400 scholars, academics, activists from 16 countries have signed an International Statement of Solidarity against “caste-discrimination and institutional harassment” of Dr. Subrahmanyam Saderla, an associate professor at IIT Kanpur’s Department of Aerospace Engineering. Dr. Saderla belongs to a Scheduled Caste community.
Renowned scientists including American mathematician David Mumford, a recipient of the Fields Medal (considered “Nobel Prize for Mathematics”), Indian physicist Ashoke Sen, a Padma Bhushan awardee who is renowned for his work on String Theory, and Thomas Kailath, a distinguished information theorist and recipient of the US’ National Science Medal, endorsed the statement. The countries represented are India, USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan, Australia, Italy, South Africa, France, Mexico, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal.
A wide range of Indian institutes in the fields of science and technology were represented among the signatories, including Chennai Mathematical Institute, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Indian Institute of Science, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and several IITs, including some from IIT Kanpur itself.
According to the statement, on 14 March, the institute’s Senate voted to revoke Dr. Saderla’s PhD thesis, on the ground of plagiarism. This comes soon after four senior professors – Ishan Sharma, Rajeev Shekhar, Sanjay Mittal and Chandra Shekhar Upadhyay – had been found guilty of caste-discrimination against Dr. Saderla by no less than three inquiry processes.
Dr. Saderla had joined the IIT Kanpur in January 2018, and had allegedly faced a campaign of caste-discrimination immediately upon his joining. His complaint against the four professors was found to be true by three inquiries – a three member fact finding committee established by IIT Kanpur, an inquiry conducted by a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court on the IIT Board of Governors’ request, and an inquiry conducted by the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes. All inquiries had found that the four professors had committed offences under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. An FIR has also been registered against the four by the Kanpur police, citing provisions of the Atrocities Act, as well as the IT Act, and Section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.
According to the statement, the allegation of plagiarism in Dr. Saderla’s PhD dissertation had first been raised via an anonymous email when Dr. Saderla’s complaint against four senior professors was pending a decision. The institute’s own Academic Ethics Cell’s subsequently reviewed Dr. Saderla’s PhD dissertation and had found “no reason to revoke the thesis.” The ethics cell found that there was no plagiarism in the creative and technical part of the dissertation, and had recommended that Dr. Saderla rewrite certain introductory sections and resubmit his thesis, along with a letter of apology. However, the Senate vote, which was conducted despite the lack of a quorum according to information received, went against Dr.Saderla. The statement quoted Dr. Saderla’s statement to a newspaper that the revocation of his thesis is a “ploy to torture him” and stated that this claim stood legitimised. On 9 April, the institute’s Board of Governors will meet to consider the Senate’s recommendation and take a final decision.
Documentation and information provided to the press by sources indicated that the IIT Kanpur management has been under pressure from the Ministry of Human Resources Development in the Union Government with regard to the handling of Dr. Saderla’s case. Allegedly, the four senior professors accused of caste-discrimination against Dr. Saderla are “well connected,” the sources said, and following the success of his complaint against them a “powerful lobby of upper-caste professors in IIT Kanpur have been conspiring to push Dr. Saderla out of the institute.” The report by the NCSC of its inquiry into the caste-discrimination complaint explicitly mentioned the role played by the MHRD in the matter.
The statement said “we…are dismayed by IIT-Kanpur’s vindictive attitude towards and actions against the young Scheduled Caste scholar Dr. Saderla” and called upon “the institute’s senate to rescind its recommendation to revoke Dr. Saderla’s thesis.” Further, highlighting the alleged “atmosphere of hostility and alienation” faced by students and faculty of marginalised sections at the IIT Kanpur and pointing out that only 4 of the total of 394 faculty members at the institute were from the SC/ST/OBC/PWD categories, in violation of the constitutionally mandated reservation policies, the statement “urge[d] the IIT-Kanpur community, as members of one of India’s distinguished academic institutions, to take cognisance of the alleged climate of hostility and alienation suffered by scholars of marginalised social sections at the institute – whether students or faculty – and take proactive measures to address their concerns.”
