Scientific community feels the suspension was in continuation with the Union government's move to hide truth.
Prof KS James. (Supplied)
The suspension of Prof KS James, the Director of the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), over alleged irregularities in the recruitment process has baffled the scientific community.
The suspension letter dated Friday, 28 July, came allegedly after an IIPS survey threw up data reportedly unflattering the Union government, and specifically the Health Ministry.
An IIPS source provided South First with a ringside view of the developments that had led to Prof James’s suspension. He said the ministry had wanted Prof James to resign, but the suspension order came as a surprise to everyone.
Other sources in IIPS, too, confirmed that the Health Ministry wanted Prof James to step down.
“Even before this incident, the government had sought the director’s resignation. The minister, on many occasions, had expressed doubts over the reliability of data on some indicators, but Prof James stood by the findings,” the source said.
The differences gathered strength after the director’s return from the US in mid-April 2023. The ministry told him that there were several complaints against him, and it was “tired of listening to complaints”. The director, however, was unaware of the complaints.
“The director was surprised. He told them that if there were any complaints, they could be sorted internally. He was also ready to listen to them,” the source explained.
On 25 April, around 40-50 people belonging to the Jai Bhim Army held a demonstration in front of the institute. Interestingly, the director was unaware of their demands. “Nothing was given in writing,” the source further said.
“We asked them what their demands were and said we could address them. But they said they would speak only to the minister and not the director,” the source said.
Later, the ministry formed a fact-finding committee on 6 May and asked the institute to submit a few records and replies. The records were submitted and the director replied to several complaints. The director even tried to speak to the health minister.
“Several charges were made, and the director replied to all of them. But we don’t know what was accepted and what was rejected. There was no discussion with anyone from the institute before the suspension order was issued,” the source said.
The source also confirmed that Prof James sought an appointment with the minister at least three times and each time, it was denied. However, the minister gave a hearing to the Jai Bhim Army.
The ministry reportedly said 35 complaints were made against the director.
Sources said Prof James was accused of corruption, taking money for the construction of a building, irregularities in recruitment and appointments, etc.
The ministry’s statement released on Saturday, 29 July, said the fact-finding committee, prima facie, had found substance in 11 out of the 35 complaints received. These irregularities were mainly regarding lapses in appointments, recruitment of faculty, reservation roosters, and dead stock registers.
Interestingly, the charges levelled against the director would be held against Minister Mansukh Mandaviya as well, a member of the IIPS council told South First.
“According to the institute’s bylaw, decisions on recruitment, etc, are made by the 22-member General Council, which has the Union health minister as its president and the ministry’s secretary as vice president. Do you think the director alone can make decisions on recruitment,” he asked.
Members of Opposition parties and the scientific community have expressed their anger and dismay at the director’s suspension.
CPI(M) Central Committee member and a former Kerala finance minister, Dr TM Thomas Isaac, slammed the suspension.
“In my previous post, I highlighted the troubling actions taken by the Union government in manipulating the 2021 census, unemployment survey, consumer survey, and poverty figures. The suspension of Prof James has further exacerbated the severity of these attempts to undermine data accuracy and transparency, pushing these measures beyond acceptable limits,” he posted on Facebook.
Prof Prasanna Saligram, public health researcher and a member of Jan Swasthya Abhyan, told South First that the current Union government has a history of rejecting data that contradicts its “nationalistic narrative”. Its priority is image, not science and data, he said.
Citing an instance, he said: “The malnutrition data by the UNICEF was withheld as it exposed discrepancies in the ‘Gujarat Model’ compared to Bihar. The government also dismissed the Global Hunger Index, Covid-19 deaths data, and Freedom of Press Index, while selectively using data like ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking despite its discontinuation by the World Bank due to irregularities.”
He also argued that for the first time since independence, the decennial census has not been conducted despite repeated demands.
“Good data is the bedrock for good planning as famously noted by Lord Kevin, aka William Thompson, a physicist. ‘What is not measured cannot be improved and what is not improved will always degrade’ but the allergy of the current government to good data is pathological,” he said.
Every institution that mirrored the country’s condition has been replaced by pliant officials, he said, pointing at the government replacing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor when he questioned the GDP figures or opposed demonetisation.
Prof Saligram opined that the IIPS director was hounded for a non-science article questioning the datasets such as the National Health and Family Surveys (NHFS).
He said an opinion column by Shamika Ravi suited the current government’s agenda. However, it was rebutted by various quarters, and the IIPS director became the fall guy.
While the suspension of the IIPS director has been purportedly linked to the release of NFHS-5, the latest survey reportedly presented data contradicting the government’s political agenda on issues such as persistent open defecation and inadequate availability of green fuel in rural India.
The members of the IIPS and the scientific community are worried that the suspension will also create serious suspicion, both nationally and internationally, on the reliability of the next round of NFHS (NFHS-6) which is already being conducted under his leadership.
“The director may come out clean, but what about the NFHS-6 survey data? Now, the progress of the country is dependent on this data and with all the controversy that has been raked, will it even be trustworthy,” Prof Saligram wondered.
The IIPS is worried that it would be easy for the government to dismiss the findings saying the data has been fudged if the survey showed data contradicting the government’s political agenda and if it showed positive progress across the sectors, it will seem like the government has fabricated them in its favour,” opined a senior IIPS employee on the condition of anonymity.
However, the Union health ministry stated that the director was suspended to ensure a fair investigation into alleged irregularities related to faculty appointments, recruitment processes, and adherence to reservation rosters. They emphasised that this action should not be interpreted as a form of punishment.
The ministry announced that the suspension would initially last for 90 days or until the completion of further investigations, whichever is earlier. It is subject to review and may be revoked with the approval of the Suspension Revocation Committee/Review Committee within the ministry.
The Indian Academic Freedom Network has launched a movement in solidarity with Prof James. A letter to Mansukh Mandaviya expressed shock over Prof James’s suspension through an email without issuing any show-cause notice.
“Prof James is a demographer and scholar of the highest global repute. He led the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey, which was carried out during 2019-21, including the very difficult pandemic year of 2020-21. The survey has thrown up very significant information on health and demographic variables at the district level, and has been used by NITI Aayog to estimate changes in multi-dimensional poverty,” the letter stated.
Criticising the suspension, the network said: “We believe that in suspending Prof James, a person of impeccable personal and academic integrity, the government is trying to make him a scapegoat for findings from the NFHS which question the official narrative on some issues, and for which he is neither directly nor indirectly responsible.”
The suspension, the letter stated, placed India in the ranks of countries like China which do not allow independent surveys to raise questions on government narratives.
“This is certainly not the kind of country India should aspire for. Independent research and data gathering is crucial to good policy-making. We do not want India’s performance to be questioned internationally because the data that it puts out is treated as questionable,” the letter said.
Urging the government to withdraw Prof James’s suspension immediately, the letter said, “After perusal of the clarifications issued by the government on July 29, we are of the view that the action by your ministry is untenable and unnecessary, and an independent factual enquiry, did not require Prof James’ suspension, causing his family and him great psychological stress. The action will only be widely perceived to be motivated and will put the country in a poor light.“
Political commentators, retired professors, researchers, policymakers, academicians and other colleagues of Prof James endorsed the letter.
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