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Letter to Ministry: Publicly Disavow Plans To Revive Racial Stereotyping in India

Letter to Ministry: Publicly Disavow Plans To Revive Racial Stereotyping in India

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New Delhi: Multiple geneticists, historians, academics, writers, former bureaucrats and others have written to the Ministry of Culture to express concerns over a report that the ministry was funding a project to trace the ‘purity’ of the races of Indians.

In an open letter addressed to the secretary of the culture ministry, the signatories said, “the notion of tracing the ‘purity of races,’ whether in India or elsewhere, is extremely worrisome. A plan to do so would be both absurd and dangerous”.

The signatories include geneticist and statistician Partha P. Majumder; developmental biologist L.S. Shashidhara; evolutionary biologists Amitabh Joshi, Deepa Agashe and Raghavendra Gadagkar; environmentalist Leo Saldanha; activist Aruna Roy; physicists Indrani Bose and Srikanth Sastry; biologist Satyajit Mayor; author and journalist Rammanohar Reddy; film studies expert Ira Bhaskar; and social anthropologist A.R. Vasavi.

While acknowledging that the ministry concerned had already dismissed such reports as “misleading and mischievous“, the scholars urged the ministry to “issue public disavowals of any present or future project related to race, especially one for studying racial purity.”

Stating the concept of biological races was “discarded” long ago, they wrote that “in terms of the genes that make up individual biological inheritance, all human beings, irrespective of where they come from, share the same ‘gene pool'”.

“Racial stereotyping of humans has been discarded, and there should be no attempt to revive the concept in India,” the letter added.

The letter is reproduced in full below followed by the list of signatories (as of 9:40 pm on June 10, 2022).

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF CULTURE, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

10 June 2022

The Secretary
Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India
502-C Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi 110001
Email: secy-culture@nic.in

Sir,

Reports appeared recently in the media to the effect that the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is funding a project to study genetic similarities and differences in the DNA (genetic) profiles of Indian population groups [1-4]. Professor Vasant Shinde, Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, was identified as the leader of this project. Professor Shinde was quoted as saying that the aim of the project is to provide “… a clear-cut idea of the genetic history. You may even say that this will be an effort to trace the purity of races in India.” [2]

The reports led to strong criticisms of the project. The Ministry of Culture has tweeted that the reports are “misleading, mischievous and contrary to facts” and that the proposal is in no way related to establishing genetic history and trace the purity of races in India [5].

Professor Shinde has tweeted “I strongly condemn the use of the term Racial Purity by the reporter … My statement is twisted and fabricated by the reporte[r]” [6].

While welcoming these responses, we think that all concerned should issue public disavowals of any present or future project related to race, especially one for studying racial purity. We say so because the notion of tracing the “purity of races”, whether in India or elsewhere, is extremely worrisome. A plan to do so would be both absurd and dangerous.

Also read: It’s About Celebrating Our Genetic Diversity, Not ‘Racial Purity’

It is absurd because the concept of biological races was discarded long ago. The term “race” was invented as part of the effort to classify humans into distinct groups based on physical features such as bone structure and skin colour, and social characteristics such as faith and religion. It was assumed that the groups were somehow “natural”, or that they had a meaningful biological basis. However, in terms of the genes that make up individual biological inheritance, all human beings, irrespective of where they come from, share the same “gene pool”.

As an epochal paper of 50 years ago pointed out, most gene-based distinctions occur within so-called races, not between races. To quote, “…human races and populations are remarkably similar to each other, with the largest part by far of human variation being accounted for by the differences between individuals” [7]. Subsequent studies have only reinforced the strength of that conclusion.[8]

It is dangerous because the notion of “purity,” in addition to being meaningless, carries with it the sense of some groups being less pure or more pure than others. Human history is replete with examples of horrible injustice – denial of benefits or even persecution – meted out to “less pure” groups by “more pure” groups. The same epochal paper also stated “Human racial classification is of no social value and is positively destructive of social and human relations”. Racial stereotyping of humans has been discarded, and there should be no attempt to revive the concept in India.

