Protests brew against Indu Menon over allegations she ghostwrote PhDs | Kerala News

Writer Indu Menon, who has reportedly claimed to have written many journal articles and around 10 PhDs, is facing backlash from all quarters. ''At least Rs 3 lakhs are guaranteed to write a PhD. In some cases, I have earned more,'' Indu Menon, one of the recipients of the Chief Minister's Nava Kerala Postdoctoral Fellowship and an assistant professor at the Kerala Institute of Research, Training and Development in Scheduled Castes and Tribes Studies or KIRTADS, recently revealed in a Facebook comment.

In subsequent exchanges, she indicated that writing a PhD was better paid than translating and more satisfying than writing low-grade literature. As this sparked much fury on social media, she deleted the posts and comments and later claimed that the comments were sarcastic. She also said that the screenshots had been edited with malicious intent and were being circulated.

J Devika, activist and professor at the Center for Development Studies, has written an open letter to Kerala State Council of Higher Education vice-chairman Dr Rajan Gurukkal following Indu Menon's revelations . “His statements in the now-deleted Facebook posts and comments should be taken into account. It is an ethical, legal and moral crime. »

Many people think that I should have stopped criticising her because she is a woman. But this is not an issue that should be approached from the angle of gender correction. This is not a fight between two women but disagreements between two researchers,” Devika said.
In her letter, she said Menon's admission of academic misconduct marks a new low which the authorities should take note of in the interest of ensuring ethics in higher education in Kerala.

“Even if she denies her own comments as misrepresentations, the harm she has caused to higher education by attempting to normalize the writing of doctoral theses by ghostwriters is serious enough to warrant sanction,” he said. writes Devika. In a separate letter to Gurukkal, Rajesh Komath, associate professor at the School of Social Sciences at Mahatma Gandhi University, wrote that such actions should be considered illegal and punished appropriately to deter future violations.

“The ten theses and research papers that Menon claims to have written for others must be disclosed and proper investigations carried out,” Komath added. In a response to one, seen by Onmanorama, Gurukkal wrote that the practice is a criminal offense. “The council will examine the matter with due seriousness. It was sent to the University of Calicut where she is research director. »

Last year, the university recognised Menon as a research guide in sociology at Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College in Kozhikode. “Many days have passed since Indu Menon's revelations. We have written to the Minister of Higher Education and Social Justice and KSHEC, but no action is in sight,” Hamid TP, secretary of the Kerala chapter of the SIO, told Onmanorama. “We demand an inquiry to find out who benefited from Indu Menon's services and their PhDs should be cancelled and they should be removed from the positions they acquired on the basis of those PhDs,” he told Onmanorama.

Onmanorama sent a message to Indu Menon seeking his comments but did not receive a response. An editor who works in English-language book publishing and has helped many researchers write doctorates said it has become a cottage industry. “Clients are divided into two categories: some have no idea about the subject and have no language skills, others have a mastery of their subject acquired through reading and field work but have no no linguistic skills to express it. I don’t encourage the first category,” he said.