Indian scientists visa denial sparks outrage

February 24, 2006 03:11 IST

Embarrassed over denial of visa to a top Indian scientist to travel to the United States, the American scientific community has thrown its weight behind the applicant, saying this leaves a terrible impression about the country just ahead of President George W Bush's India visit.

The denial of visa to Goverdhan Mehta, former head of Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, has set off a major diplomatic flap in the US, a media report said on Thursday. Besides Mehta, P Rodrigues, former chief of Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Institute, leading agro-scientist P C Kesavan of M S Swaminathan Research Institute in Chennai have also been denied a visa.

The latest flap over Mehta comes at a time when things are improving in the context of visa rejections for foreign academics in the aftermath of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, Wendy White, Director of the Board of International Scientific Organisations told The Washington Post.

The Board was set up by the National Academy of Sciences and has helped about 3,000 scientists affected by new policies. "This leaves a terrible impression of the United States. We want people to know that the US is an open and welcoming country," White said.