September 24, 2025 • 22 mins
First, The Indian Express Maulsree Seth talks about Uttar Pradesh, where the state government has moved to restrict the overt display of caste identification in official and public spaces.
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Vidheesha Kuntamalla about India’s classrooms, where students and teachers scramble to rethink what learning should look like in an AI driven world. (09:40)
Lastly, we talk about multiple women students accusing the manager of an Ashram run institute of sexual harassment. (19:24)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Vidheesha Kuntamalla about India’s classrooms, where students and teachers scramble to rethink what learning should look like in an AI driven world. (09:40)
Lastly, we talk about multiple women students accusing the manager of an Ashram run institute of sexual harassment. (19:24)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode, we take a look at India's classrooms,
where students and teachers scramble to rethink what learning should
look like in an air driven world. We also talk
about multiple women's students accusing the manager of an Ashram
run institute of sexual harassment. But we begin today with
Uttar Pradesh, where the state government has moved to restrict
(00:23):
the overt display of cars identification in official and public spaces. Hi,
I'm Acha Sharma and you're listening to Three Things the
Inian Express new show. Acting on the heels of a
(00:43):
striking judgment by the Allahabad High Court, the state has
issued a sweeping ten point directive banning car space, political rallies,
removing cars identifiers from vehicles in public spaces, and even
erasing cars details from most place records. Now, while the
move is being framed as an effort to curb cast
discrimination and promote national unity, it actually stems from an
(01:06):
unexpected case not about cast but about alleged liquor smuggling.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Seat All started with the order by a a Labad
High Court.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
This is the inn, expresses Maltree Sate, who reported on
the story for the newspaper.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
There was a petition which was file and they had
observed that in some of the police notings the cast
was mentioned.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
So it all started from there.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So the high Quote in its direction asked you become
men to ensure that in the police notings the cast
mentioned is not there. And there were other observations in
the courte order also, so citing this high Quote order
which stated September sixteenth, chief Secretary with shitting a Chief
Secretary Deepa komar he Is shoed a direction to all
(01:53):
the DM's secretaries as well as the bullueheads in the
States as well as the DGP with a detailed ten
pointer order of how things should move on based on
the High Coote order. So basically the main crux of
the order was restricting the allegedly the misuse of cast
name either glorifying it or it's cited that it kind
(02:14):
of creates a conflict. So just to avoid that, these
guidelines are being issued.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
So it's how it all started.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Now I'm more.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
She says that the circular talks about three key mandates. First,
police records must no longer mention cast in line with
the quot's observations. Second, public displays of cast markers on banners, insignia,
or vehicles are prohibited. And third, perhaps most politically significant,
the government has barred rallies or meetings organized explicitly for
(02:46):
a single cast.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Group, so wild in a state like up where cast
is in the basis of like, it's in the political
structure and everywhere. So setting aside the cast from not
just the police notics, but also since they directed that
people can't use it on their vehicles, that if it
is done then they'll be chalant. So it's a usual
(03:07):
site in UP, especially across district and especially before elections.
So that being done, and then they're prohibiting that any
cast bays political rallies cannot take place in UP as
well because it's kind of affects not just the opposition,
but also the allies of BJP, which are basically the
regional parties.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So they have their vote base based.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
On one particular section of cast in one particular section
of the state, part of the state, so they kind
of cater to those, so they reach out and their
meetings are largely concentrated on those casts because they kind
of claim the vote share of those particular sections, so
it kind of disturbs them as well. Even though they
could not be that vocal like the opposition, but it
(03:50):
did kind of created a ripple there also because they
were kind of trying to understand how to react, and
when we spoke to some of them, they kind of
said that how would we go ahead with it because
we have to get to one particular section and when
we are actually based on raising the voice of one
particular marginalized section or the cast like to talk about
(04:11):
just the Nishad party, the very name signifies one particular
cast Nishad, which is like the boatsmen and the fishermen community,
and they kind of claimed the vote chair of those
particular communities, so they were saying, how do we go
ahead with it?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
She says that.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Political parties are now trying to gauge how the order
will be enforced, especially ahead of the twenty twenty seven
Assembly elections, and at the same time, questions remain over
what exactly would count as misuse or glorification of caste
and who gets to decide that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
The beat Samachwa, the party or Congress both kind of
claimed that we don't hold cast rallies as such. They
might not be cast rallies, but in the past we
have seen that whenever there's a reorganization beat in Congress,
they come out and share like these many obc's, these
many CST another section of the community have been included.
