After waiting for about 38 hours for reaction of MC members(only three have given their reaction) and the President i am sharing the contents of my e-mail posted to honourable ISS MC members and respected office bearers on 3rd July 2013 with other colleagues and friends for a wider discussion in public domain so that everyone can know what is happening in the MC of Indian Sociological Society in these days. Virendra Singh ISS MC Affairs 3 messages Virendra Singh Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 1:10 PM To: Ishwar Modi , Rajesh Misra , Dr Bipul Kumar Bhadra , smita awachar , Sukant Kumar Chaudhury , "S.L. Hiremath" , paramjit judge , "J. Krishnamurthy" , "M.H. Makwana" , "B.B. Mohanty" , D R Sahu , "S. A. Salunkhe" , Ranvinder Sandhu , Aneesa Shafi , "C.A. Somashekharappa" , [email protected], kamala ganesh Dear Colleagues, I am sure that it is for the first time in the history of the Indian Sociological Society when there has been exchange of such letters between the President and the Secretary of the Society as happened in last two days. It is very disturbing for us. On 1st July 2013 at 2.26 pm. Prof. Ishwar Modi sent an email to Prof. A. K. Sengupta (who is now not VC of University of Lucknow) on [email protected], official e-mail address of the VC of Lucknow University, in which he asserted three things: 1. 1. That in spite of his (president’s) repeated requests to Dr. Rajesh Misra, Prof. and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Lucknow, whom he (VC) has nominated to look after the organization of the proposed conference, and who is also the present Secretary of the ISS, he (Prof. Misra) has not cared to move even a step ahead and as such is acting in a highly irresponsible manner. 2. 2.“Moreover, six members of the Faculty of the Department of Sociology, Lucknow University have sent a copy of the letter dated May 11, 2013 to Your Honour (VC) as well as to me (President) addressed to the Head of the Department wherein they proposed that Dr. Sukant Chaudhury be the Organizing Secretary of the 39 th AISC. I spoke about it to Prof. Rajesh Misra but he has not been able to resolve this issue”. 3. 3. It is with a very heavy heart and under heavy mental stress that the ISS is withdrawing its offer to hold the 39th AISC at the University of Lucknow since by now we are totally convinced that Prof. Rajesh Misra is not at all in a position to organize this mega event in a successful manner. This e-mail and other actions of the president will have long term repercussions for ISS. As a Life member of ISS since 1986 and also as an elected member of the Managing Committee of ISS I would like to raise certain issues which in my opinion are very much needed at this juncture. 1. 1. The Managing Committee decided at its last meeting held on May 4, 2013 in New Delhi to hold 39 th AISC at Lucknow University in November 2013 accepting the invitation of the VC of the University in which he (VC) clearly nominated Prof. Rajesh Misra to look after the organization of the proposed conference, and this proposal was accepted and approved by the Managing Committee (in which Dr. Sukant Choudhury himself was present as a member of Managing Committee). Thus, the matter of Organizing Secretary was over then and there. 2. 2. The letter of six faculty members addressed to the Head of the Department was an internal matter of the department and there was no need to take up this matter by the President with Prof. Rajesh Misra as the matter was over for the ISS on May 4, 2013, itself. You will agree with my understanding that this type of situation is not new for us when some of the colleagues on various flimsy grounds as well as for their vested departmental interests oppose their HOD but never ISS president intervened like this as the present President did. We have witnessed this type of happenings in so many conferences from Jabalpur (in 1978, where one of the colleagues of Prof. Prabhat Chandra distributed pamphlets against him) to Udaipur (in 2012, where Prof. P. M. Yadav was doing all the task himself and organized the worst conference, we have ever seen, on the initiative of the present President in an autocratic manner rejecting the proposal from SRTM University, Nanded). In my opinion this cannot be a sufficient ground to withdraw the proposal of conference from the University of Lucknow. There is something else behind all this. 4. 3. Now about the first issue he raised in this mail that “in spite of his (president’s) repeated requests to Dr. Rajesh Misra, Prof. and Head, Department of Sociology, University of Lucknow, whom he (VC) has nominated to look after the organization of the proposed conference, and who is also the present Secretary of the ISS, he (Prof. Misra) has not cared to move even a step ahead and as such is acting in a highly irresponsible manner”. It is not clear whether he requested Prof. Misra repeatedly over phone or through e-mails or through speed post letter or through telegrams or fax or postcard or any other means. If yes, he should have informed the members of the Managing Committee before making such harsh and derogatory comments against Prof. Misra to the VC of Lucknow University. It is also a case when ISS President brought any matter related to his Secretary to a third party (VC of the University). In a way he tried to tarnish the image of Prof. Misra in his own university without any solid evidence and. 5. 4. The President has mentioned in this e-mail that “By now we (who are these we?) are totally convinced (at least I am not convinced at all) that Prof. Rajesh Misra is not at all in a position to organize this mega event in a successful manner. How the President arrived at this conclusion on the behalf of all the members of the Managing Committee without consulting them. I have checked all my e-mail IDs, there was no communication by the ISS president between May 7 and July 1, 2013. And only one call I received from him regarding World Congress of Sociology congratulating me for the acceptance my session in ISA RC14. On 1 st July 2013 at 2.52 PM (just after 26 minutes of the e-mail sent by him to the VC of LUL), the President with a reference of his teleconference with the VC of KSOU, Mysore, sent another e-mail to covey the acceptance of ISS to hold its 39 th AISC at the esteemed Karnataka State Open University, Mysore under the changed circumstances. What does it mean? It is very clear. Please remember that in the MC meeting the President was not looking very happy when the KSOU, Mysore proposal was not approved looking into the merit of the proposal of Lucknow University. Therefore, he made a strategic and sponsored a letter from six faculty members of the Department of Sociology, of Lucknow University to appoint Dr. Sukant Choudhury, who himself is a signatory to this letter and the person who took the lead in this matter and asked to send a copy of the letter to him (president) so that he can withdraw the offer blaming Prof. Misra on this ground and other fabricated personal charges already mentioned above. In the meantime he was also talking to the people in Mysore to finally offering conference to them. It is evident from the documentary circumstantial evidence of the gap between two e-mail he sent on 1 st July 2013 when in just between a gap of 26 minutes he withdrawn offer from Lucknow University and made a Teleconference with VC of KSOU, Mysore and also consulted all members of the Managing Committee in this regard. It means that he was working on this agenda since the day KSOU proposal was rejected by the MC. In this way he was conspiring against the decision of the MC of ISS of holding the conference at Lucknow University. As a president, he also conspired and instigated the faculty members of the Sociology Department of Lucknow University to write a letter against their HOD. He is functioning as ISS President in a highly undemocratic way and indulging himself in abusing his position for undermining the Managing Committee and sending insulting e-mails to the duly elected Secretary of ISS. Under these circumstances, I lost my confidence in Dr. Ishwar Modi as the President of ISS and Chairman of Managing Committee. I request the members of the ISS MC to come forward to deal with such a volatile situation. I also request the Secretary of ISS to call an emergent meeting of the Managing Committee to discuss these urgent issues and unprecedented situation in the history of ISS. with regards, Yours sincerely, Prof. V. P. Singh Member, Managing Committee
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 21:09:07 +0000
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