ಭಾರತದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚುತ್ತಿರುವ ಅಸಹಿಷ್ಣತೆ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ವಿಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳ ಪ್ರತಿಭಟನೆಯ ಪತ್ರ

Scientists Issue Statement Against Intolerance and Rejection of Reason

The scientific community is deeply concerned with the climate of intolerance, and the ways in which science and reason are being eroded in the country.

It is the same climate of intolerance, and rejection of reason that has led to the lynching in Dadri of Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi and the assassinations of Prof Kalburgi, Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Shri Govind Pansare. All three fought against superstition and obscurantism to build a scientific temper in our society. Prof Kalburgi was a renowned scholar and an authority on the Vachana literature associated with the 12th-century reformer Basava, who opposed institutionalised religion, caste and gender discrimination. Similarly, Dr Dabholkar and Shri Pansare promoted scientific temper through their fight against superstition and blind faith.

The Indian Constitution in Article 51 A (h) demands, as a part of the fundamental duties of the citizens, that we '...develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform'. Unfortunately, what we are witnessing instead is the active promotion of irrational and sectarian thought by important functionaries of the government.

The Indian civilisation is a truly plural one. We have always had many practices and communities that have allowed space for each other; we celebrate the festivals and anniversaries of all faiths. This unity and peace has now been disturbed by a rash of bigoted acts, attacks on minorities and Dalits, which show no signs of abating.

The writers have shown the way with their protests. We scientists now join our voices to theirs, to assert that the Indian people will not accept such attacks on reason, science and our plural culture. We reject the destructive narrow view of India that seeks to dictate what people will wear, think, eat and who they will love.

We appeal to all other sections of society to raise their voice against the assault on reason and scientific temper we are witnessing in India today.

The views expressed in the statement are individual and do not reflect views of the institution a signatory is affiliated to.

1. Dr Alladi Sitaram Visiting Professor, Chennai Mathematical Institute; Professor Emeritus, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru

2. Dr Ashoke Sen, Padma Bhushan, Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), Distinguished Professor, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad

3. Dr Ashok Jain, Former Director, National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi

4. Dr A Gopalakrishnan, Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India

5. Dr D Balasubramanian, Padma Shri Research Director, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, & former Director Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

6. Dr Madabusi Raghunathan, Padma Bhushan, Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), Professor, National Centre for Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

7. Dr PM Bhargava, Padma Bhushan, Former Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (one of the original signatories to the 1981 Scientific Temper Statement)

8. Dr P Balaram, Padma Bhushan, Former Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

9. Dr Satyajit Mayor, Foreign Associate, US National Science Academy, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

10. Dr Spenta Wadia, Emeritus Professor and Founding Director, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

11. Dr AP Balachandran, Joel Dorman Steele Professor of Physics (Emeritus), Physics Department, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA.

12. Dr Abhishek Dhar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

13. Dr Alak K Ray, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

14. Dr Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematics Institute, Bangalore

15. Dr Amit Sengupta, National Convenor, Peoples Health Movement

16. Dr Anna George, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

17. Dr Arnab Bhattacharya, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

18. Dr Arvind, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali

19. Dr Ashvin Vishvanath, University of California-Berkeley, USA

20. Dr Avinash Dhar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

21. Dr B Ravindran, Institute for Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar

22. Dr BLS Prakasa Rao, CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Hyderabad

23. Dr B Ananthanarayan, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

24. Dr B Rajeev, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore

25. Dr B Ekbal, Former Vice Chancellor, Kerala University

26. Dr B Sury, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru

27. Dr Chandrasekhar Khare, Fellow of Royal Society, Professor of Mathematics, University of California-Los Angeles, USA, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