(05:04):
So while they said that they don't hold specific cast
rallies as such, they targeted the BJP and said that
it is BJP which started creating such a divide by
holding cass based public meetings and creating such kind of
a division, which actually led to this division. And if
we talk about Samajwadi parties, so they question like how
(05:25):
this particular order is actually going to bring about a
change at the grassroot level where the cast is there
in the mindset of people, So how this order would
actually be able to change that mindset.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So that's Samajwadi party kind of.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Question, and Congress which is also trying to understand how
this order would work out, they also question on the
same lines, like again targeting BJP and then questioning like
how it would bring about a change at the grassroot level.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Moll.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
She says that even though the government's position is that
action will be taken where aggressive display is likely to
lead to conflict, the threshold is not codified in the circular.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
See what the government order has cited is that if
a glorification of a cast it is done through banners
or such symbols on the vehicles, it would be prohibited.
As I said, it's a usual site in districts across
up that people do carry banners or cast related symbols
on their vehicles. Since the government order clearly mentions that
(06:26):
these such vehicles would be chalaned. So I think it
is to be seen how government kind of implements this
order on ground, because if such talants aggressively start taking place,
so people would have to get their number plates or
would have to avoid putting up such banners or flags
on their vehicles. So as of now, people are just
(06:47):
waiting to see how this government order is implemented on ground.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
In fact, politically, the order's scope will soon be tested
when the Bahujan Samaj Party starts mobilizing for an event
next month to mark founder Kashi Ram's death anniversary.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
See the reason being that BSP rally, even though some
of the people in the opposition as well as the
ruling allies have raised a question, but the fact means
that BSP has not declared it as a cast based rally.
They are saying that they'll be marking the death universary
of Cashiram, so even though they're mobilizing the cadder from
all across the state and other places as well.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
But as of now, the BSP's.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Rally has not been declared as a cast based rally
by them, so it is unlikely that it might attract
some action as of now. But since BSP is yet
to react on this particular order, so it is to
be seen how they'll move ahead with it. But as
of now, their declaration is just to mark the death
anniversary of Kashiram, their founder, moll She says.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Many agree that the order will reshape familiar campaign strategies.
Several parties say that they will have to rework district
level plans to address community concerns without holding cast exclusive
events or using band symbols. They're also exploring legal and
administrative ways to maintain their outreach programs.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So, as I said, it's going to be very difficult
for the political parties in UPI with the twenty seven
election coming in because cast mobilization is forms, even though
some of them might not be holding as such the
cast based rallies, but based mobilization forms the cirks of
their campaign, because we have seen in the past the
(08:32):
meetings being called by all the political parties for a
particular section beat Brahman, Starkours, SCSD, the teams are formed
for a reach out, so they would have to see
that they do that while avoiding putting up aggressive symbols
or banners related to particular cast or holding specific cast meetings,
(08:52):
so it would affect the planning that they do for
the elections. So I think they have time and some
of them said that they'll have to work their way
out how they'll go ahead with the reach out among
the particular sections because they were saying that when they
have to address the issues of one particular cars, so
they would have to address them. But now with this order,
they cannot hold specific cars based meeting, so they're saying
(09:16):
that they'll have to see how they work with the
order as they move ahead with the prepetitions for the election.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And next we talk about a quiet transformation underway on
Indian campuses from Delhi University to IITs and private universities.
Students are increasingly turning to AI tools for everything from
clarifying concepts to drafting assignments. But teachers meanwhile are scrambling
to keep pace, questioning how much of this new technology
(09:49):
belongs in the classroom. Now, this debate goes beyond plagiarism
or shortcuts. It's about what learning itself should look like
in an AI driven world. Some institutions have set up committees,
updated plagiarism policies or redesigned exams to make them AI proof.
