‘Worrisome’: Geneticists, Historians, Others on Reports of Govt Study of ‘Racial Purity’

A number of geneticists, historians, academics, writers, former bureaucrats, among others have written to the Union ministry of culture to express concern over the reports that it is funding a project to establish the genetic history and trace the purity of races in India.

In an open letter addressed to the secretary of the ministry of culture, the signatories said, “…the notion of tracing the ‘purity of races,’ whether in India or elsewhere, is extremely worrisome. A plan to do so would be both absurd and dangerous.”

While acknowledging that the ministry concerned had already dismissed such reports, as “misleading and mischievous”, the group of intellectuals urged the ministry to “issue public disavowals of any present or future project related to race, especially one for studying racial purity.”

Stating the concept of biological races was “discarded” long ago, they said, “…in terms of the genes that make up individual biological inheritance, all human beings, irrespective of where they come from, share the same ‘gene pool’.”

“Racial stereotyping of humans has been discarded, and there should be no attempt to revive the concept in India,” the letter stated.

In India, the letter states, human population geneticists and anthropologists have shown that nearly every community today is an admixed community of several ancestral communities whose identities can at best be guessed, but not with great certainty.

Given this historical backdrop, the letter adds, “What else is expected to result from the project under consideration of the Ministry of Culture, we do not know. But if it touches on questions of ‘racial purity,’ one guaranteed outcome will be the exacerbation of disharmony among Indians.”

Reproduced below are the full letter and the list of signatories:

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AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF CULTURE, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 

10 June 2022

The Secretary

Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India

502-C Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi 110001

Email: secy-culture@nic.in

Sir,

Reports appeared recently in the media to the effect that the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is funding a project to study genetic similarities and differences in the DNA (genetic) profiles of Indian population groups [1-4]. Professor Vasant Shinde, Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, was identified as the leader of this project. Professor Shinde was quoted as saying that the aim of the project is to provide “… a clear-cut idea of the genetic history. You may even say that this will be an effort to trace the purity of races in India.” [2]

The reports led to strong criticisms of the project. The Ministry of Culture has tweeted that the reports are “misleading, mischievous and contrary to facts” and that the proposal is in no way related to establishing genetic history and trace the purity of races in India [5].

Professor Shinde has tweeted “I strongly condemn the use of the term Racial Purity by the reporter … My statement is twisted and fabricated by the reporte[r]” [6].

While welcoming these responses, we think that all concerned should issue public disavowals of any present or future project related to race, especially one for studying racial purity. We say so because the notion of tracing the “purity of races”, whether in India or elsewhere, is extremely worrisome. A plan to do so would be both absurd and dangerous.

It is absurd because the concept of biological races was discarded long ago. The term “race” was invented as part of the effort to classify humans into distinct groups based on physical features such as bone structure and skin colour, and social characteristics such as faith and religion. It was assumed that the groups were somehow “natural”, or that they had a meaningful biological basis. However, in terms of the genes that make up individual biological inheritance, all human beings, irrespective of where they come from, share the same “gene pool”. As an epochal paper of 50 years ago pointed out, most gene-based distinctions occur within so-called races, not between races. To quote, “…human races and populations are remarkably similar to each other, with the largest part by far of human variation being accounted for by the differences between individuals” [7]. Subsequent studies have only reinforced the strength of that conclusion [8].

It is dangerous because the notion of “purity,” in addition to being meaningless, carries with it the sense of some groups being less pure or more pure than others. Human history is replete with examples of horrible injustice – denial of benefits or even persecution – meted out to “less pure” groups by “more pure” groups. The same epochal paper also stated “Human racial classification is of no social value and is positively destructive of social and human relations”. Racial stereotyping of humans has been discarded, and there should be no attempt to revive the concept in India.

For several decades human population geneticists and anthropologists working in various Indian institutions, including the Anthropological Survey of India under the Ministry of Culture, have painstakingly undertaken detailed DNA analyses of individuals collected from various communities of India, including tribal communities, and have shown that nearly every community today is an admixed community of several ancestral communities whose identities can at best be guessed, but not with great certainty. What else is expected to result from the project under consideration of the Ministry of Culture, we do not know. But if it touches on questions of “racial purity,” one guaranteed outcome will be the exacerbation of disharmony among Indians.

With regards,

Vidyanand Nanjundiah, Centre for Human Genetics, Bangalore 560100

Partha P. Majumder, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, and

Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

L.S. Shashidhara, Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana

Renee Borges, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Saman Habib, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow

Sutirth Dey, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune

Amitabh Joshi, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru

Samar Bagchi, Science Communicator & Populariser

Subha Ray, University of Calcutta, Kolkata

Saikat Chakraborty, Accenture, Kolkata

Sibaji Raha, Bose Institute, Kolkata

Gautam Basu, former Professor, Bose Institute, Kolkata

Leo Saldanha, Environmental Support Group, Bengaluru

Ramachandra Guha, Historian and Writer

Swapan Parui, former Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

Debal Deb, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Barrackpore, West Bengal

Asokendu Sengupta, former Member, West Bengal Education Commission

Aruna Roy, Social Activist

Walter Fernendes, Director, North Eastern Social Research Centre, Guwahati

Indrani Bose, former Professor, Bose Institute, Kolkata

Indira Ghosh, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Utpal Basu, Kalyani University, West Bengal

