Plagiarism or Academicism?
"Perish those who said our good things before we did."
Aelius Donatus
Kerala Science Congress, a significant event at least for Kerala’s scientific community, concluded on 31st January 2007, at Kannur, Kerala. Media reports claim that the papers presented at the congress were of “international standard”. However, we regretfully have to dissent. We can’t help saying that this conference yet again showed the bankruptcy of some of our eminent scholars and their resultant resort to PLAGIARISM, which by consent is one of the worst crimes in academia. Had it been some stray instances from some students or researchers hell-bent on achieving their degrees, it would have been just pardonable. However, this time it was the head of a prestigious institution, Prof. G.R. C. Reddy, Director, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut who brought about disrepute on the event through blatant academic corruption.
Please note that Prof. Reddy was invited to the congress to inaugurate the valedictory function and Prof. Reddy did deliver a valedictory address. Below this article, you can see a copy of the speech delivered by Prof. Reddy. Prof. Reddy has displayed it on the website of the institution he heads with a link at the heart of the homepage. (See here). We have uploaded it here, lest he may choose to remove it, once the truth is out). The underlined parts you see are all lifted (mere cut and paste) from various web pages. Find it unbelievable? Seeing is believing. Just click on those parts to reach the pages where you can see the sentences or phrasing Prof. Reddy has presented as his own.
“Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism.” George Moore
An Apology for the Exposé
Pardon this paranoia, pardon this peeping Tom, but issues vital to the academic world are galore in this context, so vital that a post-mortem is essential and imperative. We will encounter certain keywords like plagiarism, integrity, intellectual honesty, courtesy and a newfangled coinage cut-paste, time and again in this write-up. Cut-paste is more than a function; it is increasingly becoming a culture in the academia. However, in the academic and scientific field plagiarism is an unpardonable crime, nothing less than outright theft befitting maximum punishment and in cases like this summary banishment from the academic realm.
The University of Colorado’s Academic Integrity Policy defines Plagiarism as “the use of another’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgment. Examples of plagiarism include: failing to use quotation marks when directly quoting from a source; failing to document distinctive ideas from a source; fabricating or inventing sources; and copying information from computer-based sources, i.e., the Internet.” This webpage of University of Pretoria discusses Why is plagiarism a serious offence?. Plagiarism is infringement on copyright, piracy and naked violation of Intellectual Property Rights. Georgetown University Honor Council warns the students that
“Students who submit written work in the University must, therefore, be the authors of their own papers. Students who use facts or ideas originating with others must plainly distinguish what is theirs from what is not. To misrepresent one’s work ignorantly is to show oneself unprepared to assume the responsibility presupposed by work on the college level.” |
Now look at what Prof. Reddy has done. Reddy is the Director of a reputed academic and research institute. He is the person responsible for the integrity and quality of the academic and research exercise and output of NIT, Calicut. If this is the sort of academic integrity and intellectual honesty he is observing, what moral grounds he has for managing an important academic and research institution? Won’t his presence vitiate the whole environment around him? Can any faculty member of his institute question any student or staff under him, when he/she misappropriates someone else’s work and claim it as his or hers?
The Dissection
God, it stinks!
Let’s broach the big deal. And what does his speech say? (It doesn’t say anything much other than sickening platitudes.) Before starting on mangling the corpse of Reddy speech let me acknowledge that he acknowledges a bit of courtesy to five big wigs in the following fashion at the end of the published form of his address. [“(The speaker acknowledges Amartyasen, Muralimanohar Joshi, Yashpal and Shashi Tharoor)” We will soon see that they are only a few of those who suffered mutilated and vandalised plagiarism at Reddy’s hands. He has expediently left out many others whom he plagiarised on, not merely for ideas but even for turns of phrases.]. Will this acknowledgement of sorts extenuate his conduct? NO! Mr. Reddy was not making an impromptu speech. He prepared it beforehand and was reading it out. Is it enough to “acknowledge” a few names (while leaving out many others) at the end parenthetically? No, absolutely not. There are strict guidelines accepted by the academic community. Reddy can’t run away with his speech as he likes. See here, web site of Indiana University has some relevant information :
“Using another person’s phrases or sentences without putting quotation marks around them is considered plagiarism EVEN IF THE WRITER CITES IN HER OWN TEXT THE SOURCE OF THE PHRASES OR SENTENCES SHE HAS QUOTED.” |
If you want to look at the legal aspect, listen to what Dr. Ronald B. Standler (attorney) has to say.