Contact:
Abir Dasgupta 7715098856, dasgupta.abir@gmail.com Sukruta Alluri 8826132559, sukruta.alluri@gmail.com Dheeraj Singh 8860073670, dheeraj012@gmail.com
Caste-discrimination and institutional harassment at IIT Kanpur – Statement
According to a news report published in the Indian Express on 1 April 2019, the Senate at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur has recommended revocation of the PhD degree of Dr. Subrahmanyam Saderla, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. He is an alumnus of the same institute, where he received his MTech and PhD degrees. The revocation of his degree would result in the termination of his position at the institute. The senate’s recommendation will reportedly be placed before the institute’s Board of Governors soon, where the final decision rests.
Dr. Saderla, who is a member of a Scheduled Caste, joined IIT-Kanpur in January 2018. A news report of 19 April 2018 on the website newsclick.in indicates that upon joining the institute, he was the subject of a sustained campaign of caste-based discrimination by four senior professors – Ishan Sharma, Sanjay Mittal, Rajeev Shekhar and Chandra Shekhar Upadhyaya, who made casteist remarks against him and questioned his mental fitness to be an assistant professor at the institute. He submitted a complaint regarding this against the four professors, which was taken up by a three-member committee set up by the institute.
According to Dr. Saderla’s complaint, he was humiliated and ridiculed at conferences organised by his department and in social settings including one dinner party at the home of one of the four senior professors. The complaint also reported that emails had been circulated among faculty members questioning his credentials. The Indian Express quoted him saying “In addition to the caste-based discrimination I have been facing by the hands of these professors since the day I joined IIT Kanpur, they have now started making random allegations on my research work…They started digging up things against my wife. I am continuously being harassed and anonymous emails against me are doing the rounds in the institute.”
The three member committee found that Dr. Saderla’s allegations were true and recommended that the institute’s Board of Governors take action against the four senior professors. Following this, at the board’s request, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court investigated the complaint once again, and also found the accusations against the four professors to be true.
According to an Indian Express report of 20 November 2018, following the committee’s recommendations and the retired judge’s findings, the institute’s Board of Governors decided to demote Sanjay Mittal and Chandra Shekhar Upadhyaya, and let off Ishan Sharma with a warning. Rajeev Shekhar had meanwhile been appointed director at IIT Dhanbad and thus shielded from institutional action at IIT Kanpur. According to the same report the Kanpur police also registered a First Information Report under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, the Information Technology Act, and the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the four professors. The National Commission for the Scheduled Castes also took cognisance of the case on the basis of a complaint submitted by Dr. Saderla, and issued an order that the institute lodge an FIR against the four professors under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and suspend them from duty; this order was stayed by the Allahabad High Court on an appeal by the four.
IIT Kanpur’s faculty forum has sided with the four senior professors who were found guilty of caste-based harassment by the university appointed committee and stand accused of an atrocity under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. On 22 November 2018, The Indian Express reported that a group comprising 130 faculty members resolved to “divest” the institute’s Deputy Director and the Head of the Aerospace Engineering Department, who were seen as supportive of Dr. Saderla, at an “emergency meeting” convened after the filing of the FIR. They demanded that the institute “defend” the four professors and bear their legal expenses. The forum requested that faculty members contribute voluntarily to a “legal defence fund” for the four professors.
It is in this climate where a large section of the faculty body of the institute is hostile to Dr. Saderla that the current developments have taken place. An anonymous email sent to several faculty members on October 15, 2018 alleged that Dr. Saderla had plagiarised sections of his doctoral thesis on parameter estimation of unmanned aerial vehicles using flight test data at low and high angles of attack. The anonymous complaint was referred to the institute’s Academic Ethics Cell, which investigated the complaint and submitted its report in November 2018.
The report of the nine member ethics committee found “no reason to revoke the thesis” according to the Indian Express. It stated “…there is no allegation of plagiarism with regards to the scholar’s research work comprising his creative and technical part of the dissertation, including detailed experiments, tables, figures and the conclusions drawn from them. Thus the only instances of copying are restricted to certain introductory passages in several chapters and mathematical basics and preliminaries.” The nine member committee in its report stated “the committee felt that it would not be proposed to consider revocation of the thesis” instead recommending that Dr. Saderla rewrite the passages in question and submit an updated thesis in a month, and tender an apology letter to the institute’s director for his “misdemeanour.” Dr. Saderla complied with these recommendations and duly submitted an updated thesis and letter of apology within the recommended time period. However, in a meeting of the institute’s Senate on 14 March 2019, it voted to have Dr. Saderla’s PhD revoked.
