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print versionOpen Statement by Concerned Citizens 31.5.2023
Sub: Condemning the intimidation of academic by ED under PMLA
We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the recent interrogation and intimidation, without any specific charges, of Dr. Navsharan Singh by the Enforcement Directorate under the PMLA.
Dr. Singh is a scholar of the highest integrity. She is a well-known researcher in the fields of agriculture, women’s rights, farmers, and peace. She has written extensively on informal sector workers, MSMEs, agrarian change, and the vulnerability of internally displaced people affected by sectarian violence. Her work has called policy attention to the struggles of poor farmers, forest dwellers, Dalit women, and other underprivileged people to eke out sustainable livelihoods.
Government policies have consistently emphasized the economic and social inclusion of India’s poor and marginalized. Dr. Singh, in highlighting their struggles based on her laborious and insightful fieldwork, should be seen as furthering these very objectives. It is not possible to make relevant policies without critical analysis.
Dr. Singh is excellently placed to provide such analysis. She holds an MA and PhD from Carleton University – one of Canada’s top universities — and was honoured by the University in 2017 as one of its 75 most distinguished alumni. She has also worked at Rohtak University, the National Council for Applied Economics Research (NCAER), and the International Development research Council, before resigning from IDRC in 2021 to pursue her research more consistently.
Dr. Navsharan Singh’s elongated interrogation by the ED appears to follow a pattern similar to the questioning of many other academics and human rights activists in recent years, wherein the constitutional rights of citizens and their legitimate critical evaluation of state policies and practices are sought to be curtailed. The PMLA is a dark spot on Indian democracy.
As academics, scholars, researchers, and concerned citizens we stand in solidarity with Navsharan Singh and others who have upheld constitutional values and the rights of India’s underprivileged.
We call upon the government and the enforcement agencies to cease their unwarranted persecution. Our eminent scholars are India’s pride and need to be treated as such.
Signed/-
Complete list of signatories by broad professional categories:
Sr no. Name Designation
ACADEMICS AND RESEARCHERS
1 Ravi Srivastava Professor (Retd.), Delhi
2 Bikramaditya Choudhary Professor, Delhi
3 Bina Agarwal Professor, Delhi
4 B S Butola Professor, Delhi
5 Rekha Rajan Professor (Retd.), Delhi
6 Mridula Mukherjee Professor (retired), Delhi
7 Harbans Mukhia Former Professor and Rector, Delhi
8 Lakhwinder Singh Professor, Patiala
9 Zoya Hasan Professor Emerita, Delhi
10 S. D. Muni Professor Emeritus, Delhi
11 Ranjit Singh Ghuman Former Professor & Head, Patiala
12 Surinder Kumar Professor (Retd.), Rohtak
13 Dr Kesar Singh Bhangoo Former Dean & Professor, Patiala
14 Padmini Swaminathan Independent Researcher, Chennai
15 Sucha Singh Gill Professor (Retd.), Patiala.
16 Dr Sukhwinder Singh Professor (Retd.), Patiala
17 Dr Gurjit Singh Bhathal Assistant Professor, Punjab
18 Harjit Singh Professor (Retired), Delhi
19 Anuradha Chenoy Professor (Retd), Delhi
20 Sumangala Damodaran Professor, Delhi
21 Praveena Kodoth Professor, Trivandrum
22 Baldev Singh Shergill Assistant Professor, Punjab
23 Ira Bhaskar Professor (Retd), Delhi
24 Chaman Lal Professor (Retd), Delhi
25 Surajit Mazumdar Professor, Delhi
26 Baldeep Singh Professor (Retd.)
27 Sucharita Sen Professor, Delhi
28 Brahma Prakash Assistant professor, Delhi
29 Pramod Yadava Professor (Retd), Delhi
30 Asha Puri Teacher (Retd)
31 Atiya Professor (Retd), Delhi
32 Chirashree Das Gupta Associate Professor, Delhi
33 Milap Sharma Professor
34 Dharminder Singh Professor
35 Amit Thorat Assistant Professor
36 Ritu Dewan Professor & Director (Retd), Mumbai
37 Achin Vanaik Professor (Retd), Delhi
38 Balbir Singh Butola Professor, Delhi
39 Peggy Mohan Professor, Delhi
40 Ravi Duggal Public Health Researcher
41 Sharmila Purkayastha Independent Scholar
42 Avinash Kumar Academic, Delhi
43 Aasha Kapur Mehta Professor, Delhi
44 Seema Independent researcher
45 Moushumi Basu Academic, Delhi
46 S. Sauel Asir Raj Professor
47 Kishor Jose Faculty, Gujarat
48 Vibhuti Patel Teacher (Retd)
49 Sushil Khanna Professor (Retd), Calcutta
50 Mumtaz Khan Former Associate Professor, Delhi
51 Anita Rampal Educationist
52 Dilip Simeon Research scholar
53 Vikas Rawal Professor, Delhi
54 Romar Correa Independent Researcher
55 Sandhya Kumari Professor
56 Shipra Nigam Research Scholar
57 Nandita Narain Associate Professor, Delhi
58 Indu Agnihotri Researcher
59 Wandana Sonalkar Professor (Retd), Mumbai
60 Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu Professor, Nagaland
61 Indira Krishnaswami Retired educationist
62 Susie Tharu Professor (Retd), Hyderabad
63 Shamsul Islam Former faculty, Delhi
64 Rama Melkote Professor (Retd), Hyderabad
65 Ravinder Goel Retired teacher, Delhi
66 Meera Velayudhan Policy Analyst
67 Ashwini Deshpande Professor, Delhi
68 Achin Chakraborty Professor, Kolkata
69 Raina Ghosh Research Scholar, Delhi
70 Sonali Bhatia Ph.D. Scholar, Delhi
71 Sachidanand Sinha Former Professor, Delhi
72 Anvita Abbi Professor, Delhi
73 Shireen Moosvi Professor (Redt), Delhi
74 Paromita Sen Research Director
75 Lakshmi Lingam Professor (Retd), Mumbai.
76 Satyaki Roy Associate Professor
77 Jeemol Unni Professor of Economics, Ahmedabad
78 Pramod Kumar Academic
79 Rakhi Associate Professor
80 Narasimha Reddy D Professor (Rtd), Hyderabad
81 Meera Samson Researcher
82 Bir Singh Associate Professor
83 Rohit Azad Academic, Delhi
84 Naushad Ali Azad Professor (Retd)
85 Manmohan Singh Professor of English ( Retd.), Patiala
86 Harish Dhawan Academic, Delhi
87 Dr. Neelu Assistant Professor
88 Aparajay Scientist
89 Lata Singh Associate Professor, Delhi
90 Udaya Kumar Academic, Delhi
91 D. K. Lobiyal Professor
92 Jeroo Mulla Sophia Polytechnic
93 Sushama Jain Retired Professor, Delhi
94 Santosh Das Academic, Delhi