For several decades human population geneticists and anthropologists working in various Indian institutions, including the Anthropological Survey of India under the Ministry of Culture, have painstakingly undertaken detailed DNA analyses of individuals collected from various communities of India, including tribal communities, and have shown that nearly every community today is an admixed community of several ancestral communities whose identities can at best be guessed, but not with great certainty.

What else is expected to result from the project under consideration of the Ministry of Culture, we do not know. But if it touches on questions of “racial purity,” one guaranteed outcome will be the exacerbation of disharmony among Indians.

References

[1] https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/may/28/culture-ministry-to-study-racial-purity-of-indians-2458899.html

[2] http://www.reportwire.in/culture-ministry-to-study-racial-purity-of-indians/

[3] https://indusscrolls.com/india-procures-dna-kits-to-study-racial-purity-of-population

[4] https://greatgameindia.com/racial-purity-indians/

[5] https://twitter.com/MinOfCultureGoI/status/1531561797630558208/photo/1

[6] https://twitter.com/profvasant/status/1532295799446482945?s=21&t=ihc3oIze9vLuxI0sbIfG2g

[7] R C Lewontin. 1972. The apportionment of human diversity. Evolutionary Biology 6, 381-398.

[8] M D Edge, S. Ramachandran and N A Rosenberg. 2022. Celebrating 50 years since Lewontin’s apportionment of human diversity. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B377: 20200405.

