'India is foreign word': Ambedkar University VC on 'Bharatiya Knowledge System' in curriculum

NEW DELHI: The vice chancellor of Dr B R Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD), Anu Singh Lather, has said the institution is deliberately avoiding the term Indian Knowledge System in favour of the 'Bharatiya Knowledge System' as "India is a foreign word".

Asserting its cultural identity and academic autonomy, the university's choice of terminology reflects a deeper philosophical and historical consciousness, according to Lather. "The word India itself is foreign to all of us," she said during an interview with PTI.

Lather said the AUD has recently approved 54 compulsory BKS courses that will be integrated across programmes in various departments, including history, law, heritage management and political philosophy. These are not merely value-addition electives, but mandatory components intended to embed indigenous knowledge frameworks into formal higher education, she said.

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Upanishads, Mahabharata, Arthashastra: References in BKS chapters

"We took nearly two years to finalise these courses. Every reference cited includes the original source -- the Upanishads, Mahabharata, or Arthashastra, down to the chapter, verse, and line. We've done serious academic groundwork," Lather said, adding that the initiative is perhaps the most rigorous BKS model in any Indian university.

The curriculum includes themes such as Bharatiya foundational political philosophy, Yoga and the Self, Indian aesthetics, Bhakti as Gyaan, traditional law systems, and ancient Indian science and technology. These courses, Lather explained, were developed by inviting national-level experts and underwent robust academic scrutiny before receiving approval in the university's Academic Council.

Positioning AUD as a thought leader under the National Education Policy (NEP) framework, Lather said, "We are not competing with other institutions. Our vision, rooted in Babasaheb Ambedkar's ideals, guides our distinct academic identity, including our approach to what knowledge deserves to be central." This bold pivot, she suggested, is part of a wider vision of reclaiming indigenous intellectual traditions while reshaping postcolonial academic discourse.