Biologist Kesavan returns from US consulate without visa

Yet another Indian scientist has been turned away from the doors of the US Consulate in Chennai without a visa. The latest case is that of t...

Yet another Indian scientist has been turned away from the doors of the US Consulate in Chennai without a visa. The latest case is that of top ranking biologist Professor P C Kesavan, working at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai.

Kesavan went for a visa interview yesterday to the Chennai consulate as he had been invited to participate in a conference by the Foundation for Future.

Told to fill out what he calls his “entire biographical sketch”, he was turned away after being told “we are not denying you a visa but only delaying it”.

The Consulate retained his passport. Kesavan dubbed it as the “most demeaning and humiliating experience”. Prof M S Swaminathan, chairman of MSSRF and Father of India’s Green Revolution, told The Indian Express that the “action was regrettable” and that “there was a need to de-link politics from science”. Swaminathan said that if the US government had framed a new policy of not giving visas to eminent scientists then it should be widely publicized so that “it does not cause embarrassment to the individuals who would then not apply for the same”.