Others are experimenting with ways to integrate the technology. To
(10:11):
understand how generative AI is reshaping higher education in India
and what it means for the future. We speak to
the Indian Expresses with Esha Kuntamala. Withisha, we know that
AI has been called many things, from a PhD in
the pocket to a threat to genuine learning. So could
you tell us how generative AI has actually changed the
(10:34):
daily course of Indian classrooms.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
So the conversation here in India is now starting to
begin in both liberal arts institutions and the science institutions
as well. So for now this is in comparision to
institutions in the US, we are still just starting off.
Very few institutions have come up with things like an
AI policy, where institutions are trying to streamline the use
(11:00):
of AI by students in their coursework, in their assignments.
For instance, at itIt Deli and at universities like shiv
Nada University, they've come up with certain policies which are
called AI policies, which state that the extent of use
of AI by a student in their coursework or in
their assignments.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Should be attributed to AI.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Essentially, it is for the student to incorporate this healthy
practice into their work and into their classes where they
can furnish the fact that they are using AI openly
and not treated as a tool which they might be
using to cheat. The definition of cheat is sort of
changing now with these policies coming into.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The picture right and we understand from the surveys at
itIt del and other institutions. You mentioned in your story
that four out of five students are regularly using AI,
So can you talk about the most common reasons why
they turn to it.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
In April last year, Iri Dealy formed a committee to
decide how generative AI should be used in classrooms, labs
and exams without eroding the academic integrity.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
So over months, it surveyed.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
More than four hundred students and more than eighty faculty
members and the results of that survey in id DELI
sort of showed that four out of five students use
AI and often several times a week, and one in
ten pays for a premium subscription.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
To bypass the errors of the free version.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
So the students and I really told the surveys that
they use AI to simplify concepts, to create mind maps,
to summarize material, and you know, simulate scenarios. Basically most
of these tasks are to somehow save time to finish up.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Their own coursework.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
But they also highlighted its shortcomings where they mentioned that
AI often gives wrong answers, there's weak context handling, it
as bad math, and it has flawed code debugging. So
that's when it comes to the students at Ittel and earlier.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
As you mentioned that even faculties were part of the survey,
so what did they have to say about this shift?
Speaker 5 (13:15):
So nearly seventy seven percent of the faculty members had
used AI according to the survey, and they used it
to summarize research papers, to make slides which they use
in classrooms while teaching, and to draft official communication.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
The survey also.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Stated that they valued the speed, but faculty members did
voice out the fear of grading distortion and the loss
of critical thinking amongst students, and the temptation to let
a slick answer replace the rough edges of an original work.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
So after the survey and after.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Taking an input from all the faculty and the students,
the committee recommended integrating AI and machine learning into the
institute's core curriculum, managing disclosure of AI, us running workshops
on responsible use basically to sort of educate students as
to how smartly they can use AI, but not to
(14:13):
plagiarize their own work.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And with sure, we know that there are different methods
and models that you know, faculties are experimenting with to
counter or even integrate AI.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So could we talk a bit about that.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
So we've spoken to several teachers who, obviously, with AI
coming in, of course, they are slowly accepting the fact
that it is inevitable. They have to live with it,
so they are changing their own traditional ways of teaching
in classrooms. For instance, at Deli's in the pressa Institute
of Information Technology, we spoke to Gotam Schaff who's the
(14:50):
professor of computer science and engineering. He sort of changed
the vitage of assignments and classroom tests to ensure AI
was not being misused in his classroom. So he said
that he shifted from fifty percent assignments and fifty percent
examinations to ninety percent of examinations where students cannot cheat.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
I mean, students cannot cheat and procter tests, but.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
They can cheat on assignments, right, which is why he
was like, I have turned to taking more and more
examinations than assignments. So that's one and the second we
have also spoken to a lot of students, researchers and
professors abroad. In one case in the UK, so there
was this master student who spoke to us and explained
(15:33):
how she recalled a math professor during her undergraduate years
who gave students chat.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
GPT written proofs riddled with errors.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
So their task was to find and fix those mistakes
as a lesson that large language models can be slick
but wrong, you know. So these are the different ways
that even professors are sort of changing their ways of
approaching teaching in classrooms, right.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
And you also highlight that there are some professors who
have banned AI outright, So is that even practical anymore?
