A question of culture

If India has such excellent academic institutions for such subjects, shouldn't the government be extending scholarships for the study of these subjects within the country?

Late last month, the government of India tweaked the National Overseas Scholarships scheme for students from scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) and landless agricultural labourer families. It excluded from its ambit the study of courses related to Indian culture, heritage, history or society in foreign universities.

The ostensible reason, according to the ministry of social justice and empowerment, is that India has a repository of “excellent universities and courses within the country on these subjects”. Resources would be “better spent”, it said, on gaining expertise in other fields in foreign universities. These “other fields” are science, technology and engineering.

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