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Sunday, March 15, 2026
TopicSouth Asian University

Topic: South Asian University

Indian universities follow the same template on sexual assault—cover up, blame the victim

The institutional default is not the protection of students and staff, but damage control. You see it play out at SAU, IIT-BHU, RG Kar, and Durgapur.

Emails, threats & sexual assault: SAU student alleges gangrape, says staff tried to suppress incident

Condemning the incident, South Asian University asserts that it has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women.

Maha Shivratri, ‘Maoists’ & a veg-non-veg war—another controversy hits Delhi’s SAU

The mess served fish, as on all Wednesdays, while there were special arrangements for those observing Maha Shivratri. An ABVP-SFI fight ensued.

Taliban appoints ‘acting consul’ at consulate in Mumbai, first appointee by current Afghan regime

Ikramuddin Kamil spent 7 years studying in India on an MEA scholarship. There is no official response by the MEA, yet. India has no official diplomatic ties with Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Spat over movie screening, professor’s exit lays bare ‘toxic’ academic culture & ‘petty’ politics at SAU

Heated exchanges on X between current & former students of South Asian University over a professor’s ‘forced’ retirement point to tensions among teachers, ‘lack of academic freedom’.

South Asian University is now pale shadow of itself. Blame geopolitics, protests & academic control

Row over student citing Chomsky’s criticism of PM in research proposal & retirement of professor is latest flashpoint. But, there's no denying that SAU was a unique academic project.

‘Inhumane, undemocratic’: Rajya Sabha MP slams South Asian University undertaking for students

In his letter to SAU acting president, Binoy Viswam of CPI has called out two declarations in mandatory ‘general undertaking’ for students and asked for their removal.

‘Revoke suspension’ of SAU profs — 500+ academics from Indian, foreign universities write to SAARC

Academics from universities in India, US & UK are among 502 signatories. Their letter comes days after academics from Bangladesh wrote to the South Asian University demanding the same.

83 Bangladeshi academics write to Delhi’s SAU, demand reinstatement of suspended professors

Letter to the SAARC university says 'such despotic practices can only breed in non-democratic environment'. The professors, suspended in June, were accused of inciting student protests.

Visa woes, ‘low stipend’, protest backlash — why SAARC university is a far cry from Manmohan’s vision

Since its establishment in 2010, South Asian University has seen various controversies — the most recent ones being students protesting against university's admin & suspension of faculty.

On Camera

Menstrual leave doesn’t work in ‘real world’. And that real world is designed by, for men

When a woman menstruates, when/if she decides to marry, when/if she decides to have kids, should not be factors when looking at a woman’s potential from a hiring standpoint.

US strike on Iran’s key oil export island Kharg raises fears of wider supply disruption

President Trump said the US had bombed military targets on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, but spared oil infrastructure.

Supreme Leader Mojtaba, the man Iran must keep alive & the secret force ‘tasked with it’—all about NOPO

The Nirouyeh Vijeh Pasdaran Velayat, or NOPO, was the only force Ali Khamenei trusted.It was founded in 1991 and is more feared than the Revolutionary Guards.

Peaceful power transfers followed uprisings in India’s neighbourhood. It’s a sign of mature democracies

Rating democracies is a tricky business. I am only using the simple metric of who in the Indian subcontinent has had the most peaceful, stable, normal political transitions and continuity.