95 Anita Dighe Retired Professional
96 Paaritosh Narh Faculty, APU, Bangalore
97 Saswata Ghosh Researcher, Kolkata
98 Yogendra Samyak Assistant Professor
99 Siva Prasad Rambhatla Retired Professor, Hyderabad
100 Atanu Sengupta Professor
101 Neeraj Malik Retired Professor, Delhi
102 Jaya Mehta Researcher
103 Amita Pitre Independent Researcher and Development Practitioner
104 Manjeet bhatia Independent academic
105 Beena PL Professor, Trivandrum
106 Shinu Varkey Assistant Professor & Head, Economics, Kerala
107 Ajmer Singh Kajal Professor, Delhi
108 Vyjayanti Raghavan Retd Professor
109 Surinder Kumar Professor
110 Jaspal Bhatia Retd college teacher, Amritsar
111 Dulali Nag Retired Academic
112 Namita Ranganathan Delhi University
113 Madhumati Dutta Retired Professor and Dean
114 Madhura Swaminathan Professor, Bengaluru
115 Rajinder Chaudhary Former Prof of Economics, Rohtak
116 Kulwant Nehra Faculty
117 Sunil PGT ECO
118 Mukesh Principal
119 Tapasi Biswas Associate professor
120 Surasri Chadhuri Associate Professor, Kolkata
121 Rukmini Bhaya Nair Professor, Delhi
122 Saroj Professor, Haryana
123 Rajeev Bhargava Professor, Delhi
124 Somjita Laha Independent Researcher
125 Surinder S. Jodhka Professor, New Delhi
126 Deepa Kumari Principal Retd
127 Paramita Roychowdhury Associate Professor
128 Aasha Ramesh Women Rights Researcher
129 Prof Santosh Mehrotra Researcher
130 Pramod Gouri Associate professor (Retd.)
131 Kavita Sharma Retired Professor
132 Hema Swaminathan Professor, Bengaluru
133 Manoranjan Mohanty Professor (Retd), Delhi
134 Govind Kelkar Independent Academic
135 Sujata Patel Retd Professor, Hyderabad
136 J Devika Feminist Scholar
137 Radhika Chopra Professor [Retd], Delhi
138 Rahul Lahoti Researcher
139 Mariam Dossal Prof of History (Retd), Mumbai
140 Rajesh Academic, Rohtak
141 Vinoj Abraham Professor, Thiruvananthapuram
142 Rajni Palriwala Professor
143 Ayesha Kidwai Professor, Delhi
144 Shalmali Guttal Researcher
145 Soma Kishore Parthasarathy Independent researcher
146 Ameet Parameswaran Academic, Delhi
147 Indira Hirway Professor of economics
148 G Arunima Professor and Director, KCHR, Thiruvananthapuram
149 Narendra Panjwani Research Scholar
150 Arun Kumar Retd. Professor
151 Radhika Singha Professor (Retd)
152 Parnal Chirmuley Academic, Delhi
153 Patricia Uberoi Professor (Retd)
154 Ranjani Mazumdar Professor
155 Ameet Parameswaran Academic Delhi
156 Shikha Jhingan Associate Professor, Delhi
157 Bishnupriya Dutt Professor, Delhi
158 Sarmistha Nath Associate Professor
159 Riaz Ahmad Professor, Delhi
160 Rama V. Baru Professor, Delhi
161 Bidisha Dhar Assistant professor, Tripura
162 Shikha Jhingan Associate Professor, Delhi
163 Vijay Kumar Yadavendu Associate Professor
164 Nilanjana Sengupta Researcher & Teacher, Bengaluru
165 Ranjana Retd. Prof.of History, Allahabad
166 Prabha Krishnan Women’s Studies Scholar
167 Dr Ajay Kumar Meena Professor, Rajasthan
168 Vikas Bajpai Assistant Professor, Delhi
169 Nivedita Menon Professor, Delhi
170 Pradip Datta Retired Professor, Delhi
171 Vijay Kumar Yadavendu Associate Professor
172 Meena Dhanda University Professor
173 Bratati Pande Retd Associate Professor, Delhi
174 Iqbal Singh Retd Academic, Delhi
175 Rupinder kaur Academic, Delhi
176 Imrana Qadeer retired Professor, Delhi
177 Deepak Mishra Academic, Delhi
178 Nira Goyal Retired academic, Delhi
179 Ratna Sudarshan Economist, Delhi
180 Smitha Francis Consultant Economist
181 Jahnvi Andharia Social scientist, Delhi
182 Indra Munshi Social scientist, Mumbai
183 Sonalde Desai Demographer
184 Sudeshna Sengupta Independent Researcher and Consultant
185 Anjana Mangalagiri Retired Academic
PROFESSIONALS (law, medicine, development, etc)