Given how rampant day I uses.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
So there are a few professors.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Obviously, I am not sure whether it is practical to
ban AI because again, as I mentioned, it is inevitable
every institution is trying to incorporate.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
It at some of the other capacity.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
This professor that we spoke about in the study was
from du and she is a professor in the Department
of Education and she starts her classroom by writing no
AI in bold on her classroom board. And not only her,
there is still a section of professors in Indian institutions
who do not accept the usage of AI and they
(16:45):
are coming up with more and more creative ways of
setting their assignments to ensure that students.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Cannot turn to AI.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
For instance, this particular professor, she has a very unique
way of setting her on a assignments where she teaches
gender the concept of gender in her classroom through a
curated set of songs and then she shares those that
set of songs with the students and asks them to
analyze gender concepts. In another way, she also collects newspaper
(17:16):
cuttings for discussion and for creating her coursework creatively. So yeah,
there is still a pool of professors who are coming
up with new ideas to make sure that AI cannot
be used and totally banned in their classrooms, while there
is also another set of teachers who are slowly incorporating
it to make their teaching experience better.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And lastly with Yasha, how would you say India's approach
compares with the universities abroad, like how are they doing
things differently?
Speaker 5 (17:47):
So I think when we spoke to people from other countries.
We spoke to professors from Princeton, from Oxford and from
universities in Australia and in the.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
UK as well.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
See that they sort of provided students with licenses to
chair GPT plus earlier and there is a lot more
encouragement coming from the university's administration to sort of use
AI as long as they found it helpful. And the
university and the administration's only requirement was that students disclose
(18:21):
how they use AI.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So this acceptance has.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Come very early on in other parts of the world
as compared to India, was what we found.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
So yeah, like, for instance, in.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
The UK, universities are collaborating to find solution and there
was this one university called the Swansea University, which is
one of the eight institutions that are part of a
nationwide pilot project called I Mean to test an AI
platform called Teachermatic for grading and personalized feedback, and its
aim is to pool experience into a best practice toolkit.
(18:56):
In Australia, also guidelines have been issued by the Higher
Educa Regulator which is called TEXA to make AI use legitimate.
But again disclosure is mandatory. Every assignment must say how
AI was used, and universities are also shifting to oral
examinations a VIVA format and more in class works. They're
(19:16):
also turning to assignments and assessments, especially assessments the way
professors assess students work. They're turning to the kinds that
AI cannot do.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And in the end we shift our focus to Delhi.
Seventeen women's students in the capital have accused the manager
of their ashram run institute, swamich nya Anan the Saraswati,
of sexual harassment and molestation. The allegations range from obscene
messages and abusive language to unwanted physical contact. According to Place,
(19:54):
many of the students were enrolled under the economically weaker
section quota, making them especially vulnerable. The complaints first surfaced
in August when an administrator from the institute approached place.
Investigators spoke with thirty two women's students, where more than
half said they had suffered misconduct by Chetanyananda on a
(20:14):
regular basis. Some even alleged that certain faculty members pressured
them to comply with his demands. Derriplis has since registered
a case under sections of sexual harassment and assault, and
statements from sixteen victims have been formally recorded before a magistrate.
Despite raids in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Chattanyananda remains on
(20:35):
the run and the police say his last known location
was in Agra. Now, besides these allegations, police have also
found out that accused was also allegedly using a red
Volvo with a fake United Nations diplomatic number plate. The
car was discovered parked in the institute's basement and a
second case has now been filed against him for forgery,
(20:58):
cheating and misuse of official markings. Now, what's worth noting
is that this isn't the first time Chetanyananda has faced
legal trouble. Police sources say he already has multiple cases
against him, including a molestation complaint from twenty sixteen and
a forgery case dating back to two thousand and nine. Meanwhile,
the Ashram which ran the concerned institute, has issued a
(21:21):
public statement distancing itself from him. It said it has
severed all ties with chetan Yananda, formerly known as Swami Parthasati,
calling his actions illegal and harmful. The statement also stays
that the institute continues to be overseen by a governing
council approved by the All India Council for Technical Education
(21:41):
and that steps are being taken to safeguard students. But
for now, the man at the center of these serious
allegations remains at large while authorities intensify efforts to track
him down. You were listening to Three Things by the
Indian Express Today. Show was edited and mixed by Bavar
(22:02):
and produced by Shishang Bargov and me Ichasharma. If you
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Speaker 3 (22:14):
This is the best way.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
For people to get to know about us.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
You can also tweet us at Express podcast or write
to us at podcast at Indianexpress dot com.
