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Statement by Scientists

Scientists for Tolerance

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 civilization 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.

List of Signatories

Name

Designation

Dr Alladi Sitaram

Visiting Professor, Chennai Mathematical Institute; Professor Emeritus, Indian Statistical Institute

(2005-2010), Bengaluru

Dr Ashoke Sen,

Padma Bhushan

Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), Distinguished Professor, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad

Dr.Ashok Jain

Former Director, National Institute of Science Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), New Delhi

Dr A Gopalakrishnan

Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India

Dr D Balasubramanian,

Padma Shri

Research Director, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, & former Director Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

Dr Madabusi Raghunathan

Padma Bhushan

Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), Professor, National Centre for Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Dr P M Bhargava,

Padma Bhushan

Former Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (one of the original signatories to the 1981 Scientific Temper Statement)

Dr P.Balaram,

Padma Bhushan

Former Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr Satyajit Mayor

Foreign Associate US National Science Academy, Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Spenta Wadia

 

Emeritus Professor and Founding Director, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr A. P. Balachandran,

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

Dr Abhishek Dhar

 

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Alak K. Ray

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Dr Alok Laddha

Chennai Mathematics Institute, Bangalore

Dr Amit Sengupta

National Convenor, Peoples Health Movement

Dr Anna George

National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

Dr Arnab Bhattacharya

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Dr Arvind

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali

Dr Ashvin Vishvanath

University of California-Berkeley, USA

Dr Avinash Dhar

 

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr B. Ravindran

Institute for Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar

Dr B L S Prakasa Rao

CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Hyderabad

Dr B. Ananthanarayan

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr B Rajeev

Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore

Dr B Ekbal

Former Vice Chancellor, Kerala University

Dr B.Sury

Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru

Dr Chandrasekhar Khare

 

Fellow of Royal Society, Professor of Mathematics, University of California-Los Angeles, USA, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Dr Chandra Mohan Sarma

Professor (Retd.) Gauhati University, Assam 

Mr D. Raghunandan

Director, Centre of Technology and Development, New Delhi

Dr D. P. Sen Gupta

Visiting Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

Dr Debashis Ghoshal

School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Dr Dhruv Raina

Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Dr Dilip Ahuja

Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

Dr Dinesh Abrol

Institute of Studies in Industrial. Development, New Delhi

Dr Dinesh Chandra

Goswami, Scientist (Retd.), CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat, Assam

Dr Dipendra Prasad

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Dr Firoza Sutaria

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

Dr Gadadhar Misra

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr Gautam Mandal

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Dr Hema Murthy,

Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

Dr Joseph Samuel

Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

Dr Justin David

 

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr Kapil Paranjape

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali

Dr L S Shashidhara

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune 

Dr Leena Chandran-Wadia,

Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai

Dr M G  Narasimhan

National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

Dr M R N Murthy

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr M V N Murthy

Professor Emeritus, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

Dr Madan Rao

Raman Research Institute and NCBS-TIFR, Bengaluru

Dr Mangal C Mahato

Department of Physics, North East Hill University, Shillong

Dr Nilmani Mathur

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Dr Nirmal Gogoi

Scientist (Retd.), CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat, Assam

Dr P Ajith

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Pallab Basu

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Partha P. Majumder

National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani.

Dr Parthib Basu

Department of Zoology, Calcutta University, Kolkata

Mr Prabir Purkayastha

Chairperson, Knowledge Commons, New Delhi

Dr Prajit K Basu

Centre for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Hyderabad

Dr Prajval Shastri

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

Dr Pramathanath Sastry

Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai

Dr Pravabati Chinganbam

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

Dr Probal Choudhuri

Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

Dr Purushottam Kulkarni

Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Dr R Ramanujam

Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

Dr R Shankar

Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai

Dr Rahul Roy

Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi

Dr Rajat Tandon

 

School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Hyderabad

Dr Rajesh Gopakumar

Director, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Rama Govindarajan

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad

Dr Ranjini Bandyopadhyay,

Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

Dr.Ravinder Banyal

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

Dr Riddhi Shah

School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Dr Ronnie Sebastian

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

Dr Rukmini Dey

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr S Chakrabarti

Department of Chemistry, Calcutta University, Kolkata

Dr S Ranganathan

 

National Institute of Advanced Studies

Bengaluru

Dr Sabyasachi Chatterjee

Formerly Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru; and President All India Peoples Science Network

Dr Sachindeo Vaidya

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr Samriddhi Sankar Ray

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Sandeep Krishna,

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Sanjib Sabhapandit,

Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

Dr Santanu Datta

Chief Scientific Officer, BUGWORKS Inc., Bengaluru

Dr Satyajit Rath

National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

Dr Saumen Datta

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

Dr.Shamsher Singh

Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru

Dr Sharada Srinivasan

National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

Dr Shiraz Naval Minwalla

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Dr Shrikrishna G. Dani

Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

Dr Shyamala Mani

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr Siva Athreya

Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru

Dr Sorab N. Dalal

Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer, Navi Mumbai

Dr Sriram Ramaswamy

Director, TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Hyderabad

Dr Subhro Bhattacharjee

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Begaluru

Dr Sumati Surya

Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

Dr Sumathi Rao

Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad.

Dr Sunil Mukhi

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

Dr Suresh Govindarajan,

Dept of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.

Dr Suvrat Raju

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Mr Syed Murtaza Alfarid Hussain

Assam University, Silchar

Dr T. Jayaraman

School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Dr T. R. Govindarajan,

Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai

Ms Tejal Kanitkar

Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 

Dr Tiju Thomas

Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

Dr Todadri Senthil

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

Dr Vani V.C.

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Dr Venkatesh Athreya

Adjunct Professor, Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; formerly President All India Peoples Science Network

Dr Vidita Vaidya

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Dr.Vijay Kumar Krisnamurthy

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru

Dr Vineeta Bal

National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

Dr Vishal Vasan

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Dr Vivek Borkar

Institute Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai

 

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