28. Mr D Raghunandan, Director, Centre of Technology and Development, New Delhi

29. Dr DP Sen Gupta, Visiting Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

30. Dr Debashis Ghoshal, School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

31. Dr Dhruv Raina, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

32. Dr Dilip Ahuja, Profesor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

33. Dr Dinesh Abrol, Institute of Studies in Industrial. Development, New Delhi

34. Dr Dipendra Prasad, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

35. Dr Firoza Sutaria, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

36. Dr Gadadhar Misra, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

37. Dr Gautam Mandal, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

38. Dr Hema Murthy, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

39. Dr Joseph Samuel, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

40. Dr Justin David, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

41. Dr Kapil Paranjape, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali

42. Dr LS Shashidhara, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

43. Dr Leena ChandranWadia, Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai

44. Dr MG Narasimhan, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

45. Dr MRN Murthy, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

46. Dr MVN Murthy, Professor Emeritus, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

47. Dr Madan Rao, Raman Research Institute and NCBS-TIFR, Bengaluru

48. Dr Mangal C Mahato, Department of Physics, North East Hill University, Shillong

49. Dr Nilmani Mathur, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

50. Dr P Ajith, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

51. Dr Pallab Basu, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

52. Dr Partha P Majumder, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani

53. Dr Parthib Basu, Department of Zoology, Calcutta University, Kolkata

54. Mr Prabir Purkayastha, Chairperson, Knowledge Commons, New Delhi

55. Dr Prajit K Basu, Centre for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hyderabad

56. Dr Prajval Shastri, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

57. Dr Pramathanath Sastry, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai

58. Dr Pravabati Chinganbam, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

59. Dr Probal Choudhuri, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

60. Dr Purushottam Kulkarni, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

61. Dr R Ramanujam, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

62. Dr R Shankar, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

63. Dr Rahul Roy, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi

64. Dr Rajat Tandon, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Hyderabad

65. Dr Rajesh Gopakumar, Director, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

66. Dr Rama Govindarajan, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad

67. Dr Ranjini Bandyopadhyay, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

68. Dr Ravinder Banyal, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

69. Dr Riddhi Shah, School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

70. Dr Ronnie Sebastian, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

71. Dr Rukmini Dey, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

72. Dr S Chakrabarti, Department of Chemistry, Calcutta University, Kolkata

73. Dr S Ranganathan, National Institute of Advanced Studies Bengaluru

74. Dr Sabyasachi Chatterjee, Formerly Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru; and President All India Peoples Science Network

75. Dr Sachindeo Vaidya, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

76. Dr Samriddhi Sankar Ray, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

77. Dr Sandeep Krishna, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

78. Dr Sanjib Sabhapandit, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

79. Dr Santanu Datta, Chief Scientific Officer, BUGWORKS Inc., Bengaluru

80. Dr Satyajit Rath, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

81. Dr Saumen Datta, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

82. Dr Shamsher Singh, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru

83. Dr Sharada Srinivasan, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

84. Dr Shiraz Naval Minwalla, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

85. Dr Shrikrishna, G Dani Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

86. Dr Shyamala Mani, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

87. Dr Siva Athreya, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru

88. Dr Sorab N Dalal, Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and

Education in Cancer, Navi Mumbai

89. Dr Sriram Ramaswamy, Director, TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad

90. Dr Subhro Bhattacharjee, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

91. Dr Sumati Surya, Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

92. Dr Sumathi Rao, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad.

93. Dr Sunil Mukhi, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

94. Dr Suresh Govindarajan, Dept of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.

95. Dr Suvrat Raju, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

96. Dr T Jayaraman, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

97. Dr TR Govindarajan, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai

98. Ms Tejal Kanitkar, Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

99. Dr Tiju Thomas, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

100. Dr Todadri Senthil, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

101. Dr Vani VC, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

102. Dr Venkatesh Athreya, Adjunct Professor, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; formerly President All India Peoples Science Network

103. Dr Vidita Vaidya, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

104. Dr Vijay Kumar, Krisnamurthy, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

105. Dr Vineeta Bal, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

106. Dr Vishal Vasan, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

107. Dr Vivek Borkar, Institute Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai