400 Academics Condemn ‘Caste Discrimination, Institutional Harassment’ in IIT Kanpur

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.

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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

1. Aakash Singh Rathore, Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla
2. Abdul Matin, Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, JadavpurUniversity

3. Abhijith M S, PhD Student, IIT Hyderabad
4. Abhinav Basak, PhD Scholar, IIT Kanpur
5. Abhishek Atreya, Bose Institute, Kolkata
6. Abhishek Bhattacharyya, PhD candidate, University of Chicago
7. Abhishek Dhar, Professor, International centre for theoretical sciences, Tata Institute ofFundamental Research, Bangalore, India

8. Abir Dasgupta, Independent Journalist, Mumbai
9. Abu Anand, Research Scholar, University of Toronto, Canada
10. Achin Vanaik, Former Professor of IR and Global Politics, Delhi University
11. Addanki Hareesh¨IIT BHU Varanasi
12. Adhip Agarwala, Postdoctoral Fellow, ICTS≠TIFR, Bangalore
13. Aditi Maddali, Research Scholar, TISS Mumbai
14. Ajay Bhardwaj, PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, CanadaÆ
15. Ajay Gorla, Nizam College, OSMANIA UNIVERSITY Hyderabad
16. Ajay Kaladharan, Research Scholar, Oklahoma State University, USA
17. Ajith Kunjunny Sudha, Research Scholar, University of HyderabadÆ
18. Akash Gautam, Assistant Professor, Centre for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, Univerityof Hyderabad

19. Akhil Kumar, Professor of Information Systems and SCIS Research Fellow, SmealCollege of Business, Penn State University

20. Alam Khan. Research scholar, IISc BangaloreÆ
21. Alex George, Navayana
22. Alladi Sitaram, Professor Emeritus, Indian Statistical Institute, Bengaluru
23. Alladi Uma, University of Hyderabad
24. Alli Sateesh Kumar, Software Engineer, TCS Hyderabad
25. Alok Bajpai, Psychiatrist
26. Alok Kumar, PhÆD candidate, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar
27. Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematical Institute
28. Alokmay Datta, Raja Ramanna Fellow, CSIR≠Central Glass and Ceramic ResearchInstitute, Kolkata

29. Alpa Shah, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, London School ofEconomics

30. Amandeep Singh, Student, York University, CanadaÆ
31. Amit Ranjan, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur
32. Amit Upadhyay, TISS HyderabadÆ
33. Amita Kanekar, Independent Researcher
34. Amiya Dev, formerly of Jadavpur University, Kolkata
35. Ananya Parikh, Research Scholar, JNU and Visiting Faculty, SSLA, Pune
36. Anayat Bhat, Research Scholar, University of Konstanz¨Germany
37. Andrew Halladay, PhÆD. student, University of Chicago
38. Anindita Bera, Post doctoral fellow, Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University ofJerusalem, Israel

39. Anindita Brahma, Research Associate, IISc Bangalore
40. Anindya Banerji, Postdoc, Physical Research Laboratory, AhmedabadÆ
41. Anish Vanaik, OÆP. Jindal Global University, SonipatÆ
42. Anjali Monteiro, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
43. Anjali Noronha Educator and Social Scientist, Bhopal, MÆPÆ
44. Anurag Prabhakar, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur
45. Anushka Sen, PhD student, Indiana University
46. Aparna Mohan, PhD student, IIT Madras
47. Aparna Ros P, PhD Research Scholar, Department of HSS, IIT Bombay
48. Apoorva Nagar, Assoc. Professor, IIST, Thiruvananthapuram
49. Apratim Kaviraj, Postdoc, ENS, Paris
50. Aravindhan Nagarajan, Research Scholar, TISS Mumbai
51. Archana Bidargaddi, software professional, Norway
52. Arijeet Mandal, Assistant Professor, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University
53. Arijit Ghosh, Assistant Professor, ISI Kolkata
54. Arjun Jayakumar, PhD Student, IIT Madras
55. Arpan Saha, Doktorand, Universität HamburgÆ
56. Arul Shankar, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto
57. Arun Som, IIT Bombay
58. Arundhati Roy, Writer and Activist, New Delhi
59. Arvind Sivaramakrishnan, Adjunct Faculty, IIT MadrasÆ
60. Ashok Sircar, Professor, Azim Premji University
61. Ashoke Sen, Harish≠Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
62. Asrith Dasari, IIT Bombay
63. Atish Dabholkar, Professor, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste
64. Atul Anand, Research Scholar
65. Aurnab Ghose, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education andResearch, Pune