In this episode, we take a look at India's classrooms,
where students and teachers scramble to rethink what learning should
look like in an air driven world. We also talk
about multiple women's students accusing the manager of an Ashram
run institute of sexual harassment. But we begin today with
Uttar Pradesh, where the state government has moved to restrict
(00:23):
the overt display of cars identification in official and public spaces. Hi,
I'm Acha Sharma and you're listening to Three Things the
Inian Express new show. Acting on the heels of a
(00:43):
striking judgment by the Allahabad High Court, the state has
issued a sweeping ten point directive banning car space, political rallies,
removing cars identifiers from vehicles in public spaces, and even
erasing cars details from most place records. Now, while the
move is being framed as an effort to curb cast
discrimination and promote national unity, it actually stems from an
(01:06):
unexpected case not about cast but about alleged liquor smuggling.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Seat All started with the order by a a Labad
High Court.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
This is the inn, expresses Maltree Sate, who reported on
the story for the newspaper.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
There was a petition which was file and they had
observed that in some of the police notings the cast
was mentioned.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
So it all started from there.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So the high Quote in its direction asked you become
men to ensure that in the police notings the cast
mentioned is not there. And there were other observations in
the courte order also, so citing this high Quote order
which stated September sixteenth, chief Secretary with shitting a Chief
Secretary Deepa komar he Is shoed a direction to all
(01:53):
the DM's secretaries as well as the bullueheads in the
States as well as the DGP with a detailed ten
pointer order of how things should move on based on
the High Coote order. So basically the main crux of
the order was restricting the allegedly the misuse of cast
name either glorifying it or it's cited that it kind
(02:14):
of creates a conflict. So just to avoid that, these
guidelines are being issued.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
So it's how it all started.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Now I'm more.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
She says that the circular talks about three key mandates. First,
police records must no longer mention cast in line with
the quot's observations. Second, public displays of cast markers on banners, insignia,
or vehicles are prohibited. And third, perhaps most politically significant,
the government has barred rallies or meetings organized explicitly for
(02:46):
a single cast.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Group, so wild in a state like up where cast
is in the basis of like, it's in the political
structure and everywhere. So setting aside the cast from not
just the police notics, but also since they directed that
people can't use it on their vehicles, that if it
is done then they'll be chalant. So it's a usual
(03:07):
site in UP, especially across district and especially before elections.
So that being done, and then they're prohibiting that any
cast bays political rallies cannot take place in UP as
well because it's kind of affects not just the opposition,
but also the allies of BJP, which are basically the
regional parties.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So they have their vote base based.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
On one particular section of cast in one particular section
of the state, part of the state, so they kind
of cater to those, so they reach out and their
meetings are largely concentrated on those casts because they kind
of claim the vote share of those particular sections, so
it kind of disturbs them as well. Even though they
could not be that vocal like the opposition, but it
(03:50):
did kind of created a ripple there also because they
were kind of trying to understand how to react, and
when we spoke to some of them, they kind of
said that how would we go ahead with it because
we have to get to one particular section and when
we are actually based on raising the voice of one
particular marginalized section or the cast like to talk about
(04:11):
just the Nishad party, the very name signifies one particular
cast Nishad, which is like the boatsmen and the fishermen community,
and they kind of claimed the vote chair of those
particular communities, so they were saying, how do we go
ahead with it?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
She says that.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Political parties are now trying to gauge how the order
will be enforced, especially ahead of the twenty twenty seven
Assembly elections, and at the same time, questions remain over
what exactly would count as misuse or glorification of caste
and who gets to decide that.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
The beat Samachwa, the party or Congress both kind of
claimed that we don't hold cast rallies as such. They
might not be cast rallies, but in the past we
have seen that whenever there's a reorganization beat in Congress,
they come out and share like these many obc's, these
many CST another section of the community have been included.