Ashoke Ranjan Thakur, ex-Vice Chancellor West Bengal State University

Swarnendu Sil, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Amit Apte, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune

NG Prasad Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali

Vijay Kumar Krishnamurthy, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore

Mallikarjun Shakarad, Delhi University

Deepa Agashe, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore

Sudipta Tung, Ashoka University, Sonipat

Mewa Singh, Mysore University

Raghavendra Gadagkar. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Chandan Dasgupta, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore

Aurnab Ghose, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune

Satyajit Rath, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune

Rama Govindarajan, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Bangalore

Hema Somanathan, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Trivandrum

Anindita Bhadra, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune

Geetanjali Mishra, Lucknow University

Srikant Sastry, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru

Rajiva Raman, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Sukanta Chaudhuri, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University, USA

Samantak Das, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Partha Ghose, Tagore Centre for Natural Sciences and Philosophy, Kolkata

Niraja G. Jayal, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Achin Chakraborty, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata

Anupam Basu, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani

Sreenivasan Subramanian, Independent Researcher; former ICSSR National Fellow

Supriya Chaudhuri, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Kailash C. Malhotra, Anthropologist, former Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

Anup Sinha, Former Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

Rajiv Verma, University of Delhi

Amita Chatterjee, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

B.N. Singh, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Mercy J. Raman, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Asok Barman, Former General Secretary, All India Federation of University & College

Teachers’ Associations

Barun Mukhopadhyay, former Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

Sugata Hazra, Jadavpur University Kolkata

Mohan Rao, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Udaya Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Shiva Shankar, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay

Satyajit Mayor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru

Pradip Kumar Datta, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Ayesha Kidwai, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

S.Krishnaswamy, former Senior Professor, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai

Sabyasachi Chatterjee, President, All India People’s Science Network

Indranil, Delhi Science Forum and OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat

Anil Kumar A, Surgeon, People’s surgical and maternity home, Bagepalli, Karnataka

Avinash Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Ritajyoti Bandopadhyay, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Mohali

Guha Dharmarajan, KREA University, Chennai

Subhash Rajpurohit, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad

Himender Bharti, Punjabi University, Patiala

Kavita Isvaran, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Vineeta Bal, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research, Pune

OP Bhuraita, BGVS, Bhopal

Rammanohar Reddy, Editor, The India Forum

Udayon Misra

Narayani Gupta, former Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia University

Rahul Roy, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi

Moinak Biswas, Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Parthanil Roy, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata

Mihir Chakraborty, former Professor, University of Calcutta, Kolkata

Ajit Kumar Ray, former Professor, University of North Bengal, West Bengal

Ramaswamy, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Irfan Engineer, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai

Analabha Basu, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani

Subhas Chandra Lakhotia, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

Somdatta Sinha, Retired Scientist and Professor

Ira Bhaskar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Vijayendra, Ecologise Hyderabad

Sagar Dhara, Former Environmental engineering consultant, UNEP

Vikas Bajpai, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Kunal Chakrabarti, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

N. Devy, Chair, People’s Linguistic survey of India

Harsh Mander, Ex- IAS

Apoorv Anand, Academic and writer, Delhi

Sarmila Chandra, Narayana Superspeciality Hospital and RN Tagore Hospital, Kolkata

Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Former Teacher, Calcutta University

P. Kasbekar, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad

Ramray Bhat, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Madan Rao, National Centre for Biological Sciences-TIFR, Bangalore

Amit Roy, Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences, Manipal

Ramasubbu, Sunder, Smolensky Bulvar, 15, Moscow, RF

Ar Vasavi, Brigade Courtyard, Bengaluru

P. Divakaran, Riviera Retreat, Kochi

Subramony Mahadevan, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru

Ganesan Srinivasan, Raman Research Institute (Retired)

Vinod Gaur, Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences

Janaki Nair, Professor, (Retd) Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, New Delhi

Romila Thapar, Professor Emerita in History, JNU, New Delhi

Naresh Dadhich, IUCAA, Pune

Parthasarathi Majumdar, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Kolkata

Madabusi Raghunathan, DAE-UM Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, Mumbai

Binod Sreenivasan, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Sharat Chandra, Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru

Surendra Ghaskadbi, Prabhat Road, Pune

Priyambada Mohanty Hejmadi, Former Professor in Zoology, Utkal University

M. Pitchappan, Honorary Visiting Professor-Biology, Madurai Kamaraj University

Geeta, Retired Professor, University of Delhi

Jayaram S. Kadandale, Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru

References  

[1] https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2022/may/28/culture-ministry-to-study-racial-purity-of-indians-2458899.html

[2] http://www.reportwire.in/culture-ministry-to-study-racial-purity-of-indians/

[3] https://indusscrolls.com/india-procures-dna-kits-to-study-racial-purity-of-population

[4] https://greatgameindia.com/racial-purity-indians/

[5] https://twitter.com/MinOfCultureGoI/status/1531561797630558208/photo/1

[6] https://twitter.com/profvasant/status/1532295799446482945?s=21&t=ihc3oIze9vLuxI0sbIfG2g

[7] R C Lewontin. 1972. The apportionment of human diversity. Evolutionary Biology 6, 381-398.

[8] M D Edge, S. Ramachandran and N A Rosenberg. 2022. Celebrating 50 years since Lewontin’s apportionment of human diversity. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B377: 20200405.