66. Avijit Pathak, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU, New Delhi
67. Avinash Kumar, Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, SSS, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi

68. Avishek Konar, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global Law School
69. Ayan Roychowdhury, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur
70. Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University
71. BÆNÆPatnaik, Retired Professor, IIT Kanpur
72. Badri Raina, Retired Faculty, Delhi University
73. Balaji S B, Completed PhD degree in Indian Institute of Science, Completed Masters inIITK

74. Bhanu Pratap Das, Professor of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
75. Bhanuj Kappal, independent journalist, Mumbai
76. Bhavtosh Bansal, Associate Professor, IISER Kolkata
77. Bidyut Kumar Patra, Faculty, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, OdishaÆ
78. Bindhulakshmi P, Faculty, TISS Mumbai
79. Biri Arun, NIT Rourkela, Odisha
80. Bursenla, Alumni ≠ Tata Institute of Social Sciences, MumbaiÆ
81. C R Pradeep, Professor, CIT Tumkur
82. Chandan Gowda, Professor of Sociology, School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

83. Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Distinguished Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University, USA

84. Chandradeep Singh, PhD scholar, IIT Bombay
85. Charles Xu, PhD candidate, Caltech, California, US
86. Chinmoy Banerjee, Retired Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University, Canada
87. Chloe Drewett, PhD Student, University of Adelaide
88. Claudio Cassardo, Professor, University of Torino, Italy
89. Dakshina Ranjan Kisku, Associate Professor, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, India

90. Darshana Mitra, Student, Columbia Law School
91. Dattaraj Dhuri, Research Scholar, TIFR Mumbai
92. David Graeber, Professor of Anthropology, London School of Economics
93. David Mumford, Fields Medal Recipient, MacArthur Fellow, University ProfessorEmeritus in the Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University

94. Deb Sankar, RRI
95. Debrup Chakraborty, Associate Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
96. Deepak Kapur, Distinguished Professor, Department of Computer Science, University ofNew Mexico

97. Dhiman Chatterjee, IIT Madras
98. Dilip M Menon, Mellon Chair in Indian Studies, University of Witwatersrand
99. Dinesh Mohan, IIT Delhi
100. Dipil Banhatti, UGC Scientist, Madurai Kamaraj University
101. Divya Padalia, Jawaharlal Nehru University
102. Dolores Chew, Liberal Arts Program Coordinator, Marianopolis College, Westmount, Canada

103. Dona Biswas, Research Scholar, Ambedkar University, Delhi
104. Dr AK Ghosh, IIT Kanpur
105. Dr Mali Devi Sawaria, Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Aditi Mahavidyalya, University of Delhi

106. Dr Satyaki Roy, IIT Kanpur
107. Dr Sunny Sandhu , Alumnus AIIMS , Founder AtelierOM
108. Dr. A K Biswas, Retired IAS and former Vice≠Chancellor, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

109. Dr. Anand Teltumbde, Senior Professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics, Goa Institute of Management

110. Dr. Anant Parghi, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India

111. Dr. Ananth Shankar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
112. Dr. Aparna Sundar, Independent Scholar, Toronto, Canada
113. Dr. B Karthik Navayan, Hyderabad
114. Dr. B Shobha, Associate Professor, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Hyderabad

115. Dr. Bhanukiran Perabathini, Assistant Professor, Mahindra Ecole Centrale Hyderabad

116. Dr. Bittu K.R., Associate Professor, Ashoka University
117. Dr. C.D. Modhera, Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India

118. Dr. Debasattam Pal, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IITBombay

119. Dr. Dulari Hansdah, NIT Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
120. Dr. Faruk Azam, Postdoc Scholar, The University of Tokyo, The University of Lille, France