With regards,

  1. Vidyanand Nanjundiah, Centre for Human Genetics, Bangalore 560100
  2. Partha P. Majumder, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, and Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
  3. L.S. Shashidhara, Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana
  4. Renee Borges, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
  5. Saman Habib, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow
  6. Sutirth Dey, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune
  7. Amitabh Joshi, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru
  8. Samar Bagchi, Science Communicator & Populariser
  9. Subha Ray, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
  10. Saikat Chakraborty, Accenture, Kolkata
  11. Sibaji Raha, Bose Institute, Kolkata
  12. Gautam Basu, former Professor, Bose Institute, Kolkata
  13. Leo Saldanha, Environmental Support Group, Bengaluru
  14. Ramachandra Guha, Historian and Writer
  15. Swapan Parui, former Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
  16. Debal Deb, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Barrackpore, West Bengal
  17. Asokendu Sengupta, former Member, West Bengal Education Commission
  18. Aruna Roy, Social Activist
  19. Walter Fernendes, Director, North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati
  20. Indrani Bose, former Professor, Bose Institute, Kolkata
  21. Indira Ghosh, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  22. Utpal Basu, Kalyani University, West Bengal
  23. Ashoke Ranjan Thakur, ex-Vice Chancellor West Bengal State University
  24. Swarnendu Sil, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
  25. Amit Apte, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune
  26. N.G. Prasad, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali
  27. Vijay Kumar Krishnamurthy, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore
  28. Mallikarjun Shakarad, Delhi University
  29. Deepa Agashe, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore
  30. Sudipta Tung, Ashoka University, Sonipat
  31. Mewa Singh, Mysore University
  32. Raghavendra Gadagkar. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
  33. Chandan Dasgupta, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore
  34. Aurnab Ghose, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune
  35. Satyajit Rath, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune
  36. Rama Govindarajan, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore
  37. Hema Somanathan, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Trivandrum
  38. Anindita Bhadra, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune
  39. Geetanjali Mishra, Lucknow University
  40. Srikant Sastry, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru
  41. Rajiva Raman, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
  42. Sukanta Chaudhuri, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
  43. Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University, USA
  44. Samantak Das, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
  45. Partha Ghose, Tagore Centre for Natural Sciences and Philosophy, Kolkata
  46. Niraja G. Jayal, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
  47. Achin Chakraborty, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata
  48. Anupam Basu, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani
  49. Sreenivasan Subramanian, Independent Researcher; former ICSSR National Fellow
  50. Supriya Chaudhuri, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
  51. Kailash C. Malhotra, Anthropologist, former Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
  52. Anup Sinha, Former Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
  53. Rajiv Verma, University of Delhi
  54. Amita Chatterjee, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
  55. B.N. Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
  56. Mercy J. Raman, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
  57. Asok Barman, Former General Secretary, All India Federation of University & College Teachers’ Associations
  58. Barun Mukhopadhyay, former Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
  59. Sugata Hazra, Jadavpur University Kolkata
  60. Mohan Rao, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  61. Udaya Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  62. Shiva Shankar, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
  63. Satyajit Mayor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru
  64. Pradip Kumar Datta, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  65. Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  66. S.Krishnaswamy, former Senior Professor, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai
  67. Sabyasachi Chatterjee, President, All India People’s Science Network
  68. Indranil, Delhi Science Forum and OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat
  69. Anil Kumar A, Surgeon, People’s surgical and maternity home, Bagepalli, Karnataka
  70. Avinash Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  71. Ritajyoti Bandopadhyay, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali
  72. Guha Dharmarajan, KREA University, Chennai
  73. Subhash Rajpurohit, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad
  74. Himender Bharti, Punjabi University, Patiala
  75. Kavita Isvaran, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
  76. Vineeta Bal, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune
  77. OP Bhuraita, BGVS, Bhopal
  78. Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, The India Forum
  79. Udayon Misra
  80. Narayani Gupta, former Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia University
  81. Rahul Roy, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi
  82. Moinak Biswas, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
  83. Parthanil Roy, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
  84. Mihir Chakraborty, former Professor, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
  85. Ajit Kumar Ray, former Professor, University of North Bengal, West Bengal
  86. Ramaswamy, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
  87. Irfan Engineer, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai
  88. Analabha Basu, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani
  89. Subhas Chandra Lakhotia, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
  90. Somdatta Sinha, Retired Scientist and Professor
  91. Ira Bhaskar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  92. Vijayendra, Ecologise Hyderabad
  93. Sagar Dhara, Former Environmental engineering consultant, UNEP
  94. Vikas Bajpai, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  95. Kunal Chakrabarti, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
  96. N. Devy, Chair, People’s Linguistic Survey of India
  97. Harsh Mander, Ex-IAS
  98. Apoorv Anand, Academic and writer, Delhi
  99. Sarmila Chandra, Narayana Superspeciality Hospital and RN Tagore Hospital, Kolkata
  100. Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Former Teacher, Calcutta University
  101. P. Kasbekar, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad
  102. Ramray Bhat, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
  103. Madan Rao, National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR, Bangalore
  104. Amit Roy, Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences, Manipal
  105. Ramasubbu, Sunder, Smolensky Bulvar, 15, Moscow, RF
  106. Ar Vasavi, Brigade Courtyard, Bengaluru
  107. P. Divakaran, Riviera Retreat, Kochi
  108. Subramony Mahadevan, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
  109. Ganesan Srinivasan, Raman Research Institute (Retired)
  110. Vinod Gaur, Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences
  111. Janaki Nair, Professor, (Retd) Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, New Delhi
  112. Romila Thapar, Professor Emerita in History, JNU, New Delhi
  113. Naresh Dadhich, IUCAA, Pune
  114. Parthasarathi Majumdar, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Kolkata
  115. Madabusi Raghunathan, DAE-UM Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai
  116. Binod Sreenivasan, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
  117. Sharat Chandra, Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru
  118. Surendra Ghaskadbi, Prabhat Road, Pune
  119. Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi, Former Professor in Zoology, Utkal University
  120. M. Pitchappan, Honorary Visiting Professor-Biology, Madurai Kamaraj University
  121. Geeta, Retired Professor, University of Delhi
  122. Jayaram S. Kadandale, Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru
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