The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Seven days after the principal scientific advisor (PSA) replied to scientists on the issue of omission of two academics from the list of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards, another group of academics shot a letter to him.
There are 176 signatories of this second letter which was written to PSA, Ajay Sood, on September 24.
While most of them are from the scientific community, a few other academics hailing from various other backgrounds as well have signed the letter. Some of the signatories of this letter are former heads of institutions like Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, and Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
The Wire has a copy of the letter.
Earlier on August 30, as many as 26 scientists, who had received the coveted award previously, had written an anguished letter that said at least two scientists were excluded from the final list of awardees this year, after the Rashriya Vigyan Puraskar Samiti (RVPC) had finalised it. While one of them is a staunch critic of the Narendra Modi-government, the other one has also questioned it on a few occasions on the issue of human rights.
These two scientist are Suvrat Raju of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai and Prateek Sharma of the Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru
The PSA chairs the RVPC. The committee comprises secretaries of various ministries, and independent scientists. This committee is constituted by the government every year.
As The Wire reported earlier, the rules for selecting the list of awardees were changed post-facto. The amendment, made in the rules, after the RVPC had finalised the list, said that it would recommend the names to the Union minister of Science and Technology, who would take the final decision.
The second letter has termed this change ‘shocking’.
“The changes made to the awards portal recently, and your response drawing attention to those specific changes, seem consistent with the impression we got from the media reports that the list of names declared as the award winners is not the same as the list recommended by RVPC,” the letter mentioned.
The PSA, replying to the first letter of the scientists, on September 17, had said that the awardees were selected on the basis of rules mentioned at the ministry of home affairs website.
“As mentioned under the selection process, the RVPC recommends the names to the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Government of India,” Sood had said.
The government announced the list of the awardees on August 7.
On August 10, after it became clear that the names were deleted, the changes were purportedly made to the website, to introduce the role of the minister in the selection process. These changes could be captured through the wayback machine.
Also read: Science Award: Govt Advisor Evasive on Omission of Names From List Made By Expert Committee
Therefore, the second letter stresses that Sood’s response, in a way, stamped the media reports indicating the minister was the final referee, since he said the rules were followed, linking his assertion to the new rules.
“This added point [about the minister] in the selection process is also intriguing as it is common knowledge that the Rashtriya Vigyan Awards are conferred by the honourable president, and hence RVPC can only ‘recommend’ the names to the president’s or prime minister’s office through proper channels,” the letter mentioned.
“Therefore, this aspect of the process is not new at all. What is new however, is names getting dropped at the discretion of the minister – something that has been unheard of for all these years,” the letter added.
The award was instituted about 60 years ago. The signatories have said the practice of “involving non-academic considerations” in the selection process is “a rather unhealthy development for Indian science”.
Sood’s letter neither denied nor confirmed whether the names were deleted — thus leaving the principal question asked in the first letter unanswered.
The signatories to the second letter have also expressed apprehension that the repercussions of this new development may go beyond the current development.
“[The] academics disliked by the government for any reason may be sidelined from not just awards, but also scientific grants, recruitments, promotions, etc. This trend not only goes against basic tenets of science practice, but will also impede the development of scientific research in this country,” the signatories wrote.
Sood has, so far, not responded to the fresh letter.