India’s academic freedom ‘severely restricted’ under BJP government: report

India’s academic freedom has been "severely restricted” under the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, according to the annual “Free to Think 2026” report released by Scholars at Risk’s (SAR), an international network of higher education institutions that works to protect threatened scholars and promote academic freedom, headquartered at New York University.

According to the report, India’s Academic Freedom Index (AFI) score decreased from 0.16 in 2024 to 0.14 in 2026, with both values falling in the "severely restricted" category, next to its neighbours China (0.07) and Afghanistan (0.09), where academic freedom was in the "completely restricted" category. India’s AFI value has declined significantly over the last decade, from 0.41 in 2015.

The AFI is measured on a scale of 0 to 1 and assesses parameters like campus integrity, freedom of academic and cultural expression, freedom of academic exchange and dissemination, freedom to research and teach and institutional autonomy.