FOR CENTURIES Delhi attracted scholars, saints and statesmen hoping to influence the ruler of the day(当权者，当时的统治者). Once India achieved independence, it was the natural place for the fledgling(新兴的，初出茅庐的) state to locate national institutions such as archives and universities. Publishers and think-tanks(智库，智囊团) soon followed. The sheer(纯粹的，完全的) density(密度，密集度) of serious thinkers makes Delhi the intellectual capital of India.
几个世纪以来，德里吸引了学者、圣人和政治家，他们希望影响当时的统治者。印度获得独立后，这个新生的国家自然将档案馆、大学等国家机构设立于此。出版社和智库也很快跟进。严肃思想家的高度密集使德里成为印度的知识之都。
Or made, at any rate(无论如何，至少). Since taking power in 2014 Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have narrowed the space for free thinking in media, entertainment and cultural institutions. Why should pointy-headed(知识分子的，书呆子气的) types be immune(免疫的，不受影响的)? Chiefs of public universities were replaced with more pliant(顺从的，易受影响的) figures. Private universities and non-profit groups came next. Authors of inconvenient(不方便的，棘手的) papers lost their jobs. Think-tanks lost their sources of funding. The Centre for Policy Research, which worked with various governments over five decades, is the canonical(典范的，典型的) example. In 2023 its licence to receive foreign money was suspended, then revoked a year later, in effect destroying it. Most of its researchers were laid off.
或者更确切地说，曾是。自2014年执政以来，纳伦德拉·莫迪及其印度人民党（BJP）已经缩小了媒体、娱乐和文化机构中自由思考的空间。为什么那些高智商的知识分子应该免疫？公立大学校长被更顺从的人物取代。接下来是私立大学和非营利组织。发表不合时宜论文的作者失去了工作。智库失去了资金来源。政策研究中心——曾与多届政府合作长达半个世纪——是典型的例子。2023年其接受外国资金的许可证被暂停，一年后被吊销，实际上摧毁了它。大部分研究人员被解雇。
There is no one to talk to in Delhi any more, grumble(抱怨，嘟囔)s one recent transplant(移植者，迁居者). Institutions that have not been broken have learnt to bend(学会了屈服). Intellectuals who kept their jobs know not to broadcast(传播，散布) their views. Researchers who want their policy ideas taken seriously choose their affiliations(隶属关系，所属机构) carefully. Some superannuated(退休的，老旧的) scholars set up new non-partisan bodies—with funding strictly domestic—in the hope of a clean slate(从头开始，清白记录). Established researchers with impressive CVs accepted positions at Western universities. Younger ones moved to different disciplines or sectors. And then there are those who went to Ahmedabad.
“德里已经没有可以交谈的人了，”一位新近迁来者抱怨道。那些没有被破坏的机构已经学会了弯腰。保住工作的知识分子知道不要公开自己的观点。希望自己的政策主张被认真对待的研究人员谨慎选择所属机构。一些退休学者建立了新的无党派组织——资金严格来自国内——希望从头开始。资历深厚、简历惊人的研究人员接受了西方大学的职位。年轻一些的转向了不同的学科或行业。然后还有那些去了艾哈迈达巴德的人。