Poet, literary critic and professor of English at the JNU, Delhi, Makarand Paranjape has emerged as frontrunner to be the director of the Indian Institute of Advance Studies (IIAS), Shimla. IIAS was established in 1964
Sources in the HRD ministry inform that Paranjape’s name has been considered to provide an environment suitable for academic research in the humanities, and the social and natural sciences.
Makarand Paranjpe’s Illustrious Career
1) Has over 120 academic papers to his name
2) Author of several poem, short stories and over 200 essays, among other academic credits
3) Has taught over 30 years now, of which, the major part has been in the US and India
4) 1980–Began his career as a teaching assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
5) 1986–Returned to India as a lecturer with the University of Hyderabad
6) 1994–joined the department of humanities and social sciences, IIT Delhi as an associate professor
7) Since 1999– English professor at JNU’s Centre for English Studies.
Ministry sources add that Paranjpe’s name is in all likelihood is going to be approved soon.
Strong Critique of the Left Wing
It is noteworthy here that Paranjape is known for his divergent views in the left-dominated JNU and has also attracted rants from the “left-liberals” in the campus and outside as well.
Here we enlist an expcerpt from one of his notable speeches in the above context:
“When Kanhaiya came out of jail and gave this talk, I was a convert: I was also swaying and dancing around with everyone. It was a great moment. But what I am going to do today is to emphasize the other performative – where we talk about ideas, we are objective, we are critical, we do not get carried away, we are open-minded, we interrogate and critique ourselves and not just mount attacks on people we disagree with”.
