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Indian Government's Project Approval Process Links to reports about 2006-07 U.S. Fulbright clearance experience appear below All foreign scholars, including U.S. Fulbright candidates, are required to obtain clearance and a special visa prior to their entry into India. USEFI confirms an official host institution, which then certifies the affiliation in writing. A scholar must complete the applicable Visa Authorization Form. As soon as USEFI receives the Visa Authorization Form and the certification of affiliation, USEFI submits them to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for approval. MHRD states on its public website athttp://education.nic.in/hesch1.asp/ that the clearance process for foreign scholars takes approximately three months. During that time, the Ministry will circulate your research and teaching proposal file to other government ministries and offices as it deems appropriate. Reviewers check for sensitivity and security issues in the locality, and on compliance with prior visas to India before issuing the clearance for visa issuance. This project approval process is an internal Indian government requirement with which USEFI is obliged to comply. During the past two years, Fulbright scholars have experienced substantial delays and inconvenience as the review and clearance process has lengthened. In addition to waiting 9 to 12 months, or sometimes even more, for project approvals from the Indian government, some scholars whose research topics could be considered sensitive by the Indian government have been rejected. In 2006-07, about 6% of the American Fulbright scholars' proposals were rejected. Reapplication with amended research subjects has usually been approved after additional delay. Although press reports suggest that a new process is being established to expedite clearances, it is too early to tell if the 2007-08 applications will be processed within the promised three months. USEFI strongly urges scholars to make your personal and travel plans with this process in mind, because your Fulbright grant cannot begin until you arrive in India with the appropriate travel documents. USEFI sends a Fulbright grant award letter when the process is complete. After that, a Fulbrighter is eligible to begin work in India. USEFI recommends that scholars not enter India on a tourist or other visa expecting to convert your status while you are in the country. USEFI cannot facilitate or finance any component a Fulbright candidate's pre-grant stay in India. For details of the 2006-07 Fulbright scholars' experiences, please see the series of articles which appeared in the New Delhi edition of the Indian Express, a national English daily. The links appear below, along with related editorials/op-eds from the Indian Express, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Sentine. Editorial from The Sentinel newspaper, Guwahati, Assam, Feb 23, 2007: Feb. 19, 2007 The Chronicle of Higher Education Feb 18, 2007 news report Feb 17, 2007 news report, The Telegraph Feb 17, 2007 news report Op-Ed by Tariq Tapa, Feb 17, 2007 Editorial Feb 14, 2007 news report Fulbright Scholars to India Upset Over Lengthy Clearance Delays and Denials The Indian government has delayed approving the projects of dozens of Fulbright scholars for months and has rejected some projects without explanation -- a move observers believe is an attempt to force the scholars to change their research topics. The rejections and months-long delays have put a number of the scholars into professional and personal limbo, and have upset officials at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and the United States Education Foundation in India, which runs the Fulbright program there. "Through these delays and censorship efforts, the government of India is harming those Americans who have invested their careers and aspirations in the U.S.-India relationship," said Larry Schwartz, public-affairs officer at the embassy. "These are people who would have become India's most vigorous advocates in the U.S." Of the 94 Americans awarded Fulbright scholarships to India for the 2006-7 academic year, only 17 received their clearances within six months of applying, according to Jane E. Schukoske, executive director of the educational foundation in India. Most of the rest experienced delays of five to 10 months. As of mid-February, 10 academics were still waiting for their clearances, including seven whose initial applications were still pending and three who changed their research topics after being rejected. Some scholars who were rejected reapplied after changing their subjects while others decided not to reapply. The research subjects rejected by the Indian government, without explanation, include studies of language ideologies in the schools of Mumbai, India's financial capital (formerly known as Bombay), to which millions of Indians from others states migrate; of democratization in Kerala, a southern Indian state where India's communist parties have been influential; and of Muslim women's perceptions of the role of women in society. India's Ministry of Human Resource Development coordinates the proposal reviews, also called the visa-authorization process. That clearance precedes application for the visa itself. Until recently, said Ms. Schukoske, the ministry's Web site said that projects were usually approved within three months. Repeated calls to the ministry requesting comment were not returned. Many scholars applied for their clearances in March 2006, expecting to begin their research in India by the end of August, but did not receive approval in time. An orientation program in New Delhi, typically scheduled for late August or early September, was canceled because of the delays. The clearance delays began with the previous year's awardees, only 54 percent of whom received clearances within six months. "These delays have caused serious hardships for many of our scholars," said Ms. Schukoske, noting that the review process is at odds with the rest of the Fulbright experience in India. "Once scholars are cleared and begin their Fulbright grants, they enjoy warm welcome and energetically pursue their projects with support from their Indian colleagues." A number of scholars who spoke to The Chronicle were both angered and perplexed by their treatment. Some of those still awaiting clearances had decided to come to India on tourist visas and sit out the waiting period here. Having left their full-time jobs in the United States and, in some cases, having no other means of support, they noted that, at least, living in India is cheaper. "Frankly, my research is in jeopardy, and I've spent most of my savings, and I don't think I can afford to stay much longer," said Forrest Fleischman, who arrived in India in September on a tourist visa. In mid-February, he said, he was told that the Ministry of Home Affairs, one of several government agencies that screens the proposals, had placed "adverse comments" in his file. "While there is no final word, it seems highly probable that my application is about to be rejected," Mr. Fleischman said. He had planned to focus his research on political empowerment and biodiversity protection in Kerala's agricultural ecosystem. The home ministry deals with matters of domestic security, and Mr. Fleischman says his project has no negative implications on domestic-security concerns. "I've spent the last nine months planning my life around this project," he said. "I have made it the cornerstone of my graduate-school application -- and hoped to make it a core of my doctoral work." Last September the Board of Directors of the educational foundation in India sent a statement of concern to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of External Affairs, urging them to expedite the review process, and noting that many of the scholars "relinquished their normal duties or studies, and, in some cases, their spouses and children have left jobs and school." Anupama Bhatnagar, a member of the foundation who is deputy secretary at the human-resource ministry, did not sign this statement. Ms. Bhatnagar did not return repeated calls made to her office by The Chronicle. Aseem Sharma, a foundation board member who is president of Corning SA, India, said in a faxed message that he and others on the board had been in regular touch with the ministries since sending the letter. "I am not aware of any response from the ministries to the board," he wrote. In December, 33 Fulbright scholars sent a petition U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, urging her to get involved in the matter. "When we received our acceptance letters, we understood our selection to be a great honor and a prestigious career boost; for many of us, it has instead become a financially and emotionally debilitating obstacle," the petition says. The signers add that they have received no funding or accurate information that would help them plan for the future, and that many of them are without incomes and health insurance. Secretary Rice did not respond to the letter, but Thomas A. Farrell, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for academic programs, said the United States had raised the problem with the Indian authorities "at an extremely high level." In October Mr. Farrell met with the Indian charge d'affaires -- the second in command at the Indian embassy in Washington -- to discuss the issue. Since then, he said, "we've gotten a substantial resolution of the problem." He added: "The backlog is virtually cleared." Mr. Farrell characterized the problem as an "ongoing issue that has been around for a number of years." He said it had grown more acute as the number of American scholars seeking visas to India has grown. The problem does not represent any anti-American hostility on the part of Indian officials, he said. Instead, it is strictly "an issue of bureaucracy." That is little consolation for those who have suffered through lengthy delays or failed to get their clearances. Tariq Tapa, whose documentary film project, "The Imaginary Princess: A Muslim Girl's Story," was rejected, decided not to change his subject and re-apply. "Given the choice between either churning out a half-baked proposal just for the sake of getting back on the one-year merry-go-round with still no guarantee of success, or just walking away clean, I chose to walk," said Mr. Tapa. "I spent years researching it and months preparing the proposal and building the contacts and context to give it integrity. Starting over from scratch and handing something in during the space of a few weeks was more than absurd; it was offensive, as if I were writing a thank-you note and not a graduate dissertation due in the time I promised my department." Instead, Mr. Tapa, who said he began to suspect months ago that his project would be rejected, privately raised money to shoot his film. He came to India on a tourist visa last October, has begun shooting his documentary, and expects to finish on time, this April, as planned. "But I am now required to begin repayment on student loans because I no longer qualify for an academic deferral," he said. "So, to be quite honest, becoming a Fulbrighter has been one of the most financially and emotionally regretful experiences of my life." Burton Bollag contributed to this article from Washington. Copyright © 2006 by The Chronicle of Higher Education Assam Daily Criticizes Indian Bureaucracy for Hassles of US Fulbright Scholars SAP20070217378029 Guwahati The Sentinel (Internet Version-WWW) in English 17 Feb 07 [Editorial: "Of Closed Mind"] If the above column [SAP20070217378028 in cross references] is a pointer to India's failed anti-terrorism stratagem, this one, though on higher education and would-be foreign researchers in Indian universities, is to drive home the misplaced priorities that our policy-makers otherwise take pride in--in the name of national security. The investigative series carried recently by The Indian Express on the status of Fulbright scholars from the US in India is a sharp indictment of India's academic ambience and the associated procedural hassles--all unnecessary. That outdated bureaucrats in three Union ministries--Human Resource Development, Home and External Affairs--and Intelligence Bureau officials should take their own sweet time to judge the viability of research proposals presented by the Fulbright scholars from the US, is nothing but the idea of an India that claims to have happened, but is not, and that too in academics. The universities ought to be the best judge in academic matters. In a sharp missive to US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and all Senate members, the frustrated Fulbright scholars rightly harped on a bizarre Indian academic and bureaucratic set-up that "has instead become a financially and emotionally debilitating obstacle". Many of them gave up their jobs, graduate schools and homes in the US in order to pursue the Indo-US Fulbright research programme in India. And that seems to be their tragedy, thanks to the Indian system of dealing with foreign scholars, fearing security concerns. Indian Fulbright scholars in the US do not face any of these problems because the Indian breed of babus [bureaucrats] does not adorn the US offices, nor do the US universities seek permission from their government every time they invite researchers from abroad. As a matter of fact, even China--blamed otherwise for its closed Communist mind--has ten times more foreign students than a 'democratic' India. Can the Indian system of higher education and research afford to remain so closed even in this era of openness? Or is it that we do not want any research to unveil the face of Real India? [Description of Source: Guwahati The Sentinel (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- Internet version of a leading, independent daily from India's Assam State bordering Bangladesh, known for its investigative reporting. The Sentinel chain now publishes three more dailies and a weekly--Ajir Asom, an Assamese daily; the Hindi Sentinel; Samay Prabha, a Bengali daily; and Dongmusa, a Khasi-language weekly--with a combined readership of over 500,000. URL: http://www.sentinelassam.com. Editorial in THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, February 12, 2007 Are we a liberal democracy? (American Fulbright scholars being stonewalled by India's bureaucracy have appealed to the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice) American Fulbright scholars being stonewalled by India's bureaucracy have appealed to the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. We would like to specifically address India's prime minister. Like Rice, Manmohan Singh is a scholar-politician. More, Singh is a beneficiary of the open global trade in intellectual talent. Imagine the British bureaucracy sitting on Cambridge's offer to Singh. You can't. Therefore, we would like to ask Singh, what are the implications of his government's babus, whether from HRD, home or external affairs, not only denying visas to American scholars selected by a globally respected academic foundation but also asking some of them to change research topics. This is a shameful indictment of India's claims to being a liberal democracy. There's something dreadful about Intelligence Bureau staffers sitting in judgment on research topics. We can say this reminds us of China. Except that it would be unfair on China. China, first, makes no pretensions of being a democracy. Second, while free academic inquiry is not possible in China it is otherwise doing a fine job of integrating its higher education system to the global mainstream and upping its standards as a result. This is something India needs to do. But if the heavy hand of bureaucratic paranoia is going to guide scholarly pursuits then India, as a democracy, can kiss goodbye to dreams of becoming another global centre of high quality intellectual production. The prime minister therefore must first intervene, quickly and directly, and order that all pending visas be cleared, that concerned departments proffer suitable apologies and that orders about changing research topics be rescinded. Then he must ask for a thorough review of the whole system of clearance. We would like to argue that IB vetting research topics is a Kafkaesque blot on India's democracy. Also that three ministries passing files back and forth is a recipe for endless harassment. The prime minister must note that it is under his government that Fulbright scholars have been treated the worst. He must demand to know who in his administration have arrogated the right to themselves to trade India's reputation for their bureaucratic thrills. (THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, February 12) Our Insecurity Syndrome
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