Statement by Scientists

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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