In yet another incident highlighting border contention
between Bharat and China, three Indian scientists Mukesh Thakur, Lalit Kumar
Sharma and Avijit Ghosh were compelled to withdraw a paper from China based international
peer-reviewed journal due to objections related to the mention of Arunachal
Pradesh.
The paper titled – Two Y Chromosome Lineages in
White-Cheeked Macaque (Macaca Leucogenys) – was initially accepted on February
14, 2023, and subsequently published online on April 5, 2023, in the journal
Wildlife Letters.
This journal, newly launched and internationally
peer-reviewed, is published from Northeast Forestry University in China.
As per a report by The Hindu, the Indian scientists
were faced with the demand to exclude Arunachal Pradesh from their study, as
the Chinese Government contested its inclusion, citing discrepancies with their
officially defined map. The scientists refused to comply with this request,
leading to the withdrawal of the paper in October 2023.
Mukesh Thakur, the central author of the paper and
Officer-in-Charge of the Mammal Sectional at the Zoological Survey of India
(ZSI), condemned the incident as “scientific terrorism.”
Dr Thakur disclosed that he had engaged in numerous
email exchanges with the journal authorities since April 2023, maintaining a
firm stance against removing Arunachal Pradesh from the study.
Dr Thakur, an accomplished scientist with more than 100
papers to his name and recipient of many prestigious awards, including the DST
Young Scientist and the INSA Medal for Young Scientist, expressed his dismay.
He claimed that the pressure to conform to Chinese
mapping standards was unreasonable and ultimately forced the withdrawal of the
paper.
In an email exchange between Dr Thakur and Marcel
Holyoak, the Co-Editor-in-Chief for Wildlife Letters, it was revealed that the
journal’s compliance with Chinese maps and place names was deemed mandatory.
Holyoak stated that non-compliance could result in the
removal of Chinese funding for the journal and pose problems for journal staff
based in China.
While the scientists accused the journal of
questioning Bharat’s geopolitical boundaries, Professor Holyoak clarified that
the journal takes no position on such matters but is obligated to adhere to
Chinese expectations.
NE Watch Desk
