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JNU To Teach Two Courses On Vedas And Yoga

Wait, what?
A participant performs yoga during World Yoga Day in India on 21 June, 2016. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta
Mukesh Gupta / Reuters
A participant performs yoga during World Yoga Day in India on 21 June, 2016. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

NEW DELHI -- Jawaharlal Nehru University has been considering courses in yoga and 'Indian culture' for some time now, with several deliberations and back-and-forth on the issue. In fact, the university has been at the receiving end for criticism for reportedly rejecting the courses a few times, though it was believed to be motivated by academic criticism and not political leanings.

However, perhaps no one was prepared for how the contentious issue would be 'resolved' on Monday, when the university's academic body met yet again to discuss the proposed courses. According to The Telegraph, two certificate courses on the Vedas and yogic philosophy were passed without discussion after students disrupted the meeting with protests on a separate set of issues. As a result, the meeting was reportedly hurriedly cut short, and all matters on the agenda--including the two certificate courses--were passed.

"The AC has approved the courses. We hope to launch them in 2018," the centre's head Girish Nath Jha told The Telegraph.

According to the report, the meeting had just begun when several students barged into the room, protesting against admission rules that gave significant weightage to interviews, which they claimed had some social groups at a great disadvantage.

The meeting was called to an end and all agenda matters were "passed". The academic council had earlier in October sent the proposal for the two courses back to the university's Sanskrit centre, asking for several changes to the course. At the time, the council had discussed the matter for two hours, according to a report in The Wire. This time, there was reportedly no discussion before it was passed.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.