News reports based on Right-to-Information requests have revealed that IIT-Kanpur is woefully behind in implementing the constitutionally mandated reservation of faculty positions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Dr. Saderla is one of only four Scheduled Caste faculty members at the institute, of a total of 394. In fact, he was recruited in the first place on a special drive to appoint faculty members from among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It has also been reported that three-fourth of all students who have dropped out of, or been expelled from, the institute belong to socially marginalised sections, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Persons With Disabilities. In such a climate, Dr. Saderla’s statement to the Indian Express that “the recommendation to revoke my thesis is only a ploy to torture me” stands legitimised. The institute’s senate’s actions smack of a vendetta against Dr. Saderla, following the success of his complaint of caste-based harassment and discrimination against four senior professors who enjoyed wide support among the institute’s faculty members.
We, the undersigned, are a worldwide group of scholars, academics, activists and others, who are dismayed by IIT-Kanpur’s vindictive attitude towards and actions against the young Scheduled Caste scholar Dr. Saderla. We call upon the institute’s senate to rescind its recommendation to revoke Dr. Saderla’s thesis, and to adhere to the institute’s own Academic Ethics Cell’s recommendations which found “no reason to revoke the thesis.” We further urge the IIT-Kanpur community, as members of one of India’s distinguished academic institutions, to take cognisance of the alleged climate of hostility and alienation suffered by scholars of marginalised social sections at the institute – whether students or faculty – and take proactive measures to address their concerns.
Signed
- Aakash Singh Rathore, Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla 2. Abdul Matin, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University 3. Abhinav Basak, PhD Scholar, IIT Kanpur 4. Abhishek Atreya, Bose Institute, Kolkata 5. Abhishek Bhattacharyya, PhD candidate, University of Chicago 6. Abhishek Dhar, Professor, International centre for theoretical sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India 7. Abir Dasgupta, Independent Journalist, Mumbai 8. Abu Anand, Research Scholar, University of Toronto, Canada 9. Achin Vanaik, Former Professor of IR and Global Politics, Delhi University 10.Addanki Hareesh,IIT BHU Varanasi 11.Adhip Agarwala, Postdoctoral Fellow, ICTS-TIFR, Bangalore 12.Aditi Maddali, Research Scholar, TISS Mumbai 13.Ajay Bhardwaj, PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. 14.Ajay Gorla, Nizam College, OSMANIA UNIVERSITY Hyderabad 15.Ajay Kaladharan, Research Scholar, Oklahoma State University, USA 16.Akash Gautam, Assistant Professor, Centre for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, Univerity of Hyderabad 17.Akash Gautam, Assistant Professor, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 18.Akhil Kumar, Professor of Information Systems and SCIS Research Fellow, Smeal College of Business, Penn State University 19.Alam Khan. Research scholar, IISc Bangalore. 20.Alex George, Navayana 21.Alladi Sitaram, Professor Emeritus, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru 22.Alladi Uma, University of Hyderabad 23.Alli Sateesh Kumar, Software Engineer, TCS Hyderabad 24.Alok Bajpai, Psychiatrist 25.Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematical Institute 26.Alokmay Datta, Raja Ramanna Fellow, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata 27.Alpa Shah, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics 28.Amit Upadhyay, TISS Hyderabad. 29.Amita Kanekar, Independent Researcher 30.Amiya Dev, formerly of Jadavpur University, Kolkata 31.Ananya Parikh, Research Scholar, JNU and Visiting Faculty, SSLA, Pune 32.Anayat Bhat, Research Scholar, University of Konstanz,Germany 33.Andrew Halladay, Ph.D. student, University of Chicago 34.Anindita Bera, Post doctoral fellow, Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel 35.Anindya Banerji, Postdoc, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. 36.Anish Vanaik, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat. 37.Anjali Monteiro, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 38.Anushka Sen, PhD student, Indiana University 39.Aparna Mohan, PhD student, IIT Madras 40.Aparna Ros P, PhD Research Scholar, Department of HSS, IIT Bombay 41.Apoorva Nagar, Assoc. Professor, IIST, Thiruvananthapuram 42.Aravindhan Nagarajan, Research Scholar, TISS Mumbai 43.Arijeet Mandal, Assistant Professor, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University 44.Arjun Jayakumar, PhD Student, IIT Madras 45.Arpan Saha, Doktorand, Universität Hamburg. 