(05:04):
So while they said that they don't hold specific cast
rallies as such, they targeted the BJP and said that
it is BJP which started creating such a divide by
holding cass based public meetings and creating such kind of
a division, which actually led to this division. And if
we talk about Samajwadi parties, so they question like how
(05:25):
this particular order is actually going to bring about a
change at the grassroot level where the cast is there
in the mindset of people, So how this order would
actually be able to change that mindset.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So that's Samajwadi party kind of.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Question, and Congress which is also trying to understand how
this order would work out, they also question on the
same lines, like again targeting BJP and then questioning like
how it would bring about a change at the grassroot level.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Moll.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
She says that even though the government's position is that
action will be taken where aggressive display is likely to
lead to conflict, the threshold is not codified in the circular.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
See what the government order has cited is that if
a glorification of a cast it is done through banners
or such symbols on the vehicles, it would be prohibited.
As I said, it's a usual site in districts across
up that people do carry banners or cast related symbols
on their vehicles. Since the government order clearly mentions that
(06:26):
these such vehicles would be chalaned. So I think it
is to be seen how government kind of implements this
order on ground, because if such talants aggressively start taking place,
so people would have to get their number plates or
would have to avoid putting up such banners or flags
on their vehicles. So as of now, people are just
(06:47):
waiting to see how this government order is implemented on ground.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
In fact, politically, the order's scope will soon be tested
when the Bahujan Samaj Party starts mobilizing for an event
next month to mark founder Kashi Ram's death anniversary.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
See the reason being that BSP rally, even though some
of the people in the opposition as well as the
ruling allies have raised a question, but the fact means
that BSP has not declared it as a cast based rally.
They are saying that they'll be marking the death universary
of Cashiram, so even though they're mobilizing the cadder from
all across the state and other places as well.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
But as of now, the BSP's.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Rally has not been declared as a cast based rally
by them, so it is unlikely that it might attract
some action as of now. But since BSP is yet
to react on this particular order, so it is to
be seen how they'll move ahead with it. But as
of now, their declaration is just to mark the death
anniversary of Kashiram, their founder, moll She says.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Many agree that the order will reshape familiar campaign strategies.
Several parties say that they will have to rework district
level plans to address community concerns without holding cast exclusive
events or using band symbols. They're also exploring legal and
administrative ways to maintain their outreach programs.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So, as I said, it's going to be very difficult
for the political parties in UPI with the twenty seven
election coming in because cast mobilization is forms, even though
some of them might not be holding as such the
cast based rallies, but based mobilization forms the cirks of
their campaign, because we have seen in the past the
(08:32):
meetings being called by all the political parties for a
particular section beat Brahman, Starkours, SCSD, the teams are formed
for a reach out, so they would have to see
that they do that while avoiding putting up aggressive symbols
or banners related to particular cast or holding specific cast meetings,
(08:52):
so it would affect the planning that they do for
the elections. So I think they have time and some
of them said that they'll have to work their way
out how they'll go ahead with the reach out among
the particular sections because they were saying that when they
have to address the issues of one particular cars, so
they would have to address them. But now with this order,
they cannot hold specific cars based meeting, so they're saying
(09:16):
that they'll have to see how they work with the
order as they move ahead with the prepetitions for the election.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
And next we talk about a quiet transformation underway on
Indian campuses from Delhi University to IITs and private universities.
Students are increasingly turning to AI tools for everything from
clarifying concepts to drafting assignments. But teachers meanwhile are scrambling
to keep pace, questioning how much of this new technology
(09:49):
belongs in the classroom. Now, this debate goes beyond plagiarism
or shortcuts. It's about what learning itself should look like
in an AI driven world. Some institutions have set up committees,
updated plagiarism policies or redesigned exams to make them AI proof.
Others are experimenting with ways to integrate the technology. To
(10:11):
understand how generative AI is reshaping higher education in India
and what it means for the future. We speak to
the Indian Expresses with Esha Kuntamala. Withisha, we know that
AI has been called many things, from a PhD in
the pocket to a threat to genuine learning. So could
you tell us how generative AI has actually changed the
(10:34):
daily course of Indian classrooms.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
So the conversation here in India is now starting to
begin in both liberal arts institutions and the science institutions
as well. So for now this is in comparision to
institutions in the US, we are still just starting off.
