Following in the footsteps of writers, artists and sociologists – all of whom have voiced their concern in recent weeks over incidents of violence across India – a group of scientists has urged President Pranab Mukherjee to take “suitable action” to stop incidents of “intolerance, polarisation and [the spreading] of communal hatred” from “taking our country, which has a rich heritage and cultural diversity, backwards.”
Holding that a highly polarised community is like a nuclear bomb close to criticality, they also demanded that “the strictest action … be taken against any such anti-human, anti-civilisational acts and anyone even suggesting such actions must be severely dealt with punishment beyond that reserved for anti- national activity as this is truly worse than that.”
Simultaneously, the Inter-Academy Panel on Ethics in Science (IAPES) also issued a statement on Tuesday voicing concerns over how the country’s scientific temper has been eroded by “several … statements and actions which run counter to this constitutional requirement”. The statement also asked for such “trespassers of reason” to be exemplarily punished.
The petition submitted to the president says: “We, the scientists, are concerned about the recent developments with reference to intolerance, polarisation and spread of communal hatred resulting in the death of innocent people, rationalists”. The petition was signed by the following scientists and academicians:
- Naresh Dadhich, Former Director, IUCAA
- Prof. G Rajasekaran, Professor emeritus, IMSc, CMI
- Prof. A P Balchandran, Emeritus Professor, Syracuse University
- Prof. G Baskaran, Emeritus Professor, IMSc
- Prof. Varun Sahni, IUCAA, Pune
- Prof. Vikram Soni, Emeritus Fellow, JNU
- Prof. T R Govindarajan Emeritus Professor, IMSc, CMI
- Prof. Partha Majumdar, SINP and Vivekananda University
- Prof. Tabish Qureshi, Jamia
- Prof. Anjan Ananda Sen, Jamia
- Prof. Suresh Govindarajan, IIT Madras
- Prof. Dawood Kothwala, IIT Madras
- Prof. Sudipta Sarakar, IIT Gandhinagar
“We urge you to take serious note of these developments and initiate suitable actions,” they said, addressing the president. In a separate petition to the Centre, state governments and people at large, they appealed for an end to “the spread of communal hatred and polarisation in society,” pointing out that India had been a plural country where communities allowed space for each other.
“A highly polarised community is like a nuclear bomb close to criticality. It can explode any time and drive the nation to utter chaos. This is a highly unstable atmosphere and we should do everything in our hands to defuse the disparity, and enlighten society in scientific spirit,” it said.
“This is an appeal to the government to act swiftly to stop this mayhem which is victimising innocent people for eating beef, sensible people for being against superstition, RTI activists or whistle blowers and many more innocent people with human values.” It added:
“The literature fraternity is the first to act and return their awards in protest against the current events. The scientific community however seems to remain passive. But scientists are also part of society and it is times like this that call upon them to be conscientious citizens and voice their concern. This is to start a campaign for scientists in India to wake up .. This may be followed by stronger actions akin to the award winners of Sahitya Akademi.”
The IAPES statement was much less explicit in its demands, and simply called for the country’s leadership as well as the people to exercise “rationality, rights and responsibility” in equal measure while referring to the aspirations described in Rabindranath Tagore’s poem ‘Where the mind is without fear’. The IAPES panel is constituted by India’s three science academies: the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. The full text of the IAPES statement reads:
When we became an independent republic, our founding fathers adopted the Constitution of India which demands that its citizens abide by and uphold reason and scientific temper. Scientific temper encompasses rationality, rights and responsibility in equal measure.
It crystallises what Tagore wanted India to be, namely, a nation
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action,
Into that heaven of freedom;
let my country awake.Yet, we note with sadness and growing anxiety several of statements and actions which run counter to this constitutional requirement of every citizen of India. It is important that exemplary punishment be given to such trespassers of reason and rights. We also appeal to all sections of Indian society to raise their voices against such violated acts, so that they are nipped in the bud.
This is the full text of the petition submitted by scientists to the central and state governments, followed by the complete list of signatories, numbering 130 as of October 26, 2015:
Indian civilisation is a truly plural one which unifies faiths and distils the wisdom of many streams of thought. There have been many practices and communities that have allowed space for each other and have lived together in peace and harmony for centuries. We celebrate the festivals and anniversaries of all faiths. This unifying threading of social and cultural fibre brings to bear the greatest civilisation strength and stability. It is this which is being threatened by a rash of sectarian and bigoted acts that have recently escalated.
A highly polarised community is like a nuclear bomb close to criticality. It can explode any time and drive the nation to utter chaos. This is a highly unstable atmosphere and we should do everything in our hands to defuse the disparity, and enlighten society in scientific spirit.
The literature fraternity is the first to act and return their awards in protest against the current events. The scientific community however seems to remain passive. But scientists are also part of society and it is times like this that call upon them to be conscientious citizens and voice their concern. This is to start a campaign for Scientists in India to wake up and and make a statement. This may be followed by stronger actions akin to the award winners of Sahitya Akademi.
In a fractured world, we have to keep the plural faith that defines our civilisation. As true adherents of science and its method, it is also our duty to help people at large to take informed and rational decisions, and particularly so in these volatile times. This is an ethical issue of great concern and import – a dharma – as enunciated by Buddha and Gandhi, and the question is how well we measure up to it. On the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s General Relativity – one of the greatest feats of human thought, let’s also pay fitting tribute to the exceptional man who stood for ethical and societal values and peace by speaking out for peace and harmony.