46.Arul Shankar, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto 47.Arun Som, IIT Bombay 48.Arundhati Roy, Writer and Activist, New Delhi 49.Arvind Sivaramakrishnan, Adjunct Faculty, IIT Madras. 50.Ashok Sircar, Professor, Azim Premji University 51.Ashoke Sen, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad 52.Asrith Dasari, IIT Bombay 53.Atul Anand, Research Scholar 54.Avijit Pathak, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU, New Delhi 55.Avinash Kumar, Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, SSS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 56.Avishek Konar, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School 57.Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University 58.Badri Raina, Retired Faculty, Delhi University 59.Balaji S B, Completed PhD degree in Indian Institute of Science, Completed Masters in IITK 60.Bhanu Pratap Das, Professor of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. 61.Bhanuj Kappal, independent journalist, Mumbai 62.Bhavtosh Bansal, Associate Professor, IISER Kolkata 63.Bidyut Kumar Patra, Faculty, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha. 64.Bindhulakshmi P, Faculty, TISS Mumbai 65.Biri Arun, NIT Rourkela, Odisha 66.Bursenla, Alumni – Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. 67.C R Pradeep, Professor, CIT Tumkur 68.Chandan Gowda, Professor of Sociology, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru 69.Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Distinguished Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University, USA 70.Charles Xu, PhD candidate, Caltech, California, US 71.Chinmoy Banerjee, Retired Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University, Canada 72.Chloe Drewett, PhD Student, University of Adelaide 73.Claudio Cassardo, Professor, University of Torino, Italy 74.Dakshina Ranjan Kisku, Associate Professor, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, India 75.Darshana Mitra, Student, Columbia Law School 76.Dattaraj Dhuri, Research Scholar, TIFR Mumbai 77.David Graeber, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics 78.David Mumford, Fields Medal Recipient, MacArthur Fellow, University Professor Emeritus in the Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University 79.Debrup Chakraborty, Associate Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata 80.Deepak Kapur, Distinguished Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of New Mexico 81.Dhiman Chatterjee, IIT Madras 82.Dilip M Menon, Mellon Chair in Indian Studies, University of Witwatersrand 83.Dinesh Mohan, IIT Delhi 84.Dolores Chew, Liberal Arts Program Coordinator, Marianopolis College, Westmount, Canada 85.Dona Biswas, Research Scholar, Ambedkar University, Delhi 86.Dr AK Ghosh, IIT Kanpur 87.Dr Satyaki Roy, IIT Kanpur 88.Dr Sunny Sandhu , Alumnus AIIMS , Founder AtelierOM 89.Dr. A K Biswas, Retired IAS and former Vice-Chancellor, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar 90.Dr. Anand Teltumbde, Senior Professor and Chair – Big Data Analytics, Goa Institute of Management 91.Dr. Anant Parghi, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat,Gujarat-INDIA 92.Dr. Ananth Shankar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 93.Dr. Aparna Sundar, Independent Scholar, Toronto, Canada 94.Dr. B Karthik Navayan, Hyderabad 95.Dr. B Shobha, Associate Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Hyderabad 96.Dr. Bhanukiran Perabathini, Assistant Professor, Mahindra Ecole Centrale, Hyderabad 97.Dr. Bittu K.R., Associate Professor, Ashoka University 98.Dr. C.D. Modhera, Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat,Gujarat-INDIA 99.Dr. Debasattam Pal, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay 100. Dr. Dulari Hansdah, NIT Jamshedpur, Jharkhand 101. Dr. Faruk Azam, Postdoc Scholar, The University of Tokyo & The University of Lille, France 102. Dr. G Vijay, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad 103. Dr. Goldy M. George, Activist, Social Scientist, Writer, Chattisgarh 104. Dr. Hiren Gohain, Assam 105. Dr. Koonal Duggal, New Delhi 106. Dr. Lalit Saini, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat,Gujarat-INDIA 107. Dr. Luis Dias, MBBS, DGO (OBGYN), DNB (OBGYN), DRCOG (London), MRCGP (London) now founder and Project Director of Child’s Play India Foundation www.childsplayindia.org) 108. Dr. Mallarika Sinha Roy, JNU 109. Dr. Manu V. Mathai, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University, India. 