Worried over India's future, scientist P.M. Bhargava to return Padma Bhushan
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One of India's top scientists and founder-director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), P. M. Bhargava on Thursday said he had decided to return the Padma Bhushan award as he was worried about the future of India.
Mr. Bhargava told The Hindu that if the present trend continued, India would cease to become a democracy and become a theocratic country like Pakistan. "The future of democracy is at stake. I am very concerned about it."
The scientist said he would return the award to the Ministry of Home Affairs along with a letter. "As a scientist that is all I can do," he observed.
He expressed concern that "RSS people" had attended a recent meeting of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research labs. He was critical of the government's decision to reduce funding of the CSIR labs.
Mr. Bhargava's decision to return the Padma Bhushan, country's third highest civilian honour, came after more than 100 scientists, including Mr. Bhargava, released a statement online expressing concern at the "climate of intolerance" and "the ways in which science and reason was getting eroded in the country."
Mr. Bhargava said, "I hold no brief to the earlier UPA regime and I criticised it in my book. However, you must give credit as they did not want to decide what we eat, what we wear and how we behave."
Scientific temper was one of the duties of the Indian citizens as enshrined in the Constitution in Article 51(h), he said.
Mr. Bhargava criticised ministers for looking for auspicious time to take charge. Various kinds of superstitions were being practiced in various parts of the country, he noted. He recalled how people years ago believed that an idol of Lord Ganesha was drinking milk. "Later we proved it on TV that it was not."
He pointed out that an entire session of the Indian Science Congress was devoted to absurd claims that India in ancient times had built a huge aircraft with inter-planetary movements. He also found fault with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for stating at the Congress that India had known the technique of organ transplantation long time ago.
As a scientist it was his duty to promote scientific temper as demanded by the Constitution, he said.
Scientist P M Bhargava to return Padma Bhushan to protest ‘attack on rationalism, reasoning’
Bhargava's decision came after 107 senior scientists signed an online statement on Wednesday to join the chorus of protests by other scientists, artists and writers.174 48
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Written by Arun Janardhanan | Chennai | Updated: October 29, 2015 10:09 am
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FILE photo of P M Bhargava. (Source: YouTube screen grab)
Joining the bandwagon of writers and artists, veteran scientist P M Bhargava will return the awards he received from the government of India to protest against “the government’s attack on rationalism, reasoning and science.”
Bhargava, who was the founder-director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), said he would return his Padma Bhushan at a time when “Modi government is giving room for communalists and fringe groups to divide the country based on religion.”
Talking to The Indian Express, he said: “An artist can express his dissent by doing an art work. But I am a scientist. How will I protest through my work? So I had to take the decision to return the award as it is the only way to register my protest.”
Bhargava, 87, added that he will meet the home secretary and return the award soon.
In India, he said, scientists’ fraternity is socially insensitive. “I hope the decision taken by me would at least sensitise them towards the alarming situation in the country. Scientists cannot be silent or ignore things happening around,” he said.
VIDEO: Discussing The Widening Of The Protest Against ‘Intolerance’
Bhargava said it was the series of murders of three rationalist writers made him upset. “Moreover, there are statements from the fringe groups almost everyday. All these sectarian forces were there in the country for several decades. But now they get more courage to do things under the Narendra Modi government. They could kill people and make statements of hatred. Even yesterday, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said a husband and a wife are bound by a social contract and Women should be housewives. Such statements started arising in the last one and half years because Modi himself is a man of RSS. And BJP is the political front of RSS. Its very very disturbing,” he said.
Bhargava said the Padma Bhushan or any such award will have no value if the government that gives the award stands to institutionalise a religion and hatred against others.
Bhargava’s decision came after 107 senior scientists signed an online statement on Wednesday to join the chorus of protests by other scientists, artists and writers. About 135 scientists had signed an online petition addressed to the President on Tuesday protesting intolerance. It said the Indian Constitution in Article 51 A (h) demands … that we develop 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.
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