US scholars denied visa due to sensitive subject: Home Ministry

New Delhi, Mar 14 (UNI) As many as nine US scholars have been denied visas to work in India in view of the sensitive nature of their subject, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

The subjects found sensitive and the name of the scholar concerned include India's Energy Security(Saha Souvik), 'The Imaginary Princess: A Muslim Girl's story( Traiq S Tapa), Language Ideologies in Mumbai Schools(Christian P Davis) and Prospects and Problems of Outsourcing for India's Economic Growh: An Indepth Analysis(Banwari Benlal Kedia).

Besides Green Evictions:The Politics of Land Privatisation and Access in Delhi, India (David Asher Ghertner), 'Is Tourism a win-win for Local Livelihoods and Forest ecosystems in Central Highlands of India(Ruth S DeFfries-Bajpai), 'Liberation vs Exploitation:Women's struggle for Empowerment(Keya Mitra), Democratisation in Kerala:The Role of Association(Quinlan B Bowman) and Political Empowerment and Biodiversity Protection in Kerala(Forrest D Fleischman) are also in the list of the 'sensitive' subjects.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Prakash Jaiswal said in a written reply that these nine research proposals sponsored by the United States Education Foundation in India(USEFI) were ''declined after due consideration of their sensitivity within prescribed guidelines''. However, 67 others sponsored by it were approved.

He said that last year, the government had received 926 research proposals from foreign nationals of different countries and approved 742 out of them.

UNI