Amit Suthar

Postdoc at TIFR Mumbai.
Theoretical Physics
IMSc Chennai, IISER Mohali alumni.

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

"One should never be ashamed or proud of anything that you get by birth."
-a friend

[Shekhar Dutt @DuttShekhar]

Reservation debate is vast
Sharing one oft overlooked aspect 🙏

For disadvantaged groups, caste is visible:
- SC certificate
- OBC certificate
- Reservation
- Dalit politics

For socially advantaged groups,
caste can become invisible

Someone may sincerely say:

“I don’t believe in caste. I am just an individual competing on merit”

But sociology asks:

- Where did the schooling come from?
- Did parents attend college?
- Was there a study room?
- Professional networks?
- Urban residence?
- Social confidence?
- Family wealth?
- What language was spoken at home?

Did one’s community historically have access to professions?

But please keep in mind that this doesn’t mean every upper-caste individual is privileged

That would be crude sociology

All I wish to say is that:
- Privilege is easiest to experience as normality
- Disadvantage is experienced as identity

Therefore, caste can look as though only reserved communities “have caste”

That is one reason reservation creates resentment

That advantage becomes invisible; affirmative action becomes visible 🙏

Will add more perspectives in coming posts and videos 🙏

[All India OBC Students Association (AIOBCSA) @aiobcsa]

IIT Kanpur has 257 Professors.
OBC: 3 | SC: 0 | ST: 0

Is this what “merit” looks like?

Instead of questioning this shocking lack of representation, Brahminical forces demand an end to reservations.

Reservations exist because exclusion exists.

Representation is justice. Equality cannot exist without inclusion. @EduMinOfIndia @PMOIndia

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

@GoibiboSupport Please see DM

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

Being cheap, booked @flyspicejet from Delhi to Mumbai on 30 May, SG 162. Cancelled 4 hours before the planned departure. No compensation, no alternative flight offered! Booked through @goibibo . Been 45 days, still haven't recieved the original refund!

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

@GoibiboSupport Sent via DM.

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

@Kaju_Nut @flyspicejet @goibibo Considering it. Will look up the procedures!

[Gatikrushna Mishra @Gatikrushna03]

Concerning🧵 #DST #InspireSHE #IISER

After stopping KVPY, @IndiaDST has silently discontinued INSPIRE-SHE scholarship for BS and MS students. This is a nightmare for fundamental science in India. Students were uncertain about this until a certain student from IISc filed RTI. 1/n

[Nirmalya Kajuri @Kaju_Nut]

When IISERs first started, they used to pay scholarships to every student.

Then those scholarships ceased, but students who earned KVPY or DST Inspire fellowships received financial support.

Then KVPY was stopped. Now it appears that DST Inspire is gone too👇

Meanwhile the fees have continued to go up. Now it’s close to 60K per semester.

Slowly but surely IISERs are being put beyond the reach of financially weak but talented Indian students. We have barely heard a word of protest from Indian academics on this.

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

Curaçao is a country with population of about 158,000, playing fifa world cup. Comparing it with small town, say, population of Sirsa in Haryana: 272,000 (not the full district, merely the city)

[TheLiverDoc™ @theliverdoc]

Important for public information!

I would like to update that the third paper on cow research, funded using India's public money under the SUTRA-PIC (Scientific Utilization through Research Augmentation - Prime Products from Indigenous Cows program) has undergone exhaustive post-publication peer review.

The paper was published in Biochemical Engineering Journal this year. The authors are from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad (Jharkhand).

This is the paper:
https://t.co/9niHoCSvEO This study was done in Jharkhand and the total amount of public money given was INR 36,16,859/- (~38500 USD).

As per the study, the researchers transformed ordinary cow dung into a specialized carbon material that highly effectively soaks up toxic chromium pollution from water. Instead of throwing away this metal-filled waste, they successfully reused it to build a working, long-lasting energy storage device called a supercapacitor.

Well, they did not. They made it all up.

Here is a plain-language summary of the fatal flaws found in the paper:

🟡The authors claim their material successfully absorbed a massive amount of toxic chromium—roughly 22% of its total weight. However, their own chemical scan shows the final product contains almost zero chromium (0.09%), making their main conclusion physically impossible.

