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CHENNAI: A group of senior scientists has written to President Kovind expressing concern over political “interference in scientific institutions and sustained series of attacks on scientific temper in the country.”

The letter comes in support of senior Isro scientist Tapan Misra, who was transferred out of the post of director of the Space Applications Centre , Ahmedabad on July 19 and posted as senior advisor to the Isro chairman in Bengaluru.

Twenty-eight scientists signed the letter seeking the President’s intervention and clarification on reports of the “motivated and politically engineered” transfer of Tapan Misra, an Isro scientist. Neither the government nor Isro has responded to these reports, they said.

The scientists said institutions like Isro, Atomic Energy Commission, CSIR, DRDO and IARI have contributed to nation building as “they were largely kept insulated from narrow and constricted political interference and manipulations”.

“In the recent past, we have witnessed not only interference in scientific institutions, but also a sustained series of attacks on scientific temper...” the letter said.

They said the acts of interference, punitive actions and motivated appointments and “creating a hostile atmosphere” will have consequences detrimental to the nation’s progress. Gauhar Raza, one of the signatories and a former chief scientist with CSIR said, “We hope the President will take appropriate action... The sovereign has to take a decision whether science should survive in this country or not.”