This is an appeal to the government to act swiftly to stop this mayhem which is victimising innocent people for eating beef, sensible people for being against superstition, RTI activists or whistle blowers and many more innocent people with human values. It is not just victimising innocent and enlightened people but killing them.
This is totally unacceptable. The strictest action must be taken against any such anti-human, anti-civilisational acts and anyone even suggesting such actions must be severely dealt with punishment beyond that reserved for anti- national activity as this is truly worse than that.
We strongly condemn the atrocities and join the protest of litterateurs in awakening people and the central and state governments to the dangers of not acting.
- Naresh Dadhich, IUCAA, Pune
- G Rajasekaran, IMSc, Chennai
- Aiyalam Balachandran, India
- Vikram Soni, JNU, Delhi
- Tabish Qureshi, Jamia Millia
- Govindarajan Thupil, IMSc, Chennai
- Parthasarathi Majumdar, SINP, Kolkata
- Suresh Govindarajan, India
- Ganapathy Baskaran , India
- Varun Sahni, IUCAA, Pune
- Vasantha Mani
- Ram Ramaswamy, JNU, Delhi
- Sumathi Rao, HRI, Allahabad
- Ashoke Sen, HRI, Allahabad
- Ajit Srivastava, IOP, Bhubaneswar
- Pravabati Chingangbam, IIAP, Bangalore
- Debashis Ghoshal, JNU, Delhi
- Amber Habib, Shiv Nadar University
- Suman Bala, Pune, India
- Kakoli Bagchi, Pune, India
- Mehedi Kalam, India
- Qamar Usmani, Jamia Millia, Delhi
- Machchhindra Gophane, India
- Laxman Katkar, India
- Sucheta Koshti, India
- Prasad Basu, India
- Ninan Sajeeth Philip, India
- Manzoor Malik, India
- Main Pal, India
- Shantanu Rastogi, India
- Priya Hasan Hyderabad, India
- Prasad Subramanian, India
- Shabbir Shaikh, Pune, India
- Sheelu Abraham, India
- Pradip Mukherjee, India
- Mohammad Shoeb, Aligarh, India
- Rajeshwari Dutta, India
- Aparna V, Grand Forks, ND, United States
- Narayan Banerjee, India
- Tejinder Singh, India
- Nimisha Kantharia Pune, India
- SK Hossein, India
- Anirban Saha, India
- Remya Nair, India
- Pankaj Singh Rana , India
- Debasish Borah, India
- Prof. Farook Rahaman, India
- Surajit Chattopadhyay, India
- Koushik Chakraborty, India
- Ramesh Nambiar, India
- Tahseen Hassan, India
- Susmita Chakravorty Cambridge, MA, United States
- Charles Jose, Pune, PR, United States
- Fazlay Ahmed New Delhi, India
- Dr. Safiqul Islam, India
- Shaista Ahmad, Delhi, India
- Mira Dey, India
- Dilip Kanhere, India
- Sudipta Sarkar, India
- Nipanjana Patra , India
- Shashikiran Ganesh, India
- Atanu Nath Kolkata, India
- Anver Aziz, India
- Satish Abbi, India
- Iftikar Hossain Sardar, India
- Nita Dilawar, India
- Niladri Paul, India
- Verita Fernandes, India
- Krishnamohan Parattu, India
- Khabbab Zakaria, India
- Vasudha Bhatnagar, India
- Sharanjit Kaur, India
- Swagata Duari, India
- SK Islam, India
- Manju Bhardwaj, India
- Abdul Aziz, India
- Christy Mathew John, India
- Tanwi Bandyopadhyay, India
- Wali Hossain, India
- Najam Hasan Hyderabad, India
- Amit Das, India
- Naveen Gaur Delhi, India
- Sharad Lele Bangalore, India
- Pahai Kuo Toronto, Canada
- Subhankar Chakraborty, India
- Gopalakrishna Panicker Changanacherry, India
- Amim Ansar London, India
- Annie Hasan, India
- Prantik Saha, India
- Vijayalakshmi Kodati, India
- Mohammad Zahid, India
- Khaliq Mohiuddin, India
- Parthiv Mehta Mumbai, India
- Shouvik Datta, India
- Archana Pai, India
- Mousumi Das, India
- Sudipta Das, India
- Dawood Kothawala, India
- Syeda Zubeda , India
- Sowgat Muzahid State College, PA, United States
- Anjan Ananda Sen, India
- Premanand Mishra, India
- Akshay Kulkarni Redmond, WA, United States
- Naveen Kumar , India
- Ramki Ramakrishnan Tiruvananthapuram, TN, India
- Venkatesh Athreya Chennai, India
- Sahasranamam Padmanabhan, salem, India
- T.R. Udaya Kumar, India
- Ansntha Sayanam, India
- Srinivasan Nandagopal, India
- Venkat Loganathan, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
- Zahoor Ahmed
- Ahmed Ali
- Kadirvelan Suryanarayan
- Donepudi RaviTeja
- Anil Kumar Avulappa
- SA Rajendran
- Devinder Kaur
- Ranjit Balakrishnan
- Md. Sabir Ali
- Karthikeyan Vivekanandhan
- Praveen Kumar, Chennai Tennessee
- Tina Matthews , Portland Oregon
- Vijay Kumar, Mysore
- Rama Krishnan
- Alok Bhattacharya, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
- Madhan Mohan
- Anirban Kundu
- Sourav Bhattacharya
- Salmi Imran, Ringwood, New Jersey
With inputs from PTI.