VARANASI: Students at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) were flummoxed after questions on " GST in Kautilya's Arthashastra (economics)" and "Manu on globalisation" appeared in the political science examination of MA semester-I on December 4.The students were asked to choose between writing "an essay on the nature of GST in Kautilya's Arthashastra" and Manu as the "first Indian thinker of globalisation". "The rationale behind these questions was to interpret the philosophies of the two thinkers by using current relevant examples like GST and globalisation," Prof Kowshal Kishor Mishra said. I have been teaching the topic for the last 40 years," he said.Alpana, a student, said though the topic is not in the text book, "the professor taught us about it in the class and also gave notes". "The thoughts of ancient scholars like Kautilya, Manu and Shukracharya are in our syllabus, but linking Kautilya with GST and Manu with globalisation is the professor's own concept," said another student. "It is nothing but an attempt to enforce rightist ideology on the campus, as there is no point to link GST with Kautilya's theory of economics and globalisation with Manu," said Dhananjay Kumar , an Ayurveda research scholar.

Source: Times of India December 07, 2017 23:48 UTC