Allegations of plagiarism against an English textbook at Calicut University

Malappuram: There have been complaints that the book ‘Literary Criticism,’ which is part of the syllabus for BA English fourth semester at the University of Calicut, is plagiarised. It is claimed that the first 100 pages of the book were copied from another book.

The university published the textbook ‘Literary Criticism,’ which was co-written by Dr K Pradeep Kumar, chairperson of the English Board of Studies, and Dr R Sreepriya, a member of the board of studies.
However, some sections of B Prasad’s book ‘An Introduction to English Criticism,’ published by McMillan in 1965, were copied without change in the new book. In addition, no credit was given to B Prasad in the book.

When the original book is on the market, the university does not need to publish a new book. Even the subheadings in the original book were copied exactly.
The university-published book is regarded as an additional qualification for the writers when they are considered for promotion. The original book will lose its copyright after 50 years. However, it is unethical not to give credit when approximately 40 pages of a book are repeated as such in another book.