126. Dr. G Vijay, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad
127. Dr. Goldy M. George, Activist, Social Scientist, Writer, Chattisgarh
128. Dr. Hiren Gohain, Assam
129. Dr. Koonal Duggal, New Delhi
130. Dr. Lalit Saini, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India
131. Dr. Luis Dias, MBBS, DGO OBGYN, DNB OBGYN, DRCOG London, MRCGP London, now founder and Project Director of Child’s Play India Foundation
132. Dr. Majid Hassan Khan, Post doc and Research Associate, IISc Bangalore
133. Dr. Mallarika Sinha Roy, JNU
134. Dr. Manu V. Mathai, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University, IndiaÆ
135. Dr. Nagarjuna G. Alumnus IIT Kanpur, Associate Professor, HBCSE, TIFRÆ
136. Dr. Pankaj Tame, PhD IIT Bombay
137. Dr. Priya Kurian, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Waikato, New Zealand

133. Dr. Rajender Kumar, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India

134. Dr. Ranganatha N, Karnataka
135. Dr. Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, México DF

136. Dr. Sowmya Dechamma, Associate Professor, Centre for Comparative Literature, University of Hyderabad

137. Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, Public health doctor
138. Dr. Umakant, Independent Scholar, New Delhi
139. Dr. V. Ranjth Babu, Associate Professor, SNIST, Hyderabad
140. Dr. Vivek Kalyankari, Assistant Professor, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India

141. Dr. Yash Paul Kundal, Principal, Government Degree College, Ramnagar, Jammu and Kashmir

142. Dr. A. Suneetha, Senior Fellow, Anveshi RCWS, Hyderabad
143. E Asaithambi, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Pachaiyappa College, Chennai

144. Elancheran T S, Software Engineer, California, US
145. Eleanor Newbigin, SOAS, London, UK
146. Emiliana Cruz, CIESAS, CDMX
147. Enakshi Bhattacharya, IIT Madras
148. Fleur D’Souza, Retired Associate Professor of History, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
149. Francesca Matrone, PhD student, Italy
150. Gautam Bharali, Professor ofMathematics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
151. Gautam Ganapathy, IIT Bombay
152. Gautam Mandal, Professor, Department of Theoretical Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

153. Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak, University Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University

178. Gayatri Menon, Associate Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
179. Gayatri Nair, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad
180. Gee Imaan Semmalar, Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni, Bangalore
181. Giribabu D, Assistant Professor, MANIT Bhopal
182. Giuditta Soccali, PhD candidate, Politecnico and University of Torino, Italy
183. Grishma Udani, Bangalore
184. Gutta Rohith, Human Rights Forum
185. Harish Kumar, IFS
186. Harjinder Laltu Singh, IIIT Hyderabad
187. Harsh Kapoor, Independent Researcher and Archivist, New Delhi
188. Hartman de Souza, Author
189. Hema Preya Selvanathan, PhD student, University of Massachusetts Amherst
190. Himanshu Srivastava, PhD Scholar, Homi Bhaba Centre for Science Education, IIT Kanpur Alumnus
191. Hrushikesh Naik, National Institute of Technology ROURKELA
192. Iffat Siddiqui, IIT Kanpur
193. Ishan S Bhadoria, Alumni TISS Mumbai
194. Ishan Santra, Research Student, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR
195. Ishan, Civil society Activist¨Ranchi
196. Ishita Roy, Assistant Professor, Dept. Of English, University of Kalyani, West Bengal
197. J Devika, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram
198. Jaesica Chandan, Ashoka University
199. Jagdish Chand, Centre for Education and Communication, Mathura, UP
200. Jai Sen, Independent Researcher, Editor
201. Jaikumar Radhakrishnan, Professor, School of Technology and Computer Science, Mumbai
202. Jayant Lele, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
203. Jayasree Subramanian, Visiting Faculty, HBCSE, Mumbai
204. Jenny S, Researcher, Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi
205. Jens Lerche, Reader ®Professor©, Department of Development Studies, SOAS
206. Jit Hazarika, PhD Candidate, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
207. Jitendra Shah, ex≠faculty, VJTI, Mumbai
208. Joby Joseph, University of Hyderabad
209. Joe Godinho, Management Consultant at IP≠Innovation Partnership, IrelandÆ
210. Joel Lee, Assistant Professor, Williams College, USA
211. John Drury, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Sussex, UK
212. Joya Roy, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi
213. Joydeep Dutta, Faculty, IIT Kanpur
214. Judhajit Sarkar, PhD Scholar, University of Heidelberg, Germany
215. K. Murali Krishnan, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, NIT Calicut
216. K. Srilata, IIT Madras
217. Kadambari, Research Scholar, DU
218. Kamalakar Duvvuru, Freelance writer, Hyderabad
219. Kamlesh Bharodiya, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur
220. Kanthi Swaroop, IIT Bombay
221. Karthikeyan Damodaran, Visiting Fellow, University of Goettingen, Germany
222. Kartikeya Jain, New Delhi
223. Khaliq Parkar, NMIMS University, Mumbai
224. Koel Das, IISER Kolkata
225. KP Jayasankar, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, MumbaiÆ
226. Krishna Hanumanthu, Chennai Mathematical Institute
227. Kriti Budhiraja, Research Scholar, Sociology, University of MinnesotaÆ
228. Kunal Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University
229. Kuntal Bag, Assistant Professor, Dept. Of English, University of Kalyani, West Bengal

