The conferment of the 2026 Dirac Medal, one of Physics’ highest honours, upon Padma Bhushan professor Deepak Dhar is the fruit of nearly four decades of dedicated research in Indian institutions. It illustrates the conditions under which sustained scholarly excellence becomes possible. Stable, disruption-free academic environments enable the continuity and collaborative depth required for work of this calibre. Such environments are not merely administrative preferences. They constitute the necessary foundation for the development of genuine knowledge and intellectual confidence among successive generations of university students.

This intellectual confidence has long found expression in the distinctive place students have occupied in the nation’s public life. From active participation in the freedom struggle to mobilisation during the Emergency and engagement with a range of contemporary social and political questions, students have consistently contributed to broader national conversations.

Yet the quality of that engagement depends heavily on how student representation is organised. When it is conducted with academic seriousness, transparency and a clear separation from external political interference, it becomes a genuine school of democratic responsibility. Age-appropriate eligibility, insistence on regular attendance, academic integrity and modest campaign practices help ensure that leadership emerges from all sections of society.

The decision to hold student elections across universities and colleges........

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