186 Amita Joseph Advocate
187 Indira jaising Senior Advocate
188 Sr.Mary Scaria Professional
189 B D Sandhu Nurse
190 Deepak Sanan Retired civil servant
191 Areet Kaur Doctor
192 Ajay Rath Retired Bank Executive
193 Sehjo Singh Development Professional
194 Parmeeta Dentist
195 Adv Dr Shalu Nigam Lawyer
196 Dr. P. Prasanthi Development professional
197 Ranjana Kanhere Social worker
198 Lissy Social Work
199 Shilpa Vasavada Independent professional
200 Kirti Singh Advocate
201 Parvinder Pal Independent consultant
202 Flavia Agnes Advocate
203 Shah Alam Khan Professor of Orthopaedics,
204 Dr Mira Shiva Public Health Physician
205 Chakravarty Advocate
206 Indu Capoor Founder Director (Emeritus)
207 Purvi Vyas Developmental professional and organic farmer
208 Satish Agnihotri Development professional
JOURNALISTS, WRITERS, ARTISTS, ETC
209 Pamela Philipose Independent journalist
210 Sujit John Journalist
211 Arjun Gourisaria Filmmaker
212 Satyendra Ranjan journalist
213 Joya Roy Freelance editor
214 Madhavi Kuckreja Sanatkada
215 Ranjita Biswas Independent journalist
216 Sheba Chhachhi Independent Artist/photographer
217 Rahul Varma Playwright, Artistic Director
218 Lola Nayar Journalist
219 Samik Bandyopadhyay Publisher-editor
220 Ritu Menon Publisher, writer
221 Ritambhara Shastri Journalist
222 Rukmani Anandani Writer
223 Akhileshwari Ramagoud Journalist and Academic
224 Vineet Tiwari Poet, Writer
225 Urmilesh Journalist & Author
226 Sevanti Ninan Columnist
227 John Dayal Writer activist
228 Lotika Singha Writer
229 Rohini Hensman Writer and independent scholar
230 Deepa Dhanraj Researcher/ Filmmaker
231 Maya Rao Theatre artist
232 Laxmi Murthy Media
233 Dushyant Arora Lawyer, Writer, Columnist.
234 Abha Choudhuri Freelance cartographer
235 Rajashri Dasgupta Independent Journalist
236 Sujata Madhok Journalist
237 Ambika Freelance editor
238 Susmita Sinha Film maker
239 Pro-People Arts Project media group Chief editor, Sarokaran di awaz
240 Neelima Sharma Nishant Natya Manch
CIVIL SOCIETY PRACTITIONERS
241 Chinmayi Naik National Coordinator, Working Peoples’ Coalition
242 Jagir Josan Human rights
243 Dave Duhre Punjabi Thinkers Forum
244 Maimoona Mollah AIDWA, Delhi
245 Renu Khanna Feminist Policy Collective
246 Dr. Punyabrata Gun Shramajibi Swasthya Udyog & Swasthya Shiksha Nirman
247 Poonam Kaushik Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, Delhi
248 Joyanti Sen Sachetana
249 Amiya Kumar Mohanty Joint Forum for Movement on Education, National Convenor
250 Kanupriya Activist
251 K.Sajaya Women and Transgender organizations JAC
252 Tejaswini Madabhushi Hyderabad for Feminism
253 S.L.padma IFTU
254 Madhuchhanda Karlekar Sachetana feminists
255 Maria Tabassum Telangana for Peace and Unity
256 Jasveen Jairath Progressive Farmers Front
257 Ramesh Dixit Samvidhan Bachao Desh Bachao Abhiyan, Uttar Pradesh
258 Renuka Mishra Civil society
259 Nisha Agrawal Former CEO, Delhi
260 Sharanya Nayak Rangmatipadar Adivasi commune
261 Rajaraman Sundaresan Rangmatipadar Adivasi commune
262 Gade jhansi Progressive organisation of women, Telangana state president l.
263 Rachana Mudraboyina Transgender people rights activist
264 Anuradha De Director, CORD
265 Suneeta Dhar Activist
266 Afaque Azad Bharat Bachao Aandoln
267 Vivekanand Tripathi Social media Activist
268 Chandan Kumar Labour Rights Activist
269 Ajit Patil CPI ML Liberation
270 Amita AIDWA, Haryana
271 Himmat Singh Ratnoo Former Secretary, Teachers’ Association
272 Dr V Rukmini Rao Feminist Activist
273 Naresh Prerna Convenor, Jatan Natya Kendar, Haryana
274 Sukla Sen Peace Activist
275 Sangam Tripathy Advisor, Indian Federation of App based Transport Workers
276 Sushovan Dhar Labour activist
277 Virendra Singh Malik CITU State Committee
278 Sagari Ramdas Veterinary Scientist, Food Sovereignty Alliance
279 Shaik Salauddin State President
280 Dunu Roy Civil society
281 Anil Chaudhary Chief Educator, PEACE
282 Dr. Ashish Mital General Secretary, AIKMS
283 Kavita Srivastava PUCL
284 Ranbir Singh Dahiya EC member HGVS
OTHER CONCERNED CITIZENS (across the country)
285 Sudhir Katiyar
286 Sumitra
287 Ranjan Chakraborty
288 Balbir Rattu
289 Pravin Nadkar
290 Aishwarya Bhuta
291 Selvyn Jussy
292 Anna abraham
293 Seemantini Gupta
294 Anil Rai
295 Amit Narkar
296 AS Vasantha
297 Jyothi
298 Gutta jyothsna
299 Prachi Jha
300 Sangeeta Ghosh
301 Madhu Bhaduri
302 Azimullah Ansari
303 Shantha Sinha
304 Jasmine Mann
305 Sonal Raghuvanshi
306 Naazneen
307 Reena Mohan
308 Bobby Bhatia
309 Dolon Ganguly
310 Mukta Naik
311 Meenu Vadera
312 Claire Noronha
313 Kalpana Bandiwdekar
314 Gijs Spoor
315 Mini Bedi
316 Mahnoor
317 A.M.Padmanabhan
318 Omprakash Kushwaha
319 Dev Nathan
320 Lalitha Krishna
321 Debabrata Pal
322 Meghna
323 Satish Mohan
324 Rakhi Sehgal
325 Dhiraj Barman
326 Dhruv
327 Vanita N Mukherjee
328 Swarna Rajagopalan
329 Anjali Ojha
330 Lourdes Mary S
331 Rita Anand
332 T bhattacharya
333 Amar Jesani
334 Sunil Talreja
335 Mallarika Sinha Roy
336 Tanushree. Gangopadhyay
337 Rajeev singha
338 Nisha Srivastava
339 Sarojini N
340 Deepa
341 Vijay Lakshmi Dikshit
342 Hardeep
343 Murad Banaji
344 ????? ????
345 pardeep
346 Amitgarg
347 Karan
348 Shweta Damle
349 Shambhavi Prakash
350 Anita S.
351-359 OTHERS Nine persons
