Category Archives: Solidarity Links

Retired civil servants protest rising intolerance

Solidarity Links
The Hindu
thehindu.com
March 21, 2016
Updated: March 21, 2016 18:37 IST

Retired officers express concerns over rising ‘intolerance’

Seventeen retired officers of the All India and Central Services have made a public appeal regarding the general spirit of intolerance that pervades the atmosphere.

Citing examples of recent clamp downs in various educational institutions, murder of rationalists Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, and explicit comments made by ruling party leaders against minorities, the former IAS officers wrote: “We add our voice to the multitude of dissents already expressed and call upon all right-thinking people to register their protest at the current goings-on.”

They have sent the appeal to the President and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Full text of the public appeal

We, the persons listed below, a group of retired civil servants belonging to different All India and Central Services who have worked in the Government of India (GoI), State Governments and a wide range of governmental and other institutions would urge all Constitutional institutions in India, the media and the general public to reflect upon the deeply disquieting trends visible in the public sphere and in our polity today. These developments are causing deep anguish to us as they question some of the fundamental Constitutional principles and legal safeguards we have long taken for granted. Some of these are mentioned below:

1) The discrimination against Scheduled Caste students and an attempt to clamp down upon Ambedkar study groups as found in IIT, Chennai, and in the University of Hyderabad. The tragic suicide of Rohith Vemula has highlighted the unwarranted interference of the GoI in the University of Hyderabad and its targeting a group of students, who did not subscribe to a narrow concept of nationalism.

2) There is a systematic attempt to silence dissent using the outmoded law of sedition against young idealists like Kanhaiya Kumar and his colleagues, who have given India a wake-up call to address poverty and all forms of exploitation.

3) Law and order agencies like the Delhi police used doctored videos in a blatantly partisan manner against JNU students while an MLA and certain lawyers – who were widely caught on camera beating up Kanhaiya and journalists – were treated with kid gloves. Even the team of senior lawyers nominated by the Supreme Court to monitor the situation reported the atmosphere of threat and intimdation.

4) The atmosphere of intolerance is growing what with the murder of the rationalists and the regular threats of violence against minorities and all who do not accept a very narrow version of ‘nationalism’. Such a concept of nationalism is itself grounded in a biased view of history. This intolerance is a direct attack upon the freedom of speech and expression and is anathema to the pluralism of the Indian Constitution.

5) A Minister in the Central Government, a ruling party MP and local leaders have recently issued terrifying threats against Muslims but the GoI does not find anything objectionable in the Minister’s statements. Other minorities have also expressed their sense of insecurity.

What is listed above is only illustrative. We feel that all told, there is a clear and present danger to the values of the freedom of speech, thought and expression as also the pluralism and the secularism that are basic to the Indian Constitution. We add our voice to the multitude of dissents already expressed and call upon all right-thinking people to register their protest at the current goings-on.

At the same time, we would like to point out that we do not condone similar transgressions by other groups – particularly on the extreme left – which try in like manner to silence opposing views by vicious attacks on social media and/or violence.

We urge a return to the civilized and civilizational discourse of the Constitution of India and a renewed public commitment to the freedom of speech, thought and expression.

Yours faithfully,

1) Niranjan Pant, IA&AS (R), former Deputy Comptroller & Accountant General, GoI

2) EAS Sarma, IAS (R), former Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, GoI

3) Ruchira Mukerjee, Indian P&T Accounts & Finance Service (R), former Adviser (Finance), Telecom Commission, Department of Telecom , GoI

4) Kalyani Chaudhuri, IAS (R), former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. Of West Bengal

5) Keshav Desiraju, IAS (R), former Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, GoI

6) Amitabha Pande, IAS (R), former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI

7) Ardhendu Sen, IAS (R), former Chief Secretary, Govt. Of West Bengal

8) Pranab Mukhopadhyaya, IAS (R), former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI

9) Surjit Das, IAS (R), former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand

10) Anup Mukerji, IAS (R), former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar

11) Vibha Puri Das, IAS (R), former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI

12) SS Rizvi, IAS (R),former Joint Secretary to the GoI

13) Sundar Burra, IAS (R), former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra

14) Harish Chandra, IAS (R), former Prinicipal Adviser in the rank of Secretary, Government of India (GoI)

15) Kamal Jaswal, IAS (R), former Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology, GoI

16) Meena Gupta, IAS (R), former Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, GoI

17) Hirak Ghosh, IAS (R), former Principal Secretary, Govt. Of West Bengal

Chaman Lal, JNU alumnus returns award

Solidarity Links

 

To protest against attack on JNU,the best academic institution of the country and one of the best in world,As an alumnus and retired faculty member from JNU,I am returning MHRD award given to me by Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee,with then MHRD minister Dr. M M Joshi on 30th April 2003 for year 2000-01. Reasons in detail given in letter to MHRD minister in attached file.

  Honourable President and Chief Justice of India   

   For your kind attention                           

     I also know full well that by returning the award, I am again putting myself to danger of a vendetta at the hands of MHRD minister and this government, which is known for not showing any respect to even Vice Chancellors of the Universities. Thus I will be sending copies of my letter to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India, so that if anything happens to my life or limb, because of my protest against the attack on JNU, this government shall be held responsible.                                                  

 

Professor Chaman Lal (Retired)                                           Dated: — 20th February

Professor& Former Chairperson

Centre of Indian Languages (SLL&CS)

Former Visiting Professor, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad Tobago

Former President JNUTA

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067

 

MHRD, Shastri Bhavan

New Delhi

 

Director

Central Hindi Directorate,

New Delhi 

Subject: Return of 2000-01 ‘Non Hindi speaking area Hindi writer Award’

  Dear Sir/Madam,

I have no idea who is heading the Directorate these days, so am addressing this letter unnamed.

You can see from your records  that I was given the ‘Non Hindi speaking area Hindi writer Award’  on 30th April 2003 by the then Prime Minister, Sh. Atal Behari Vajpayee. The then MHRD minister Dr. M M Joshi had presided over the function. I am attaching some photographs of the event for your convenience.

This award was given to me for my translation of selected poetry of Punjabi poet Surjit Patar – ‘Kabhi Nahin Socha Tha’ – in Hindi from my mother tongue Punjabi. Incidentally Surjit Patar returned his Sahitya Akademi award along with other 12 Punjabi writers last October to protest against the assassination of Dr. M M Kalburgi.

This was my first state award.  Later, I was awarded the ‘Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation’ for the year 2001 for the translation of the Punjabi poet Pash in Hindi (Pash was assassinated by Khalistanis) and the ‘Punjab State ‘Shiromani Hindi Sahitkar’ Award for year 2003, apart from innumerable honors from public institutions in India and abroad.

With the social conditions in the country worsening day by day the assassination of Dr. M M Kalburgi, Sahitya Akademi award winner, by some extremist religious body activists led many of our writers to protest by returning their state awards, especially Sahitya Akademi awards. I also joined my fellow writers in solidarity and returned my prize on 12th October 2015. Incidentally, all three awards came to me during the NDA regime in the centre -1999-2004. These awards were returned because of the atmosphere of extreme intolerance created in country after 2014, in the name of ‘Cow’, ‘beef’, ‘nationalism’ etc. Govind Pansare and Dr. Narender Dabholkar and many more had already become victims of these extremist religious groups, as was Punjabi Poet Pash in 1988 at the hands of Khalistani terrorists. No effort was made to check and control these elements, rather many ruling party MP’s were aggravating the crisis by supporting these elements, which included glorification of Mahatma Gandhi’s murderer, Nathuram Godse.

Incidentally Mahatma Gandhi may be dubbed as the ‘first anti national’ of independent India, as he fasted for releasing 55 crore rupees due to newly created state of Pakistan, with the partition of India in 1947. In fact, slogans now being heard on Delhi roads – ‘Desh Ke Gaddaron ko goli maro’(Shoot the traitors of the country) against  JNU students these days  were raised against Mahatma Gandhi in those days and ultimately he was assassinated by those who were  inciting people with these slogans. Ironically Mahatma Gandhi had not joined the celebrations of independence in Delhi on 15th August, as he was fasting in Noakhali with his loyal followers like Bibi Amtus Salam to control the devil of communal riots. Mahatma Gandhi who at one time wished to live for 125 years, expressed his wish at that time ‘not to live anymore’ after seeing the level of communal clashes in country. The assassin of Gandhi is a hero of today’s Hindutva forces, patronized by this government despite paying lip service to Gandhi.

