Scientists for Ethical and Societal Values

Indian civilization 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 civilization 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 Academy.

In a fractured world we have to keep the plural faith that defines our civilization. As true adherent 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 upto it? On the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s General Relativity - one of the greatest feats of human thought, let’s also pay the 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-civilizational 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.