206. Kuntal Ghosh, Associate Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
207. Kuriakose Mathew, IIT Bombay
208. Kushal, BS MS Student, IIT Madras
209. Labani Jangi, PhD student, CSSSC, Kolkata
210. Leslee Lazar, visiting faculty, IIT Gandhinagar
211. M Sridhar, Retired Professor, Department of English, University of Hyderabad
212. M. V. Ramana, Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and alumnus of IIT, Kanpur

213. Madhavi Shivaprasad, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
214. Madhusudhan Raman, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
215. Mahendra Gaikwad, IIT Delhi, Hydraulic Engineer, Germany
216. Mahendranath R, Masters student, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
217. Maitreyee Saha Sarka, SINP, Kolkata
218. Maitreyee Shukla, MÆPhil Research Scholar, IIT Bombay
219. Mallika Sarabhai, Dancer, Choreographer, Actor, Activist, Ahmedabad
220. Manish Gautam, Alumni IIT Kanpur
221. Manoj Gopalkrishnan, Associate Professor, IIT Bombay
222. Manoj Puravankara, Reader, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
223. Maroona Murmu, Associate Professor, Department of History, Jadavpur University
224. Mary John, CWDS New DelhiÆ
225. Mathew D. Marques, Lecturer, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia

226. Matta Vyshali Nanda, IIT®BHU© Varanasi
227. Miray Philips, PhD Candidate, University of Minnesota
228. Mohammad Afzal Shadab, Grad Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
229. Mohan D, Assistant Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad
230. Mritunjay Kumar, PhD Scholar, IIT Kanpur
231. Mukesh Kulriya, Research Scholar, School of Music, University of California Los Angeles

232. Mulayam Singh, PhD, JNU, New Delhi
233. Murali Shanmugavelan, SOAS, University of London
234. N Raghavendra, Faculty, Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
235. Nairit Sur, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
236. Nandini Chandra, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
237. Nandini Manjrekar, TISS Mumbai
238. Nandini Sundar, Delhi University
239. Naresh Kumar Sharma, University of Hyderabad
240. Naveen Gaur, Dyal Singh College University of Delhi, India
241. Naveen Surendran, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum
242. Nicolas Jaoul, Research officer, CNRS, IRISØEHESS, Paris
243. Nihav Dhawale, PhD Candidate, NCBS≠TIFR, Visiting Scholar, Yale University
244. Nijil Lal C.K., Research Scholar, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad
245. Nikhila Henry, Writer and Journalist
246. Nilima Regina Topno, Associate Professor, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Patna

247. Niruj Mohan, Public Outreach Education Committee, ASI
248. Nissim Kanekar, Professor, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune
249. Nivedita Menon, JNU, Delhi
250. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor ®emeritus©, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laureate Professor, University of Arizona

251. Noor Ameena, Research Scholar, Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad
252. Odile Henry, Professor, Political Sciences department, Paris 8 University
253. Oindrila Deb, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Basel, Switzerland
254. Om Damani, Professor, IIT Bombay
255. P Ashish Kumar, University of Hyderabad
256. P R K Rao, Retired Professor, IIT Kanpur
257. P. K Abdul Rahiman, University of Madras, Chennai
258. P. Naveen Kumar , Research Scholar, University of HyderabadÆ
259. Pablo A. Ruffino, PhD Student, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
260. Pallavi Rao, PhD Candidate, Indiana University≠Bloomington
261. Paolo Rapisarda, School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton

262. Parswa Nath, Senior Research Fellow, TIFR Hyderabad
263. Partho Sarothi Ray, Associate professor, IISER Kolkata
264. Patricia Gruben, Associate Professor ®retired©, School for the Contemporary Arts Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Canada

265. Paula Rocha, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Porto, Portugal

266. Pavan Dharanipragada, PhD scholar, IMSc Chennai
267. Peishi Cheng, PhD candidate, Caltech, California, US
268. Pradip Kumar Datta, JNU
269. Prajit K Basu, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Centre for Neural and Cognitive Science, Centre for Knowledge Culture and Innovation Studies, University of Hyderabad

270. Prajwel Joseph, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore
271. Praneeth Ponnekanti ≠ IIM Calcutta, IIT Kharagpur
272. Prashant Usha Vijaykumar, MA Student, TISS Mumbai
273. Pravabati Chingangbam, IIA Bangalore
274. Praveen Singh, Research Student
275. Preeti Kharb, Reader, NCRA-TIFR, Pune
276. Pritam Singh, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies
277. Priya Iyer, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur
278. Probal Dasgupta, Retired Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
279. Procheta C.V. Mallik, Trustee and Principal Scientist, Innovation and Science Promotion Foundation, Bangalore, India

280. Prof Ashok Kumar Turuk, NIT Rourkela
281. Prof Diego Napp, Centre of Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications, University of Aveiro, Portugal

282. Prof Dr. Ralf Meyer, Mathematisches Institut, Universitat Gottingen
283. Prof Gangadharan Menon, Rachana Sansad College, Mumbai
284. Prof Jacob Tharu, Retired Professor, EFLU Hyderabad
285. Prof Shukla Swant, School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi
286. Prof. Deepak Malghan, IIM Bangalore
287. Prof. Jugal Verma, Professor of Mathematics, IIT Bombay
288. Prof. Meena Dhanda, University of Wolverhampton
289. Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur

290. Prof. Sudhir Ghorpade, IIT Bombay
291. Prof. Sujatha Surepally, HOD, Sociology, Satavahana University
292. Prof. Thomas Kailath, Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, Stanford University

293. Prof. Mohan Rao, recently retired from JNU
294. Prosenjit Das, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum

295. Proshant Chakraborty, Independent Researcher, Mumbai
296. Proteep Mallik, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore
297. Pujita Guha, JNU, New Delhi
298. Purandar Bhaduri, IIT Guwahati
299. R Azhagarasan, Lecturer, Department of English, University of Madras
300. R Srinivasan, Chennai Mathematical Institute
301. R. Ramakumar, Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, MumbaiÆ
302. Rachel Sieder, CIESAS, Mexico City
303. Radha D Banhatti, Scientist, Croatia
304. Rahul Basu, Goa
305. Rahul De, Assistant Professor, Azim Premji University
306. Rahul Menon, TISS, Hyderabad
307. Rahul Pandey, ex-faculty and presently visiting faculty, IIM Lucknow

308. Rahul Siddharthan, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai
309. Raja Mohanty, IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay
310. Rajiv Velicheti, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Hyderabad
311. Raju Chalwadi, IIT Bombay
312. Ram Manohar Vikas
313. Ram Puniyani, Activist, Mumbai
314. Ramchandra Phawade, Indian Institute of Technology DharwadÆ
315. Ramesh Bairy T S, IIT Bombay
316. Ravi Chalwadi, St. Xavierßs College, Mumbai
317. Ravi Kunjwal, Postdoctoral Researcher, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada

318. Ravi Vijaya Satya, Bioinformatics Scientist, California, USA
319. Ravichandran Bathran, Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Madras

320. Ravinder Kumar Banyal, Reader, Indian institute of Astrophysics, BangaloreÆ
321. Resmi Lekshmi, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, TrivandrumÆ
322. Reva Yunus, Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Studies, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

323. Richa Gupta, Research Scholar, CSSSC, Kolkata
324. Rita Kothari, Professor, Ashoka University
325. Ronak M Soni, Stanford University
326. Ronnie Sebastian, IIT Bombay
327. Rossi D’Souza, Research Student, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR

328. Ruchi Shevade, Eklavya
329. Rupali Samuel, Independent Researcher, New Delhi
330. S Anand, Navayana
331. S Sheerazuddin, Associate Professor, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai
332. S. Akshay, IIT Bombay
333. S. Debbarma, professional officer¨ANU, ex-scientist, Govt. of India
334. S.P. Rajaguru, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India
335. Sachin Patkar, Professor, IIT Bombay
336. Saientan Bag, Postdoctoral Fellow, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
337. Sakshi, PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge
338. Samantak Das, Professor of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University
339. Samir Gandesha, Director, Institute for the Humanities, Simon Fraser University Vancouver, BC Canada

341. Sandeep Krishna, Associate Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore
342. Sandeep Pandey, Activist and former Visiting Faculty at IIT Kanpur
343. Sandip Varkey George, IISER Pune, India
344. Sanjay Jhingan, International College of Liberal Arts, YGU, Yamanashi, Japan
345. Sanjay Katheria, Technion≠Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
346. Sanjib Sabhapandit, Professor, Raman Research Institute, Bangalore
347. Sanjit Chatterjee, Associate Professor, IISc, Bangalore
348. Sanjukta Poddar, PhD Student, University of Chicago
349. Sannaki Munna, ASAUoH, Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad
350. Santos Kumar Das, NIT Rourkela, Odisha
351. Saptarshi Mandal, Assistant Professor of Law, Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat
352. Sarayu Menon, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
353. Sarbajaya Kundu, Research Scholar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

353. Sasanka Roy, Associate Professor, Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata
354. Satish Deshpande, Professor, University of Delhi
355. Satyaki Mazumder, IISER Kolkata
356. Satyendra Mishra, Associate Professor, NIFT Kanpur
357. Saumia P S, JINR, Dubna
358. Saurav Islam, IISc, Bangalore
359. Sayantan Saha Roy. PCandidate. University of Chicago
360. Sayantani Bhattacharyya, National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneshwar

361. Seema Saha Poddar, service
362. Shah Alam Khan, Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

363. Shalini Bhattacharya, IISER Tirupati
364. Sharmila Sreekumar, IIT Bombay
365. Shaunna Rodrigues, PhD student, Columbia University
366. Shekhar Research Scholar, UoH, Hyderabad
367. Sheshan P, MS Student, IIT Madras
368. Shilpaa Anand, BITS Pilani – Hyderabad Campus
369. Shiva Shankar, Chennai Mathematical Institute
370. Shruti Sharma, Research Scholar, CSSSC, Kolkata
371. Shubhayu Chatterjee, Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley
372. Siddharth Joshi, FPM, IIM Bangalore
373. Siddhartha Chaudhuri, IIT Bombay IIT Kanpur CSE alumnus
374. Sivarani Thirupathi, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India

375. Smt. Prithvi Pothupogu, NIT, Warangal
376. Sneha Visakha, Lawyer and Researcher
377. Solomon Benjamin, IIT Madras 2010
378. Somnath Waghmare , Research Scholar , TISS , Mumbai
379. Soumya Datta, Faculty of Economics, South Asian University, New Delhi
380. Soundarya Iyer, London School of Economics
381. Sourabh Wade, Researcher, IIT Bombay
382. Souvik Mandal, Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, USA

383. Spenta R. Wadia, Founding Director ¶ Infosys Homi Bhabha Professor, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore

384. Srikanth Sastry, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru

385. Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, Bard College, New York
386. Sriramkrishnan Muralikrishnan, PhD Student, The University of Texas at Austin, USA and alumnus of IITK

387. Subhankar Chakraborty, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Karnataka
388. Subhashis Banerjee, IIT Delhi
389. Subhojoy Gupta, Assistant Professor, IISc Bangalore
390. Subodh Kunwer, PhD Scholar, Delhi University
391. Suchetana Banerjee, Assistant Professor, Literature and Theatre, SSLA, P
392. Suchetana Chatterjee, Presidency University
393. Suhas S , IIITDM Kancheepuram
394. Sujatha Subramanian, PhD Candidate, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, The Ohio State University

395. Sukhendu Mehrotra, Chennai Mathematical Institute
396. Sukruta Alluri, Research Scholar, CSSSC, Kolkata
397. Sumathi Rao, Professor, Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
398. Sumati Surya, Prof Raman Research Institute
399. Sumeet Mhaskar, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy

400. Sumeru Hazra, Tata institute of fundamental research
401. Sumit Haldar, IISc Bangalore
402. Sumit Kumar, Postdoctoral fellow, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Hannover

403. Sumit R Das, Professor, University of Kentucky Ø Adjunct Professor, TIFR
404. Sunil Yadav, PhÆD Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai
405. Supratik Chakraborty, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay

406. Supratim Sengupta, IISER Kolkata
407. Supriya Chaudhuri, Professor Emerita, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
408. Supurna Dasgupta, PhD student, University of Chicago
409. Suresh Devashayam, Professor of Bioengineering, Christian Medical College
410. Suresh Govindarajan, IIT Madras
411. Suryakant Waghmore, Associate Professor, Sociology, IIT Bombay
412. Sushrut Jadhav, Division of Psychiatry, University College UK
413. Susie Tharu, Retired Professor, EFLU Hyderabad
414. Sutanoya Chakraborty, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore
415. Suvankur Sukul, PhD student, UChicago
416. Suvrat Raju, Associate Professor, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

417. Swadheenananda Pattanayak, Institute of Mathematics and Applications, Bhubaneswar

418. Swapnil Khandekar, Alumni IIT≠M, IIM≠C
419. T Pradeep Chakravarthy, Research Scholar, University of Hyderabad
420. T R Govindarajan, Chennai Mathematical InstituteÆ
421. T. Jayaraman, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, MumbaiÆ
422. T. V. H. Prathamesh, Universitat Innsbruck
423. Tania Bhattacharyya, PhD candidate, Columbia University, New York
424. Tanima. PhD student. University of ChicagoÆ
425. Tanujit Biswas, IISc Bangalore
426. Tapan Kumar Mandal, Deputy Librarian, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
427. Tathagata Sengupta, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education
428. Tejas Harad, Copy Editor, Economic and Political Weekly
429. Tim Barker, PhD Candidate, Department of History, Harvard University
430. Tsering Thargay, Sikkim University
431. Tyler W. Williams, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago
432. Uday Jain, Ph. D Student, University of Chicago
433. Ujithra Ponniah, Assistant Professor, TISS, Hyderabad
434. Uliya Yashtala, Musician, US
435. Urmila Bhirdikar SNU
436. Usha Shankar, Principal Consultant, NMSWorks Software Pvt Ltd
437. V S Sunder, Retired Professor, IMSc Chennai
438. Vaibhav Kumar, IIT Kanpur Alumnus, M. Tech Mechanical Engineering, 2013
439. Vaibhav Vaish, Alumni, IIT Kanpur B. Tech EE, 2004
440. Vaibhav Wasnik, Indian Institute of Technology, Goa
441. Valerian Rodrigues, Department of Humanities, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada

442. Vanessa Assumma, PhD Student, Italy
443. Vasantharajan G, PhD student, IIT Madras
444. Vasudev Dehalwar, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, MANIT, Bhopal, India

445. Vasudha Sawalker, PhD Student, Goa University
446. Vasvi Oza, Artist, Bengaluru
447. Veena Naregal, Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi
448. Venkata Sai Kiran Yatagiri, Masters in Mechanical Engineering, SIUE, USA
449. Venu Madhav Govindu, IISc Bengaluru
450. Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Author and Human Rights Activist, New Delhi
451. Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya, CEO, Ekgaon Technologies, New Delhi
452. Vikas Bajpai, CSMCH, JNU
453. Vinod John, IISc Bangalore
454. Virendra Sule, IIT Bombay
455. Vivek Kumar Mehta, Alumnus, IIT Kanpur
456. Vivek Kumar, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

457. Wandana Sonalkar, Retired Professor, Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

458. Wenceslaus Mendes, Goa
459. William Mazzarella, Neukom Family Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

460. Winnifred Louis, Professor, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia

462. Y Srinivasa Rao, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Bharathidasan University, Thiruchirapalli
463. Yashodhan M, BS´MS student, IIT Madras
464. Yashpal Jogdand, Assistant Professor, IIT Delhi
465. Yashwant Zagade, PhD Scholar, TISS, Mumbai
466. Yogesh Kumar Srivastava, NISER Bhubaneswar
467. Zoya Vallari, Postdoctoral Scholar, Physics Department, Caltech, California, US