A set of 51 India-based academics and scholars, expressed their whole-hearted support to Prof. Madhu Kishwar, a prominent academic and public intellectual, in her challenge against the discrimination she has suffered in the hands of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies’ administration.

These academics are appalled by the unethical and the illegal treatment meted out to her, though the CSDS’s administration has not had a single complaint against her throughout the twenty years when she has served that institution. This victimization and harassment of Prof. Madhu Kishwar culminated in the denial of an affiliation to the CSDS, required for her to avail the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship instituted by the ICSSR.

Such a denial is unprecedented since no educational institution in India has ever denied an affiliation to an ICSSR fellowship holder, let alone a National Fellowship awardee of the ICSSR.

The reason cited for this denial of affiliation is patently absurd, especially when it turns out that in the last fifteen years, the CSDS has granted affiliation to scores of scholars, including rank outsiders.

The undersigned academics believe that Prof. Madhu Kishwar, who pioneered new thinking on women’s rights, human rights and issues of social justice, and whose work for the marginalized groups of our society is well known, eminently deserves the ICSSR fellowship.

They also stated that it is hard to believe that an institution claiming to uphold the highest standards of humanities could have stooped so low simply because Prof. Kishwar does not toe on its ideological line.

Besides all this, they said, “This act of vindictiveness against her speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of those who have in recent times projected themselves as the champions of “tolerance”, “debate” and “liberalism”. We call on the CSDS’s administration to tender an unconditional apology to Prof. Madhu Kishwar and take all steps to rectify this shameful situation.”



A list of the 51 singed India-based academics and scholars is given below:

1. Prof. Kapil Kapoor, former Professor of English, JNU; former rector and pro-Vice Chancellor, JNU

2. Prof. Chandrakala Padia, Vice Chancellor, MGS University, Bikaner

3. Prof. B.K. Kuthiala, Vice Chancellor, MC National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal

4. Prof. Daya Nath Tripathi, former chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research

5. Prof. Michel Danino, guest professor, IIT Gandhinagar; member, Indian Council of Historical Research

6. Dr. Nanditha Krishna, Professor & Director, CPR Institute of Indological Research, Chennai

7. Prof. Jagbir Singh, former Professor and Head, Dept. of Punjabi, University of Delhi; Life Fellow, Punjabi University, Patiala

8. Prof. Amarjiva Lochan, Associate Professor in History, Delhi University; President, South and Southeast Asian Association for the Study of Culture & Religion

9. Dr. M.D. Srinivas, former Vice-Chairman, Indian Institute of Advanced Study; chairman, Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai; member, Indian Council of Historical Research

10. Prof. M.S. Sriram, retired Professor and Head, Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Madras; member of Editorial Board, Indian Journal of History of Science and Ganita Bharati; former member, Research Council for History of Science, INSA

11. Prof. K. Ramasubramanian, Cell for Indian Science and Technology in Sanskrit, IIT Bombay; Council member, International Union for History and Philosophy of Science

12. Dr. J.K. Bajaj, Director, Centre for Policy Studies, New Delhi

13. Prof. R. Vaidyanathan, economist, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

14. Dr. P. Kanagasabapathi, Professor and author, SASTRA University, Tamil Nadu.

15. Prof. K. Gopinath, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

16. Dr. Kausik Gangopadhyay, Associate Professor, Economics Area, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode

17. Prof. Amartya K. Datta, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

18. Dr. Krishen Kak, former guest faculty at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, former Senior Fellow at National Institute of Adult Education

19. Dr. Bharat Gupt, former Associate Professor, Delhi University

20. Dr. Avadesh Kumar Singh, former Vice Chancellor, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University, Ahmedabad; Professor, School of Translation Studies and Training, Indira Gandhi National Open University

21. Prof. Rajeev S., Adjunct Faculty, IIM Bangalore

22. Prof. A.K. Jain, Physics Department, IIT Roorkee

23. Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay.

24. Prof. C.S. Aravinda, TIFR Centre for Applicable Mathematics, Bangalore

25. Dr. Anil Kumar Gourishetty, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

26. Prof. Venkappayya Desai, Civil Engineering Dept., Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

27. Prof. Neeraj Kumbhakarna, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Bombay

28. Prof. Shripad M. Garge, assistant professor, Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

29. Prof. Varadraj Bapat, School of Management, IIT Bombay

30. Prof. Ashish Pandey, SJMSOM, IIT Bombay

31. Prof. Arun A. Somasundara, PhD (UCLA), Computer Science & Engineering, Rajeev Institute of Technology, Hassan

32. Prof. Ramesh Bharadwaj, Head, Department of Sanskrit, Delhi University

33. Prof. Milind A. Sohoni, CTARA, IIT Bombay

34. Prof. Ashwin Gumaste, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay.

35. Prof. Milind Marathe, Associate Professor, K.J. Somaiya College of Engg., Mumbai

36. Dr Nomesh B. Bolia, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi

37. Prof. Manish Kumar, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore

38. Dr Lata Shenava, Research Scientist, IIT Bombay

39. Dr. Parag Singla, Assistant Professor, Dept. of CSE, IIT Delhi

40. Prof. Radhey Shyam, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata

41. Prof. Sunanda Bagchi, Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore

42. Prof. S. Krishnan, Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

43. Dr. Ayon Bhattacharjee, Associate professor, Department of Physics, NIT Meghalaya

44. Dr. Suneet Varma, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Delhi

45. Dr. Subhajit Sen, Associate Professor, International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore

46. Dr. J.S.R. Prasad, Associate Professor & Head, Dept. of Sanskrit Studies, University of Hyderabad

47. Dr Laxmidhar Behera, Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

48. Dr. Indranil Biswas, School of Mathematics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai

49. Dr. S. Venkatesh, Assistant Professor (Physics), Amrita University, Coimbatore

50. Shounak Set, Researcher, Jawaharlal Nehru University

51. Dr. P. Sasikala, Associate Professor in New Media Technology, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University, Bhopal