Very few institutions have come up with things like an
AI policy, where institutions are trying to streamline the use
(11:00):
of AI by students in their coursework, in their assignments.
For instance, at itIt Deli and at universities like shiv
Nada University, they've come up with certain policies which are
called AI policies, which state that the extent of use
of AI by a student in their coursework or in
their assignments.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Should be attributed to AI.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Essentially, it is for the student to incorporate this healthy
practice into their work and into their classes where they
can furnish the fact that they are using AI openly
and not treated as a tool which they might be
using to cheat. The definition of cheat is sort of
changing now with these policies coming into.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
The picture right and we understand from the surveys at
itIt del and other institutions. You mentioned in your story
that four out of five students are regularly using AI,
So can you talk about the most common reasons why
they turn to it.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
In April last year, Iri Dealy formed a committee to
decide how generative AI should be used in classrooms, labs
and exams without eroding the academic integrity.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
So over months, it surveyed.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
More than four hundred students and more than eighty faculty
members and the results of that survey in id DELI
sort of showed that four out of five students use
AI and often several times a week, and one in
ten pays for a premium subscription.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
To bypass the errors of the free version.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
So the students and I really told the surveys that
they use AI to simplify concepts, to create mind maps,
to summarize material, and you know, simulate scenarios. Basically most
of these tasks are to somehow save time to finish up.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Their own coursework.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
But they also highlighted its shortcomings where they mentioned that
AI often gives wrong answers, there's weak context handling, it
as bad math, and it has flawed code debugging. So
that's when it comes to the students at Ittel and earlier.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
As you mentioned that even faculties were part of the survey,
so what did they have to say about this shift?
Speaker 5 (13:15):
So nearly seventy seven percent of the faculty members had
used AI according to the survey, and they used it
to summarize research papers, to make slides which they use
in classrooms while teaching, and to draft official communication.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
The survey also.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
Stated that they valued the speed, but faculty members did
voice out the fear of grading distortion and the loss
of critical thinking amongst students, and the temptation to let
a slick answer replace the rough edges of an original work.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
So after the survey and after.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Taking an input from all the faculty and the students,
the committee recommended integrating AI and machine learning into the
institute's core curriculum, managing disclosure of AI, us running workshops
on responsible use basically to sort of educate students as
to how smartly they can use AI, but not to
(14:13):
plagiarize their own work.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And with sure, we know that there are different methods
and models that you know, faculties are experimenting with to
counter or even integrate AI.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
So could we talk a bit about that.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
So we've spoken to several teachers who, obviously, with AI
coming in, of course, they are slowly accepting the fact
that it is inevitable. They have to live with it,
so they are changing their own traditional ways of teaching
in classrooms. For instance, at Deli's in the pressa Institute
of Information Technology, we spoke to Gotam Schaff who's the
(14:50):
professor of computer science and engineering. He sort of changed
the vitage of assignments and classroom tests to ensure AI
was not being misused in his classroom. So he said
that he shifted from fifty percent assignments and fifty percent
examinations to ninety percent of examinations where students cannot cheat.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
I mean, students cannot cheat and procter tests, but.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
They can cheat on assignments, right, which is why he
was like, I have turned to taking more and more
examinations than assignments. So that's one and the second we
have also spoken to a lot of students, researchers and
professors abroad. In one case in the UK, so there
was this master student who spoke to us and explained
(15:33):
how she recalled a math professor during her undergraduate years
who gave students chat.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
GPT written proofs riddled with errors.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
So their task was to find and fix those mistakes
as a lesson that large language models can be slick
but wrong, you know. So these are the different ways
that even professors are sort of changing their ways of
approaching teaching in classrooms, right.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
And you also highlight that there are some professors who
have banned AI outright, So is that even practical anymore?
Given how rampant day I uses.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
So there are a few professors.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Obviously, I am not sure whether it is practical to
ban AI because again, as I mentioned, it is inevitable
every institution is trying to incorporate.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
It at some of the other capacity.
