According to this Nature article, scientists worldwide are outraged by the decision of the Modi government in India to suspend all foreign funding to its Centre for Policy Research (CPR) for the next 180 days.
Why might the Modi government have done this? First, this is how Nature describes CPR’s work:
The CPR conducts research into public policy in India, including climate change, social and economic policy, governance and infrastructure. Last year it received about three-quarters of its grant funding from influential global organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank. Its domestic researchers have contributed to high-profile international studies such as the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
…The CPR “has played an enormously important role in informing public policy debate in India and internationally”, says Frank Jotzo, an environmental economist at the Australian National University in Canberra. Jotzo says that CPR, established in 1973, has a long and esteemed history in providing objective and honest analysis of government policy in India, and has at times criticized Indian government policy and plans. “That is invariably the case with any independent, impartial think tank or organization anywhere in the world,” he says. [emphasis mine]
In other words, CPR routinely advocates leftist policy positions. When a leftwing government is in power, its policy papers will glow with pride about the achievements of government. When a rightwing government is in power — such as the Modi administration — its policy papers will be suddenly “objective and honest” and hard-hitting, attacking the government for daring to challenge its assumptions about “climate change, social and economic policy, governance and infrastructure.”
This is typical political garbage from Nature and the leftist culture it routinely represents. CPR appears to have violated Indian law with its foreign funding, using the “funds for purposes other than those permitted under its licence.” Moreover, Modi is the elected head of India’s government. CPR works for him and the Indian public who elected him. If he decides this agency should be defunded, then so be it. For far too long leftists worldwide have claimed a permanent right to government funds. This needs to stop, and it is refreshing to see the Modi government is willing to take action in this regard.
If only Republicans in America has as much courage.