110. Dr. Nagarjuna G. Alumnus IIT Kanpur, Associate Professor, HBCSE, TIFR. 111. Dr. Pankaj Tame, PhD IIT Bombay 112. Dr. Priya Kurian, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Waikato, New Zealand 113. Dr. Rajender Kumar, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat,Gujarat-INDIA 114. Dr. Ranganatha N, Karnataka 115. Dr. Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, México DF 116. Dr. Sowmya Dechamma, Associate Professor, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad 117. Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, Public health doctor 118. Dr. Umakant, Independent Scholar, New Delhi 119. Dr. V. Ranjth Babu, Associate Professor, SNIST, HYDERABAD. 120. Dr. Vivek Kalyankari, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat,Gujarat-INDIA 121. Dr. Yash Paul Kundal, Principal, Government Degree College, Ramnagar, Jammu and Kashmir 122. Dr.A.Suneetha, Senior Fellow, Anveshi RCWS, Hyderabad. 123. E Asaithambi, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Pachaiyappa College, Chennai 124. Elancheran T S, Software Engineer, California, US 125. Eleanor Newbigin, SOAS, London, UK. 126. Emiliana Cruz, CIESAS-CDMX 127. Enakshi Bhattacharya, IIT Madras 128. Fleur D’Souza, Retired Associate Professor of History, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai 129. Francesca Matrone, PhD student, Italy 130. Gautam Bharali, Professor ofMathematics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 131. Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak, University Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University 132. Gayatri Menon, Associate Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore 133. Gayatri Nair, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad 134. Gee Imaan Semmalar, Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni, Bangalore 135. Giribabu D,Assistant Professor, MANIT Bhopal 136. Giuditta Soccali, PhD candidate, Politecnico and University of Torino, Italy 137. Gutta Rohith, Human Rights Forum 138. Harjinder (Laltu) Singh, IIIT-Hyderabad. 139. Harsh Kapoor, Independent Researcher and Archivist, New Delhi 140. Hartman de Souza, Author 141. Hema Preya Selvanathan, PhD student, University of Massachusetts Amherst 142. Hrushikesh Naik, National Institute of Technology ROURKELA 143. Ishan S Bhadoria, Alumni TISS Mumbai 144. Ishan, Civil society Activist,Ranchi 145. J Devika, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram 146. Jaesica Chandan, Ashoka University 147. Jagdish Chand, Centre for Education and Communication, Mathura, UP 148. Jai Sen, Independent Researcher, Editor 149. Jaikumar Radhakrishnan, Professor, School of Technology and Computer Science, TIFR, Mumbai 150. Jayant Lele, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada 151. Jenny S, Researcher, Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi 152. Jens Lerche, Reader (Professor), Department of Development Studies, SOAS, London 153. Jit hazarika, PhD Candidate, Tata Institute of Social Sciences 154. Jitendra Shah, ex-faculty, VJTI, Mumbai 155. Joby Joseph, University of Hyderabad 156. Joe Godinho, Management Consultant at IP-Innovation Partnership, Ireland. 157. Joel Lee, Assistant Professor, Williams College, USA 158. John Drury, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Sussex, UK 159. Joya Roy, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi 160. K. Murali Krishnan, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, NIT Calicut 161. K. Srilata, IIT Madras 162. Kamalakar Duvvuru, Freelance writer, Hyderabad 163. Kamlesh Bharodiya, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur 164. Kanthi Swaroop, IIT Bombay 165. Karthikeyan Damodaran, Visiting Fellow, University of Goettingen, Germany 166. Kartikeya Jain, New Delhi 167. Khaliq Parkar, NMIMS University, Mumbai 168. Koel Das, IISER Kolkata 169. KP Jayasankar, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. 170. Krishna Hanumanthu, Chennai Mathematical Institute 171. Kriti Budhiraja, Research Scholar, Sociology, University of Minnesota. 172. Kunal Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University 173. Kuriakose Mathew, IIT Bombay 174. Kushal, BS-MS Student, IIT Madras 175. Labani Jangi, PhD student, CSSSC, Kolkata 176. Leslee Lazar, visiting faculty, IIT Gandhinagar 177. M Sridhar, Retired Professor, Department of English, University of Hyderabad 178. M. V. Ramana, Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and alumnus of IIT, Kanpur 179. Madhavi Shivaprasad, Tata Institute of Social Sciences 180. Madhusudhan Raman, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 181. Mahendra Gaikwad, IIT Delhi, Hydraulic Engineer-Germany 182. Mahendranath R, Masters student, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria 183. Maitreyee Saha Sarka, SINP, Kolkata 184. Maitreyee Shukla, M.Phil Research Scholar, IIT Bombay 185. Mallika Sarabhai, Dancer, Choreographer, Actor, Activist, Ahmedabad 186. Manoj Puravankara, Reader, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 187. Maroona Murmu, Associate Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University 188. Mary John, CWDS New Delhi. 