🟡After testing this material in a battery setup that contains absolutely zero chromium, the reported amount of chromium inside the material mysteriously multiplied by 47 times (from 0.09% to 4.24%). Elements cannot spontaneously generate out of thin air, which strongly indicates the data was fabricated.

🟡The fundamental thermodynamic math used to prove how the material captures pollutants is entirely broken. The reported numbers for energy, heat, and entropy literally do not equal each other when plugged into standard physics equations, heavily suggesting the results were manually made up.

🟡The paper claims hard statistical proof that one type of cow dung is superior to another, but the actual difference between them is a fraction of a percent and mathematically insignificant. Furthermore, the statistical "p-values" they reported are mathematically incorrect for the tests they claim to have run.

And one more point which requires professional image manipulation software for checking - which me or the helping team did not have access to)...

🟡The photos intended to show the physical "coated" battery electrodes appear to be digitally faked. The frayed edges and tape cuts match the uncoated metal so perfectly that it looks like solid black boxes were simply photoshopped over the original image (this is only a basic allegation, needs confirmation).

With this review, I am stopping further such analysis on these so-called cow-research science papers glorifying Indian tradition. These "researchers" and "scientists" should be ashamed of themselves. Real science requires truthful validation, not beggarly applause or promotions from the hands of the "agenda-driven" masters that feed you.

All three papers criticisms have been uploaded to Pub-Peer and official notifications sent to the respective journals and their research integrity teams. Two papers are already under investigation by respective journal.
Please see here: https://t.co/C5cHlJZUas and here: https://t.co/bhNYt0khLv

The science community in India must fight tooth and nail to prevent AYUSH pseudoscience infiltration into their revered STEM institutions. This is not a good thing, moving forward.

[Amalorpavanathan Joseph @AmalJos95950131]

This is the nadir that our IITs have fallen into. As the article says good scientists will move out and IIT will lose respect internationally.

[ST4workshop @st4physics]

Join our online panel discussion "Academia to Industry: Career Transitions & Professional Pathways", where former researchers now working in industry R&D share their journeys from PhD to industry.

📅 Wednesday, 24 June
🕟 4:30–5:50 PM IST
💻 Google Meet:https://t.co/WxnOWWa1Bu

[Sandhya Ramesh @sandygrains]

There’s an open letter for signatures protesting the pseudoscientific bs organized by IIT Mandi and asking for replacing the director who has engaged in astrology and other pseudoscience representing the institution multiple times. https://t.co/CQyU8ZnEOy

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

(PLM: Past Life Memories
IKS: Indian Knowledge System)

[Sandhya Ramesh @sandygrains]

There was a time the IITs were famous for scientific engineering and high-level research. How low they have fallen today. IIT Mandi, IIT Kanpur, and University of Virginia just concluded a special session on reincarnation and astrology. Absolute shame!!! https://t.co/Txvk9Vw9hR

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

On birth anniversary of M. Karunanidhi, movie suggestion: IRUVAR
Depicts the friendship and then rivalry of Karunanidhi and MGR.

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

Amazing piece. Much needed.

[Ramachandra Guha @Ram_Guha]

My column in @ttindia on the state of the Congress Party and the fate of the Indian Republic: https://t.co/EclidzrtLf

[Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep]

SHAME: A champion wrestler who brought much glory to the country has to go to court to fight for her right to compete in a selection trial! Only because the WFI and its political patrons have carried out a wilful vendetta campaign against Vinesh Phogat😡 A nation that wants to host the Olympic Games must learn to treat its Olympians with dignity.

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

Whole thing so bizarre. WFI, which is supposed to promote the sport, is putting in the best effort to hinder one of the most celebrated athlete!

[jonathan selvaraj @jon_selvaraj]

Wow. WFI stops Vinesh Phogat from competing in the women's 53kg category at Asian Games selection trials. Says she is only allowed to compete in 50kg category. She is only informed of this decision in the morning as she prepared to give weight for the selection trials.

[Amit Suthar @amitphysics_]

"Vinesh Phogat is the ultimate ‘zidd’ of Indian sport"
https://t.co/QYe7gUjTxC

She is a sitting MLA from Haryana. Was on a maternity leave and so wasn't allowed to compete in Asian games trials, now court allowed her to participate.