A top academic body of Delhi University (DU) will on Friday examine a proposal on whether to prescribe books on Manusmriti, a Hindu scripture that codified the social divisions based on the Varna system, as reading material for undergraduate law students.

The committee on courses had recommended revision in the law curriculum. The panel last month approved a revised syllabus of the paper on “jurisprudence” in the LLB course. The academic council will examine the recommended revisions in its meeting on Friday.

According to the proposal, the jurisprudence paper will have a unit on “analytical positivism”. The suggested reading materials include Manusmriti With the Manubhasya of Medhatithi by G.N. Jha and Commentary of Manu Smriti — Smritichandrika by T. Kristnasawmi Iyer.

Several academics have protested the proposal because the ideas propagated by Manusmriti seek to perpetuate social divisions and inequality. The Social Democratic Teachers’ Front (SDTF) at DU wrote a letter to vice-chancellor Professor Yogesh Singh on Thursday urging him to drop the proposal.

The SDTF’s letter said the proposed reading of Manusmriti is highly objectionable as the text is adverse to the progress and education of women and marginalised communities. In the country, 85 per cent of the population belongs to the marginalised and 50 per cent of the population is women. Their progress depends on a progressive education system and teaching pedagogy, not regressive, it said.

SDTF president S.K. Sagar said Manusmriti was against the basic structure of the Constitution. Neither Manusmriti nor any book on Manusmriti should be part of reading materials, he argued.

“We request that it should be withdrawn at the earliest and it should not be approved in the academic council meeting,” he said.

Another faculty member said that the committee could have included content on Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s books on social justice but no such inclusion has been made.

Last year, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) had started research on “Applicability of Manusmriti in Indian Society”.

According to a study on “The Continuing Practice of Untouchability in India: Patterns and Mitigating Influences” by Amit Thorat from JNU and Omkar Joshi from the University of Maryland, Manusmriti codified the caste order, giving rights to education and resources to the upper castes and forcing the lower caste Shudras and outcaste Ati Shudras to serve the upper castes. It portrayed women as the property of the family.

A senior academic, who did not wish to be named, said that the National Education Policy recommends liberal education and multi-disciplinary research but some institutions are researching on regressive areas under the garb of multidisciplinary research.

“In a modern society, the prescriptions of Manusmriti have no place. Institutions are regrettably doing research to find their relevance. It seems an effort to enforce
the regressive social order,” said the academic.