Amartya Sen brushes off disruption
Amartya Sen’s lecture was disrupted when students started raising slogans about various campus issues.
Hyderabad: Amartya Sen’s lecture at the University of Hyderabad on Thursday was disrupted by a group of students from the university when they started raising slogans about various campus issues.
Dr Sen was at the university to receive a honoris causa (Doctor of Science) and also to deliver a lecture tiled ‘Are Coffee Houses Important For Education?’, the first in a series of Hyderabad lectures. As soon as Dr Sen started speaking, students with black ribbons tied across their mouths raised banners, symbolising curtailment of freedom of speech. They insisted that Dr Sen speak on caste discrimination, suicides on campus and women’s safety. Even after repeated requests from the Nobel laureate himself and the faculty, the students did not relent, forcing Vice-Chancellor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy and the cops to escort them out.
Evidently disturbed, Dr Sen said, “I am not judging the cause of the anger, but I am sure this is not the way to discuss it. I have been asked to speak on a subject and I have to stick to it.”
The renowned economist started by addressing the issue of Dalits in India. “The Dalit situation is terrible in India. Going by the current scenario, women’s issues are getting attention. I think we should also treat Dalit issues with the same intensity,” he said, adding, “Caste system has been an evil in India and it is proving to be hard to get rid of it. Like Ambedkar said, one should Educate, Inform and Agitate.”
He reiterated that he was not delivering the lecture on coffee shops. However, he said there was a dire need for public dialogue on issues that were affecting society. “There is a need for dialogue and coffee houses should be the place to initiate discussions,” Dr Sen said.
About the healthcare, he said, “Over 12 per cent of the GDP is spent on healthcare in India and even then there is so many problems. The private sector is now taking over like in China. We need to look at Kerala and some more states for their healthcare system and adopt a similar model.”
Women’s safety also got his attention. “More than the number of rape cases itself, the suspicion of rape is something that has to be worked upon. Which is why the Verma Committee report is important. We also need to address female abortion, maternal mortality rate etc.” Dr Sen said.
Talking of media, he said, “When I open any newspaper, I find more stories on entertainment. We need to bring in a stronger sense of responsibility in media.”