Speaker 5 (16:22):
This professor that we spoke about in the study was
from du and she is a professor in the Department
of Education and she starts her classroom by writing no
AI in bold on her classroom board. And not only her,
there is still a section of professors in Indian institutions
who do not accept the usage of AI and they
(16:45):
are coming up with more and more creative ways of
setting their assignments to ensure that students.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Cannot turn to AI.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
For instance, this particular professor, she has a very unique
way of setting her on a assignments where she teaches
gender the concept of gender in her classroom through a
curated set of songs and then she shares those that
set of songs with the students and asks them to
analyze gender concepts. In another way, she also collects newspaper
(17:16):
cuttings for discussion and for creating her coursework creatively. So yeah,
there is still a pool of professors who are coming
up with new ideas to make sure that AI cannot
be used and totally banned in their classrooms, while there
is also another set of teachers who are slowly incorporating
it to make their teaching experience better.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And lastly with Yasha, how would you say India's approach
compares with the universities abroad, like how are they doing
things differently?
Speaker 5 (17:47):
So I think when we spoke to people from other countries.
We spoke to professors from Princeton, from Oxford and from
universities in Australia and in the.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
UK as well.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
See that they sort of provided students with licenses to
chair GPT plus earlier and there is a lot more
encouragement coming from the university's administration to sort of use
AI as long as they found it helpful. And the
university and the administration's only requirement was that students disclose
(18:21):
how they use AI.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So this acceptance has.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Come very early on in other parts of the world
as compared to India, was what we found.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
So yeah, like, for instance, in.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
The UK, universities are collaborating to find solution and there
was this one university called the Swansea University, which is
one of the eight institutions that are part of a
nationwide pilot project called I Mean to test an AI
platform called Teachermatic for grading and personalized feedback, and its
aim is to pool experience into a best practice toolkit.
(18:56):
In Australia, also guidelines have been issued by the Higher
Educa Regulator which is called TEXA to make AI use legitimate.
But again disclosure is mandatory. Every assignment must say how
AI was used, and universities are also shifting to oral
examinations a VIVA format and more in class works. They're
(19:16):
also turning to assignments and assessments, especially assessments the way
professors assess students work. They're turning to the kinds that
AI cannot do.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
And in the end we shift our focus to Delhi.
Seventeen women's students in the capital have accused the manager
of their ashram run institute, swamich nya Anan the Saraswati,
of sexual harassment and molestation. The allegations range from obscene
messages and abusive language to unwanted physical contact. According to Place,
(19:54):
many of the students were enrolled under the economically weaker
section quota, making them especially vulnerable. The complaints first surfaced
in August when an administrator from the institute approached place.
Investigators spoke with thirty two women's students, where more than
half said they had suffered misconduct by Chetanyananda on a
(20:14):
regular basis. Some even alleged that certain faculty members pressured
them to comply with his demands. Derriplis has since registered
a case under sections of sexual harassment and assault, and
statements from sixteen victims have been formally recorded before a magistrate.
Despite raids in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Chattanyananda remains on
(20:35):
the run and the police say his last known location
was in Agra. Now, besides these allegations, police have also
found out that accused was also allegedly using a red
Volvo with a fake United Nations diplomatic number plate. The
car was discovered parked in the institute's basement and a
second case has now been filed against him for forgery,
(20:58):
cheating and misuse of official markings. Now, what's worth noting
is that this isn't the first time Chetanyananda has faced
legal trouble. Police sources say he already has multiple cases
against him, including a molestation complaint from twenty sixteen and
a forgery case dating back to two thousand and nine. Meanwhile,
the Ashram which ran the concerned institute, has issued a
(21:21):
public statement distancing itself from him. It said it has
severed all ties with chetan Yananda, formerly known as Swami Parthasati,
calling his actions illegal and harmful. The statement also stays
that the institute continues to be overseen by a governing
council approved by the All India Council for Technical Education
(21:41):
and that steps are being taken to safeguard students. But
for now, the man at the center of these serious
allegations remains at large while authorities intensify efforts to track
him down. You were listening to Three Things by the
Indian Express Today. Show was edited and mixed by Bavar
(22:02):
and produced by Shishang Bargov and me Ichasharma. If you
like the show, do subscribe to us wherever you get
your podcast. You can also recommend it to someone you
think may like it, with a friend or in your family.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
This is the best way.
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For people to get to know about us.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
You can also tweet us at Express podcast or write
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