189. Mathew D. Marques, Lecturer, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia 190. Matta Vyshali Nanda, IIT(BHU) Varanasi 191. Miray Philips, PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota 192. Mohammad Afzal Shadab, Grad Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 193. Mohan D, Assistant Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad 194. Mritunjay Kumar, PhD Scholar, IIT Kanpur 195. N Raghavendra, Faculty, Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad 196. Nairit Sur, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 197. Nandini Chandra, University of Hawai’i at Manoa 198. Nandini Sundar, Delhi University 199. Naresh Kumar Sharma, University of Hyderabad 200. Naveen Gaur, Dyal Singh College (University of Delhi), Delhi, India. 201. Naveen Surendran, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum 202. Nicolas Jaoul, Research officer, CNRS, IRIS/EHESS, Paris 203. Nihav Dhawale, PhD Candidate, NCBS-TIFR, Visiting Scholar – Yale University. 204. Nijil Lal C. K., Research Scholar, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad 205. Nikhila Henry, Writer and Journalist 206. Nilima Regina Topno, Associate Professor, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Patna 207. Nivedita Menon, JNU, Delhi 208. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor (emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laureate Professor, University of Arizona 209. Odile Henry, Professor, Political Sciences department, Paris 8 University 210. Oindrila Deb, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Basel, Switzerland 211. Om Damani, Professor, IIT Bombay 212. P Ashish Kumar, University of Hyderabad. 213. P R K Rao, Retired Professor, IIT Kanpur 214. P. K Abdul Rahiman, University of Madras, Chennai 215. P. Naveen kumar , Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad. 216. Pablo A. Ruffino, PhD Student, Politecnico di Torino, Italy 217. Pallavi Rao, PhD Candidate, Indiana University-Bloomington 218. Paolo Rapisarda, School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton 219. Parswa Nath, Senior Research Fellow, TIFR Hyderabad 220. Partho Sarothi Ray, Associate professor, IISER Kolkata 221. Patricia Gruben, Associate Professor (retired), School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Canada 222. Paula Rocha, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Porto – Portugal 223. Peishi Cheng, PhD candidate, Caltech, California, US 224. Pradip Kumar Datta, JNU 225. Prajit K Basu, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Centre for Neural and Cognitive Science, Centre for Knowledge Culture and Innovation Studies, University of Hyderabad 226. Prajwel Joseph, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 227. Prashant Usha Vijaykumar, MA Student, TISS Mumbai 228. Pravabati Chingangbam, IIA Bangalore 229. Praveen Singh, Research Student 230. Preeti Kharb, Reader, NCRA-TIFR, Pune. 231. Pritam Singh, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies 232. Probal Dasgupta, Retired Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata 233. Procheta C.V. Mallik, Trustee and Principal Scientist, Innovation and Science Promotion Foundation, Bangalore, India 234. Prof Ashok Kumar Turuk, NIT Rourkela 235. Prof Diego Napp, Centre of Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications, University of Aveiro, Portugal 236. Prof Dr. Ralf Meyer, Mathematisches Institut, Universitat Gottingen 237. Prof Gangadharan Menon, Rachana Sansad College, Mumbai 238. Prof Jacob Tharu, Retired Professor, EFLU Hyderabad 239. Prof Shukla Swant, School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi 240. Prof. Deepak Malghan, IIM Bangalore 241. Prof. Jugal Verma, Professor of Mathematics, IIT Bombay 242. Prof. Meena Dhanda, University of Wolverhampton 243. Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur 244. Prof. Sudhir Ghorpade, IIT Bombay 245. Prof. Sujatha Surepally, HOD, Sociology, Satavahana University 246. Prof. Thomas Kailath, Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, Stanford University 247. Prof.Mohan Rao, recently retired from JNU. 248. Prosenjit Das, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum. 249. Proshant Chakraborty, Independent Researcher, Mumbai 250. Proteep Mallik, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore 251. Pujita Guha, JNU, New Delhi 252. Purandar Bhaduri, IIT Guwahati 253. R Azhagarasan, Lecturer, Department of English, University of Madras 254. R Srinivasan, Chennai Mathematical Institute 255. R. Ramakumar, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. 