The workshop was to be held on 25-26 November, but was objected to because the academic community is convinced that astrology has no scientific basis.
Within academic circles, there’s a consensus that astrology has no scientific basis. It is not based on objectivity, falsifiability, or fact-based research – the pillars of modern scientific study.
That didn’t stop alumni association of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, from planning a workshop on it.
However, after a backlash from multiple bodies, including a section of the alumni, researchers, and present faculty, the workshop, planned for 25-26 November, was cancelled.
Fault in the stars
The workshop was to be convened by Dr M.S. Rameshaiah, member of the IISc Alumni Association executive committee and the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences (ICAS).
The announcement was accompanied by an invitation, and flyers placed around the Bengaluru campus, with a registration fee of Rs 2,000.
Soon, though, social media was flooded with many alumni wondering what the rationale behind the decision was.
As a step of formal protest, students from the alumni association wrote a letter to IISc director Anurag Kumar, stating: “Astrology is a belief system that has no scientific basis. Scientific experiments done in good faith to test the predictions of the various systems of astrology have all shown that it is only as good as random chance.”
By the afternoon on Saturday, 28 October, Kolkata-based Breakthrough Science Society (BSS), which organised the ‘India March for Science’ rally in August this year, lent its support to the letter, as a part of its efforts to combat the prevalence of pseudo-science in the country. It stated that it stood “in full support of those who have started a signature campaign against the astrology workshop”.
Under pressure from such resistance, the alumni association cancelled the workshop Saturday evening. Its president, M.P. Ravindra, said the intention behind the workshop was not accurately communicated through the invitation, and given the lack of context, the association understood the concerns of those opposing the workshop.
According to Ravindra, the purpose of the event was not to claim astrology as legitimate, fact-based science, but to provide the platform for “a discussion among like-minded people, and to lay the foundation to a campaign against such belief systems”.
A significant number of students and alumni also did not support the backlash against the workshop, arguing in favour of constructive dialogue, curiosity, and openness, saying these were the bedrocks of academic inquiry.
