JNU pulls student-run talk on Umar Khalid's book over undisclosed details

Jawaharlal Nehru University announced that a student-led discussion of former student Umar Khalid's book "Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power" was cancelled after the School of Social Sciences discovered that the organisers had not disclosed full details of the programme. The talk, slated for August 10 from 3 pm to 6 pm in the SSS-I auditorium, was intended to commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and featured academics Prabhu Mahapatra and Uma Chakravarti, writer Shuddhabrata Sengupta, activist Harsh Mander and Khalid's partner Banojyotsna Lahiri.

A booking form signed by faculty representative Avinash Kumar had been approved on August 7, but a notice from Joint Registrar M K Pachauri on August 9 revoked the reservation, citing non-disclosure of the full facts. The university did not clarify which information was lacking, and queries to Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit were redirected to the Dean. The cancellation follows a recent revocation of an ISKCON-related programme after student objections.