We hundred plus awards returning writers/artists/filmmakers and other citizens were hoping that things will improve after our protest, but our hopes proved illusory. Not only were we derided and insulted, including 88-90 years old respected writers/scientists-Krishna Sobti, Nayantara Sehgal and P M Bhargava, we were charged with being Congress agents, favourites and leftists, who got undue awards during previous regimes and were now ‘intolerant’ of new the government. In my case, if at all I was ‘favoured’, it was not during the Congress regime, but the previous NDA regime.

In October 2015, JNU and other university students started #OccupyUGC campaign which was dealt with by a rather heavy hand and then Central University of Hyderabad students started an agitation against discrimination of Dalit students, which were dealt so harshly that one of the brightest research scholars of the University, Rohith Vemula was forced to commit suicide on 17th January 2016. Support for Rohith Vemula engulfed the whole country. Earlier, FTII Pune students were being treated very harshly. In this connection, when after a function in Jawaharlal Nehru University was held on 9th February, about which some controversy arose, JNU Students Union’s elected President Kanhaiya Kumar was picked up by the Delhi police and charged with Sedition! This naturally led to a massive student protest not only in JNU, but all over the country and JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA) also extended its support. To make the things worse, irresponsible statements were given by Home Minister, MHRD Minister and Delhi police chief, which led to brutal attacks on not only Kanhaiya Kumar inside the court, but on media men also by some black coat wearing goons. Most dangerous was the open violation of Supreme Court’s directions and mistreatment of six lawyers sent by Supreme Court by certain black coated hooligans inside the court. This has never happened even during British colonial regime. Bhagat Singh was beaten inside the court by British police, but never by unruly hooligans with police patronization.

Even in JNU history, such horrible police interference never took place. I myself have been victim of emergency, spending seven months in prison and getting my admission to JNU delayed for two years, despite being selected. Yet I can say today that despite Indira Gandhi’s authoritarianism, she was correct in her understanding of certain Hindutva groups, as was her father,Jawaharlal Nehru. These groups collaborated with British colonialism during the freedom struggle and played the game of dividing Indian national unity by creating communal rifts, which was criticized by none else than Bhagat Singh. These are the people who have now come to power by deceiving people with deceptive slogans and playing the same colonial days game of dividing people and creating communal violence, just to acquire and preserve power.

The most ominous sign of their dangerous game is of involving army people and inciting their families in the name of ‘nationalism’ and pitting them against JNU. Worse still people not related to JNU were incited by BJP MP Sadhvi Prachi and they entered the University with the University officials’ shameful collaboration and tried to terrorize the JNU community. At least Jadavpur University faculty and students foiled such attempt by ABVP directly patronized by MHRD minister, which has already caused the suicide of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, by making a massive human chain at the University gate. I am afraid that  with the kind of head hunting going on for JNU students, if another tragedy like that of Rohith Vemula occurred, I shudder to think of its reaction all over the country.

I have not only retired as Professor from JNU, I have been JNUTA President during year 2007, I am also a JNU alumnus, remaining a student during 1977-82 and getting my PhD degree from this University. It was but natural that I got disturbed, upset and anxious at the happenings in JNU and outside, vilifying my ‘alma mater’ in the worst manner. Further, the MHRD minister’s own conduct during the Rohith Vemula movement and during the attack on JNU has been most vindictive towards the University. She was having a grouse against the students of JNU due to their #OccupyUGC and #StandWithRohith movements, which has embarrassed her own self and her government throughout the world. She could not attack JNU, during the term of outgoing VC Prof. S K Sopory, who never allowed police to enter campus and dealt with such problems, even like the present one of alleged ‘anti national’ sloganeering, at the University level itself. That is why the whole University – students, faculty and staff – supported him for his democratic and dedicated administrative conduct.

