is that the “Constitutional Values” must be upheld in the way our politics, particularly the economy is managed- thru “universal education, healthcare and skill development”. We the People, (the sovereign) will have a pleasant journey of life, then.
The “Right” on the other hand believes that “The Economic Growth by ‘unshackled’ entrepreneurial classes (businessmen, industrialists) duly encourged by the policy environment will thru trickle down improve the life of “We the People” -the mango-men.
It is just that “the powerless must be shielded against the exploitation by Powerful (socially and moneyed) : that baalnce is Good Governance .
Hardly anyone in this nation knows about Ashoka University or cares about it. Why is The Print so concerned about this particular university and its professors? What is so special about this university?
One can understand JNU or JMI or BHU making headlines. These are the creme de la creme of Indian liberal arts education. But Ashoka is not even a decade old and is yet to establish its academic credentials.
One wonders what exactly is the motive behind such attention to one particular private university.
@Anirban Roy If you know nothing about Ashoka University, that’s your problem. Once you find the solution, you would understand why it is in the news.
What is this brouhaha about a university professor resigning?! He is more a columnist and less a professor. I have been reading his columns for over a decade now in the print media and digital media. He is a plain old fashioned Modi-baiter masquarading as a self-styled intellectual. Even as late as couple of weeks back, he wrote about the “imperial ambitions” of Modi. He is free to criticise Modi Government its policies and practices. But, he has engaged in relentless personal attack. For a person who claims to be old and outspoken, he should say “who” said that he may be a political liability for this University.
For over two generations, these left-liberal-Marxists have ruled roost in the universities in India. They have stiffled alternative narrative in the universities. Countless Ph.D scholars were denied doctorate for not toeing this official doctrine. Now, the birds are coming home to roost.
Ashoka university is a private university, the very model of what the Left hates in education. So why such focus on it ?
P b MEHTA is an intellectual of yesterday.
He needs to discard the old fake propaganda and narrative which he created himself with his ultra left wing radicals colleagues, which helped them enjoy power through undemocratic means. It seems he has started believing “himself”. Perhaps that’s why he now must give away his make believe world and re-educate himself with the facts that today’s modern world will GOOGLE everything before believing.
It seems Gen. Bajaw of PAK ARMY now believes INDIA has changed but journalist like you or BURQA DUCT and salim bhai aka YY are now the new warriors.
Good riddance. He is an internal enemy of the country – a perfect Macaulay putra. He can regurgitate the mediocre works of mediocre western “thinkers,” but does not know a word of Sanskrit, never read Kalidasa or Kautilya, has no clue of the indic philosophical schools – what good is this western import for India? The European thought arose out of their own wars, struggles, religions – it has little to do with India. We have had our own civilization, struggles, wars, history – that we need to make sense of. Instead of focusing on the latter, implants like PBM give glib lectures on the former without even realizing that they look like trained circus monkeys with no sense of self awareness that they are dancing to a foreign tune. What a disgusting low life!
Mehta is giving too much importance to himself. No one really cares what he writes except for a microscopic elitist inconsequential anglophile minority. He is just one of the last in the fast extincting breed of brown sahibs…
The woke Leftist media seems intent of sensationalizing the departure of a Leftist academic from some nondescript university. Had it been Presidency University or Delhi University or even University of Pune, one would have understood. These happen to be the gold standard of Indian liberal arts education and research. But the attention showered on Ashoka University which was setup barely a few years ago smacks of a hidden agenda. The Leftist cabal seems quite intent on turning this new “liberal arts” university into the next JNU.
The Founders must be appreciated for sensing the danger and taking immediate steps to protect the nascent institution from Leftist ideologues like Prof. PB Mehta.
Typical bhakt diversionary tactics. The departure of any academic- particularly one as eminent as PBM should cause concerns for everyone about the environment we are creating in our educational institutions.
So the founders will all their fancy Harvard degrees decided that money and business is better than fighting for the truth and similar values. Now we know, how many more businessmen in India think in this fashion.