For all the talk about a buzzing, confident India, there couldn’t be a better — or, to be more accurate, worse — showcase of how some things haven’t changed than this: the country, which is on its way towards signing a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, whose engagement with Washington is a centrepiece of its foreign policy, makes US scholars virtually bend and crawl when it comes to their visiting India for research.

The Sunday Express accessed latest official records on the Indo-US Fulbright programme, one of the most prestigious bilateral scholar-exchange programmes, under which about 100 scholars from India go to the US and an equal number of Americans come here to pursue research with relevant institutions. Fulbright scholars — including graduates from premier universities, like Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley and Chicago — have gone on to win 34 Nobels and more than 60 Pulitzer Prizes.

Records show that for US scholars, the last two years — since the UPA came to power — have been the worst in the 57-year history of the programme. Not only has the Government kept the highest number of scholars waiting for anywhere between anywhere between six months to 21 months — effectively derailing their entire schedule — it has also, in several cases, rejected research proposals without giving any reason.

Sample the subjects rejected by the babus of this “secular” Government: Democratization in Kerala and the role of associations; perceptions of Muslim women; Left politics in Mumbai; how migration affects Hindus and Muslims in Hyderabad and Dubai. Many scholars refused to re-apply while some changed their subjects to get a visa (see chart).

... contd.