The MHRD minister was itching for revenge so she got a new VC of her choice, pliant to her whims and within two weeks of his taking over, he allowed police to enter campus, on the basis of a controversial video complaint filed with Delhi police, without even any preliminary enquiry at University level. He violated even the JNU standard procedures of taking into confidence Deans and Chairpersons of Schools/centers. Four senior Deans protested on his allowing the police in campus and they joined the JNUTA call for solidarity with JNUSU.

In a similar situation at Jadavpur University, the Vice Chancellor categorically declared that he would not file any complaint with the police nor allow police to enter campus and settle the issue at university level. He rather stood with the Jadavpur faculty and students in a human chain to stop anti-social elements entering the campus. In contrast, JNU VC allowed the police with open arms, following the example of his ideal Hyderabad University VC, Appa Rao. In fact, sending police inside JNU campus on the basis of a suspicious video of a discredited news channel, directly interfered with the autonomy of the university. The JNU administration could have dealt with this problem using JNU’s internal mechanism without creating a national crisis. It seems the Central government was rather keen to create this crisis and they did it through their pliant new VC.

Under such circumstances, my conscience has been pricking me since the arrest of the JNUSU President and I can no more bear the burden on my conscience. I am thus returning the award given to me directly from MHRD with the signature of then MHRD Minister Dr. M M Joshi, since the Central Hindi Directorate is a branch of higher education section of MHRD. When the MHRD with the Govt. of India’s express wish, is bent upon destroying my alma mater JNU, which is considered the best University of the country and which is appreciated by world renowned scholars like Noam Chomsky, Nobel prize winning writer Orhan Pamuk and innumerable scholars from hundreds of Universities from India and abroad, then the least I can do is to record my protest by returning the award, which was given to me by MHRD itself 15 years ago, by the same NDA govt., which is in power today!

I shall hand over the plaque and a cheque of fifty thousand rupees given to me as part of the award to your office. I understand, you have no role in all this tragic happenings in JNU, but I request you to forward my letter and cheque to the MHRD, so that my protest is registered in records of MHRD. Since the procedure of award is through your office, I am submitting my award back to your office for necessary action of either forwarding or dealing with it at your own level. Since your office declined to accept cheque, memnto, shawl and certificate, I have sent ti through speed post on 25th February.

   I also know full well that by returning the award, I am again putting myself to danger of a vendetta at the hands of MHRD minister and this government, which is known for not showing any respect to even Vice Chancellors of the Universities. Thus I will be sending copies of my letter to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India, so that if anything happens to my life or limb, because of my protest against the attack on JNU, this government shall be held responsible. 

 Returning state awards and honours form is considered the most decent form of protest the world over and people are respected for it, even by those in power. Yet during the return of my first award, I have been subjected to all kinds of indignities on television and on social media by trolls. This happened despite the fact that out of my fifty plus books in Hindi, Punjabi and English, some translated into Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati etc, nearly fifteen books are related to Bhagat Singh and other revolutionary freedom fighters. But my ‘nationalism’ is under question under this government, which has no record to show of its ‘nationalism’ by way of any role in freedom struggle of its party or its ancestors! I have my own ‘Nationalism’, based on Bhagat Singh’s ideas of exploitation free Socialist India, further based on Gandhi’s nationalism of ‘Communal Harmony’, Nehru’s nationalism of ‘Scientific Temper and Knowledge’, Ambedkar’s nationalism of ‘Social Justice/equal rights/status/dignity for Dalits/Adivasis’, Subhas Bose’s nationalism of ‘Socialist India, all of whom have fought for the freedom of this ‘Nation’ from British colonialism. I certainly disapprove the so called ‘Nationalism’ of RSS/Hindutva thinkers like Golwalkar and Savarkar, who either did not participate in the freedom struggle or abjectly apologized ample times, of ‘Communal Divide and violence against minorities/Dalits’, leading to one BJP MLA in Rajasthan having the audacity to demand Rahul Gandhi ‘be shot dead/hanged for treason’! And another BJP leader asking for ‘beheading him and putting his head at JNU gate’! I don’t think that there is any difference between ISIS statements and actions in their Caliphate in Syria-Iraq,  and these statements if not yet turned into action!