256. Rachel Sieder, CIESAS, Mexico City 257. Rahul Basu, Goa 258. Rahul De, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University 259. Rahul Menon, TISS, Hyderabad 260. Rahul Pandey, ex-faculty and presently visiting faculty – IIM Lucknow; ex-faculty – IIT Bombay 261. Rahul Siddharthan, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai 262. Rajiv Velicheti, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Hyderabad 263. Raju Chalwadi, IIT Bombay 264. Ram Puniyani, Activist, Mumbai 265. Ramchandra Phawade, Indian Institute of Technology Dharwad. 266. Ramesh Bairy T S, IIT Bombay 267. Ravi Chalwadi, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai 268. Ravi Kunjwal, Postdoctoral Researcher, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada. 269. Ravi Vijaya Satya, Bioinformatics Scientist, California, USA 270. Ravichandran Bathran, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Madras 271. Ravinder Kumar Banyal, Reader, Indian institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. 272. Resmi Lekshmi, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum. 273. Reva Yunus, Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru 274. Richa Gupta, Research Scholar, CSSSC, Kolkata 275. Rita Kothari, Professor, Ashoka University 276. Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Iconology and Symbology at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 277. Ronak M Soni, Stanford University 278. Ronnie Sebastian, IIT Bombay 279. Rossi D’Souza, Research Student, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education – TIFR 280. Ruchi Shevade, Eklavya. 281. Rupali Samuel, Independent Researcher, New Delhi. 282. S Anand, Navayana 283. S Sheerazuddin, Associate Professor, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai 284. S. Akshay, IIT Bombay 285. S. debbarma, professional officer,ANU, Ex Scientist govt of India 286. S.P. Rajaguru, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India 287. Saientan Bag, Postdoctoral Fellow, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. 288. Samantak Das, Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University 289. Samir Gandesha, Director, Institute for the Humanities, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC Canada 290. Sandeep Krishna, Associate Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 291. Sandeep Pandey, Activist and (former) Visiting Faculty at IIT-Kanpur, IIM-Ahmedabad, IIT-BHU 292. Sandip Varkey George, IISER Pune, India 293. Sanjay Jhingan, International College of Liberal Arts, YGU, Yamanashi, Japan 294. Sanjay Katheria, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel 295. Sanjit Chatterjee, Associate Professor, IISc, Bangalore 296. Sanjukta Poddar, PhD Student, University of Chicago 297. Sannaki Munna (ASA-UoH), Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad. 298. Santos Kumar Das, NIT Rourkela, Odisha 299. Saptarshi Mandal, Assistant Professor of Law, Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat 300. Sarayu Menon, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 301. Sarbajaya Kundu, Research Scholar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 302. Sasanka Roy, Associate Professor, Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata 303. Satish Deshpande, Professor, University of Delhi 304. Satyaki Mazumder, IISER Kolkata 305. Satyendra Mishra, Associate Professor, NIFT Kanpur 306. Saumia P S, JINR, Dubna 307. Saurav Islam, IISc, Bangalore 308. Sayantani Bhattacharyya (National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneshwar) 309. Seema Saha Poddar, service 310. Shah Alam Khan, Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 311. Shalini Bhattacharya, IISER Tirupati. 312. Sharmila Sreekumar, IIT Bombay 313. Shaunna Rodrigues, Ph.D. Student, Columbia University 314. Shekhar Research Scholar, UoH, Hyderabad. 315. Sheshan P, MS Student, IIT Madras 316. Shilpaa Anand, BITS Pilani – Hyderabad Campus 317. Shiva Shankar, Chennai Mathematical Institute 318. Shruti Sharma, Research Scholar, CSSSC, Kolkata 319. Siddharth Joshi, FPM, IIM Bangalore 320. Sivarani Thirupathi, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India 321. Smt. Prithvi Pothupogu, NIT, Warangal 322. Sneha Visakha, Lawyer and Researcher 323. Solomon Benjamin, IIT-Madras (2010). 324. Somnath Waghmare , Research Scholar , TISS , Mumbai . 325. Soumya Datta, Faculty of Economics, South Asian University, New Delhi. 326. Soundarya Iyer, London School of Economics 327. Sourabh Wade, Researcher, IIT Bombay 328. Souvik Mandal, Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology & Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, USA. 329. Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, Bard College, New York 330. Sriramkrishnan Muralikrishnan, PhD Student, The University of Texas at Austin, USA and alumnus of IITK 331. Subhashis Banerjee, IIT Delhi 332. Subhojoy Gupta, Assistant Professor, IISc Bangalore. 333. Subodh Kunwer, PhD Scholar, Delhi University 334. Suchetana Banerjee, Assistant Professor, Literature and Theatre, SSLA, Pune 335. Suchetana Chatterjee, Presidency University 336. Sujatha Subramanian, PhD Candidate, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University 337. Sukhendu Mehrotra, Chennai Mathematical Institute 338. Sukruta Alluri, Research Scholar, CSSSC, Kolkata 339. Sumathi Rao, Professor, Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad 340. Sumati Surya, Prof Raman Research Institute 341. Sumeet Mhaskar, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy 342. Sumeru Hazra, Tata institute of fundamental research 343. Sumit Haldar, IISc Bangalore 344. Sumit Kumar, Postdoctoral fellow, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Hannover 345. Sumit R Das, Professor, University of Kentucky / Adjunct Professor, TIFR 346. Sunil Yadav, Ph.D Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai 347. Supratik Chakraborty, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay 348. Supratim Sengupta, IISER Kolkata 349. Supurna Dasgupta, PhD student, University of Chicago 350. Suresh Devashayam, Professor of Bioengineering, Christian Medical College 351. Suresh Govindarajan, IIT Madras 352. Suryakant Waghmore, Associate Professor, Sociology, IIT Bombay 353. Susie Tharu, Retired Professor, EFLU Hyderabad 354. Sutanoya Chakraborty, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 355. Suvankur Sukul, PhD student, UChicago 356. Suvrat Raju, Associate Professor, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research 357. Swadheenananda Pattanayak, Institute of Mathematics and Applications, Bhubaneswar 358. Swapnil Khandekar, Alumni IIT-M, IIM-C 359. T Pradeep Chakravarthy, Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad 360. T R Govindarajan, Chennai Mathematical Institute. 361. T. Jayaraman, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. 362. T. V. H. Prathamesh, Universitat Innsbruck 363. Tanujit Biswas, IISc Bangalore 364. Tapan Kumar Mandal, Deputy Librarian, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata 365. Tathagata Sengupta, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education 366. Tejas Harad, Copy Editor, Economic and Political Weekly 367. Tsering Thargay, Sikkim University 368. Tyler W. Williams, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago 369. Ujithra Ponniah, Assistant Professor, TISS, Hyderabad. 370. Uliya Yashtala, Musician, US 371. Urmila Bhirdikar SNU 372. Usha Shankar, Principal Consultant, NMSWorks Software Pvt Ltd 373. V S Sunder, Retired Professor, IMSc Chennai 374. Vaibhav Kumar, IIT Kanpur Alumnus (MTech Mechanical Engineering, 2013) 375. Vaibhav Vaish, Alumni, IIT Kanpur (BTech EE, 2004) 376. Vaibhav Wasnik, Indian Institute of Technology, Goa 377. Valerian Rodrigues, Department of Humanities, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada 378. Vanessa Assumma, PhD Student, Italy 379. Vasantharajan G, PhD student, IIT Madras 380. Vasudev Dehalwar, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, MANIT, Bhopal, India 381. Vasudha Sawalker, PhD Student, Goa University 382. Vasvi Oza, Artist, Bengaluru 383. Veena Naregal, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi 384. Venkata Sai Kiran Yatagiri, Masters in Mechanical Engineering, SIUE, USA 385. Venu Madhav Govindu, IISc Bengaluru 386. Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Author and Human Rights Activist, New Delhi 387. Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, CEO, Ekgaon Technologies, New Delhi 388. Vikas Bajpai, CSMCH, JNU 389. Vinod John, IISc Bangalore 390. Virendra Sule, IIT Bombay 391. Vivek Kumar Mehta, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur 392. Vivek Kumar, Centre for the Study of Social Systems/ Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. 393. Wandana Sonalkar, Retired Professor, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 394. Wenceslaus Mendes, Goa 395. Winnifred Louis, Professor, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia 396. Y Srinivasa Rao, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Bharathidasan University, Thiruchirapalli 397. Yashodhan M, BS+MS student, IIT Madras 398. Yashpal Jogdand, Assistant Professor, IIT Delhi 399. Yashwant Zagade, PhD Scholar, TISS, Mumbai. 400. Zoya Vallari, Postdoctoral Scholar, Physics Department, Caltech, California, US
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