Bengaluru: The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) of Bangalore is currently facing criticism for allowing its facility to be used for the India-Israel Business Summit during the open war between countries in the Middle East. On Monday, the BPS group staged a protest, and several activists and academics came to oppose the event. A news agency reported it, and critics are very vocal against the participation of many institutions such as IISc, IIM Bangalore, IIIT Bangalore, NIAS, and the Government of Karnataka, to mention but a few.
Over 1,600 individuals, including scholars from participating Indian and international universities, wrote an open letter to IISc’s Director, Professor Govindan Rangarajan, urging the cancellation of the event. According to the Deccan Herald, this was undermined through the following reasons, where the host support meant direct support of Israel’s genocide in Palestine’s aggression to its neighbors.
According to the letter, the situation in the Gaza Strip is still very dire in the humanitarian aspect. “Israel is currently in possession of a brutal war,” the letter said. ‘In this campaign, Israel has wiped out more than 41,000 Palestinians most of whom are Women and Children.’ While a preliminary report in The Lancet noted around 140 deaths, it said that the actual rates could be four times higher and constituted approximately 10% of the population of Gaza. It has also flattened every university in Gaza, as Milne glided over the inconvenient fact that Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza.
Despite the objections, the India-Israel Business Summit proceeded as planned, from 10 am to 4:30 pm on Monday. Hosted by Think India, the Indian Chamber of International Business, and the Mysore Lancers Heritage Foundation, the event was intended to connect businessmen/entrepreneurs and policymakers from both countries. Think India pointed out that the event was about working together to “identify opportunities for collaboration, engage in partnerships, find opportunities of convergence and spur creativity,” as they tweeted. However, due to the current tension in international relations, they have strongly criticised the summit’s timing.
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