                I may disagree with Rahul Gandhi’s politics, but his great great grandfather Motilal Nehru, his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru,his great grand-mother Kamla Nehru, his great grand aunti-uncle-Vijaylakshmi Pandit/Ranjit Pandit, his grandmother Indira Gandhi- all suffered imprisonment during the freedom struggle in contrast with these ‘phony nationalists’! So much for their zeal to kill people in the name of their own concept of ‘nationalism’, which means subjecting citizens to their narrow and sectarian religious kind of nationalism, which has no place for secular enlightened knowledge based scientific temper, so dear to Jawaharlal Nehru, on whose name JNU was established and which is being destroyed by present dispensation by all means, as already Nehru Memorial Museum and Library(NMML), National Book Trust(NBT), and ICHR have been destroyed by anti-knowledge ministers of HRD and Culture! Yet, like thousands of JNU alumnus, present faculty and students, I #StandWithJNU and am ready to pay whatever price this government wants me to pay, even getting killed by some of their patronized ‘nationalists’!

Yours Sincerely,

 

(Chaman Lal)

Winner of 2000-01 award for Non Hindi speaking area Hindi writer

  1. no. 2690, Urban Estate, Phase-2, Patiala (Pb.)-147002

Prof.chaman@gmail.com 09646494538

 

     

               

      

 

 

 

 

H.No.2690, Urban Estate, Phase-II, Patiala (Pb.)-147002

 

Email: – prof.chaman@gmail.com mobile no 09646494538

 

 

Chaman Lal,

Professor(Retired), JNU, New Delhi

Former President JNU Teachers Association(JNUTA)
Cell no. +919646494538

Blogs-www.bhagatsinghstudy.blogspot.com
www.drchaman.wordpress.com
www.twitter.com/ProfChaman
www.facebook.com/Dr.Chaman.JNU
http://in.linkedin.com/in/chamanlaljnu

https://jnu.academia.edu/ChamanJNU

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chaman_Lal2

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&imq=Chaman+Lal

Jammu and Kashmir civil society solidarity with JNU

Solidarity Links
FEBRUARY 18, 2016
by 

Guest Post by Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society

Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) expresses its solidarity with the striking students and teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. We have watched with a sense of horror and dismay, the violent criminalizing of student democracy and dissent, not just at Jawaharlal Nehru University but across Indian campuses in the recent past. Having long and intimate knowledge of violent repression and legalized impunity that Indian state is capable of, especially against those it considers ‘anti-national’ we are not surprised by these events, but have a special empathy with all who suffer its horrors. We demand the release of all student dissenters and political prisoners in the custody of the Indian state, and an end to acts of policing and surveillance on campuses, and targeting of students on the basis of political beliefs and speech.

The Kashmiri students in different colleges and universities in India, who have always faced discrimination and intimidation time to time, are now feeling the extreme regressive and oppressive means used by right wing groups and the government. After being hounded, Kashmiri students have begun leaving Delhi. There are several places where the landlords, in whose properties Kashmiri students were renting flats, have asked the students to vacate. These experiences of Kashmiri students are part of the larger reality faced by Kashmiri youth in Jammu and Kashmir and in India. The voices of dissent in Jammu and Kashmir have been dealt with administrative detentions under Public Safety Act, illegal detentions, torture, surveillance and killings by armed forces including the most recent one of Asif and Shaista at Pulwama on 14th of February.

We also view with alarm, the reports about the cynical use of Kashmiri students studying in Delhi as hostages in the politically illegitimate process of government formation in Srinagar.

