Want to be a JNU professor? Better brush up on your gaushala norms, baby ethics before applying

Professors seeking employment at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) better have their animal knowledge down pat. For the entrance exam to hire teachers at the prestigious university will quiz them on gaushalas (cow shelters), and on their “animal and baby ethics”. The questions are part of a bizarre interview put across to applicants, as was revealed by a report on News18, which quoted Baidik Bhattacharya, an assistant professor at the varsity’s English department. [caption id=“attachment_4027599” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Courtesy: jnu.ac.in[/caption] News18 cited an email sent by Bhattacharya to his colleagues, whereby he said he met the JNU selection committee, including vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, to present his idea on an “aesthetic regime”. However, Kumar reportedly told him that he should have instead focussed on “baby ethics and animal ethics”, “You should pay more attention to different kinds of ethics like baby ethics and animal ethics,” Bhattacharya’s email quoted Kumar as saying. When Bhattacharya mentioned that his research had found a place in the prestigious New Literary History, the other members of the selection committee reportedly told him to move on from “foreign thinkers” and concentrate on “our own tradition”. This wasn’t the first time the vice-chancellor found himself in the news for the wrong reasons. Far from it. In July last year, Kumar proposed an army tank be displayed on the campus, so that students can be reminded of “sacrifices and valour” of the soldiers, and even asked Union ministers to help them procure a tank that can be installed there. In March last year, just over a year after he took charge of JNU, Kumar, who owes allegiance to Vijana Bharti, an RSS wing involved with Swadeshi Science Movement, took to Twitter to celebrate the BJP’s win in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, saying the results prove that “we stand for development and inclusivity”.

People of India have once again demonstrated overwhelmingly that we stand for development and inclusivity.

— Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar (@mamidala90) March 11, 2017

He was trolled on social media following the message, with Twitterati terming it “unbecoming” of a person holding a post like the vice-chancellor of JNU. With inputs from agencies