Mumbai:
A storm is brewing within the powerful IIT community, as a signature campaign has been launched against its US alumni for taking funds from Dow Chemicals.
This move has triggered nearly 500 signatures from IITians across the country including 43 faculty members.
They oppose Dow because it is the parent company of Union Carbide, which was responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy.
Among those who signed on are Janak Daftary and Mahendra Barde, vice chairman of a national bank.
",Dow has acquired Union Carbide that has left a devastating effect on the country,", said Janak Daftary, Alumni, IIT Bombay.
The IIT golden jubilee celebrations kicked off in September 2007. Dow Chemicals is sponsoring an IIT Bombay conference to be held in New York from July 18.
IIT Bombay has clarified it will attend the event but has nothing to do with organising it.
In a statement, Dow India says several IITans had supported its sponsorship and that Dow even partners IITs in research projects and gets job applications from alumni.
",As in any democracy, a number of different opinions exist and Dow's sponsorship at the event is being welcomed by several IITians. We have around 80 IITians working across the world and all have expressed their full support to the sponsorship. Apart from this, Dow has a number of key research projects across IITs in India and continues to receive several resumes from IIT alumni,", said Dow India spokesperson.
But on campus, opposition is growing.
Last year several IITs cancelled placement talks with Dow chemicals after pressure from students and faculty.
So will the battle within the alumni have an impact? With the event just a week away, time is running out.