We are dismayed that the public narrative about the recent events has often descended into disputes over Indian ‘patriotism’ and the shrill condemnation of a few ‘fringe’ ‘radical’ ‘traitors’ for ‘irresponsible’ slogans. These sentiments are neither mere slogans nor represent the ‘fringe’ in Kashmir, the very place they were made in reference to. As Kashmiris, we believe that the right to self-determination is inseparable from the right to political association, dissent and free expression, and these rights cannot be selectively asserted or upheld. In the competitive public proclamations of nationalistic credentials, what has been lost is that courageous act of defiant solidarity with the Kashmiri people’s struggle for justice and self-determination, that lies at the heart of these debates. Despite the disavowals and the state repression, the solidarity with the political rights of the Kashmiris is growing and spreading, as events in Jadavpur University demonstrate. We acknowledge the emerging spaces in Indian civil society to converse on the question of Kashmir, beyond nationalist framings. We hold out hope for future alliances with students, groups and individuals willing to engage in honest conversations, in which they alone do not determine the boundaries of what can or cannot be said, thought or felt.

Spokesperson
JKCCS

University students in New Delhi under attack

Solidarity Links
FEBRUARY 13, 2016
by 

We, the undersigned, (educators, professors, intellectuals, writers and artists), are shocked by the appalling conduct of Delhi Police at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi yesterday. We also condemn the irresponsible sloganeering by some people at the fringes of a gathering on the JNU campus to mark the third anniversary of the execution of Afzal Guru. We believe that such calls to ‘war, until the destruction of India’ erode the gravity of any serious discussion on any political question, be it capital punishment, human rights or even the question of self-determination. Such conduct is shameful, regardless of who does it, and deserving of the sharpest criticism.

That said, the only way to counter such incidents, when they occur, is through a deepening of dialogue, not through police action. The police has no business to enter places of learning and harass students (including students who were clearly trying to defuse the situation and to take a stand against the irresponsible elements who gave the objectionable slogans) when there had been no breach of peace.

We condemn the arrest of Kanhaiyya Kumar, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union on trumped up charges of sedition and demand that he be released immediately. Kanhaiyya’s public statements, which are widely available, clearly show that sedition is the last thing that you can charge him with. The University Authorities must take steps to ensure that the witch hunt that is ensuing against other students must also cease immediately. We are saddened by the new JNU Vice Chancellor’s readiness to submit to the diktats of the police, and we condemn the totally outrageous statements by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and the Minister for Human Resources Development Smriti Irani which virtually declare war on universities as spaces for dissent and debate.

We demand an unconditional withdrawal of police personnel from campuses, and reiterate our support and solidarity with the students, faculty and staff of JNU, and with students everywhere in India who are pursuing a courageous resistance against the ongoing assault on higher education unleashed by the BJP government.

Ashis Nandy, Distinguished Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

Bharti Kher, Artist, Delhi

Debjani Sengupta, Associate Professor, Department of English, Indraprastha College, Delhi University

Gauri Gill, Artist, Delhi

Gayatri Sinha, Curator, Delhi

Geeta Kapur, Curator, Delhi

Iram Ghufran, Filmmaker, Delhi

Jeet Thayil, Poet, Delhi

K. Satchidanandan, Poet, Delhi

Lawrence Liang, Alternative Law Forum, Bangaluru

Moinak Biswas, Professor, Department of Film Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Nandini Datta, Associate Professor, Miranda House, Delhi University

Neha Choksi, Artist, Mumbai

Pallavi Paul, Artist/Filmmaker, Delhi

Parnal Chirmuley, Associate Professor, Centre of German Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

Rajarshi Dasgupta, Assistant Professor, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

Rajeev Bhargava, Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

Ravi Sundaram, Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

Romila Thapar, Historian, Emeritus Professor, Jawharalal Nehru University

Sahej Rehal, Artist, Mumbai

Sabina Kidwai, Associate Professor, AJ Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Sabeena Gadihoke, Associate Professor, AJ Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Sanjay Kak, Filmmaker, Delhi

Sarnath Banerjee, Artist, Delhi / Berlin

Saumyajit Bhattacharya, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi

Sibaji Bandyopadhyay, Fellow, Centre for the Studies of Social Sciences, Kolkata

Shohini Ghosh, Professor, AJ Kidwai Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi

Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Artist, Raqs Media Collective, Delhi

Subodh Gupta, Artist, Delhi

Vivan Sundaram, Artist, Delhi