“When using another person's words, to avoid plagiarism one must always do both of the following:
|
Then Mr. Reddy is guilty of more than plagiarism. He doesn’t use quotation marks, doesn’t differentiate between his words and things he “quotes”. And over the top, he lifts whole sentences from websites without acknowledging or admitting it. One of the rare occurrences of a quotation mark in Prof. Reddy’s speech can be seen here.
Prof. Reddy: “We have invented negative numbers – the British mathematician Hogben, grudgingly acknowledging this, derisively commented that “perhaps Hindus were in debt more often than not, it occurred to them that it would also be better to have a number which represents the amount of money one has”. |
Even this quotation mark is borrowed (rather, stolen). It was actually Sashi Tharoor quoting Lancelot Hogben and Reddy merely copied the entire sentence from Tharoor.
Sashi Tharoor: http://www.shashitharoor.com/articles/hindu/science.shtml) “Indian mathematicians invented negative numbers: the British mathematician Lancelot Hogben, grudgingly acknowledging this, suggested ungraciously that "perhaps because the Hindus were in debt more often than not, it occurred to them that it would also be useful to have a number which represent the amount of money one owes". |
In the process Mr. Reddy really landed himself in a quagmire. Compare Reddy’s “a number which represents the amount of money one has” and the original writer’s “a number which represent the amount of money one owes". (Emphasis added.) Dr. Reddy makes the idea stand on its head with his stupid substitution of the word owe with has.
The Eminent Academic and his “Fantastics”
Please bear with the coinage of the fake word fantstics. Seeing Prof. Reddy’s virulent fantasy playing antics, one just can’t help calling it fantastics. Prof. Reddy’s research skill is truly wonderful. He knows how to rely on his sources. Here is an instance.
Prof. Reddy: “Andalusia, a noted Arab scholar in his celebrated book ‘Tabaqat al-umam’ has stated that ‘India is the first nation to have cultivated science’’ |
The facts are that Andalusia is a Spanish region (not Arabian, mind you!) and the book in question was written by a scholar named Qadi Sa id. Mr. Reddy must have been in a hurry. He found the following sentence on a webpage http://www.oswego.edu/~kumar/book.htm.).
“One of these teachers was Sa'id al-Andalusi (Sa'id of Andalusia), who in 1068 wrote Kitab Tabaqat al-'Umam, or "Book of the Categories of Nations," which recorded the contributions to science of all known nations.” |
What went wrong with Reddy’s copy and paste exercise is not known to us but the result is hilariously funny. Prof. Reddy missed the whole point and messed up the whole thing. Andalusia, the Spanish region became the author of the book! Reddy must have thought, “Since it is a kitab, who else other than an Arab would write one?” Dear Mr. Reddy, please note that that Sa'id al-Andalusi means Sa'id of Andalusia.
Plagiarism, we all know is bad and at the same time we are aware that it is there. Most of the term papers and assignments submitted by our students contain sentences without proper citations. Still, even an undergraduate student usually shows some minimum respect to the authors they source upon by avoiding original and imaginative turns of phrases. However, our Prof. Reddy lacking in such sophomoric considerations lifts without a grain of shame even a strange phrasing used by the respected scholar Prof. Yash Pal in an article he wrote in the Tribune in 2004.
Reddy:
“However, I can not help feeling that the current hype is louder than tune. Great things to be done lie ahead, in areas such as Biotechnology and Nano-science.”
Prof. Yash Pal:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/specials/main1.htm
“I cannot help feeling that the current hype is louder than the tune, even though one feels that great things lie ahead.”
Is it a case of great men thinking alike? Hardly, as you will see through sickening instances of flagrant plagiarism below. However, such stupidities are really beside the point here! The heart of the matter lies elsewhere.
Vandalism too!
Reddy: “Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian swords. …Shipbuilding was one of India’s major export industries until recent times till the arrival of Britishers. Crop rotation and technology have been passed down for thousands of years and we have been pioneers in this field.” | http://www.indianscience.org/: “In the mid-first millennium BCE, the Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian courts for making swords... Shipbuilding was one of India's major export industries until the British dismantled it and formally banned it. Crop rotation and soil technology that has been passed down for thousands of years are traditional practices which India pioneered.” |
The source says “Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian courts...” which at least makes sense. Reddy makes it “popular in Persian swords”. How cute a rewording!
How he mutilates when he thieves! “Crop rotation and soil technology” when copied missed the “soil”. Reddy being so technically bent may have dislike for earthy things like soil. Similarly shipbuilding also suffers horribly at Reddy’s hands.
Sir William Davenant a 17th century English poet said thus:
“Because they commonly make use of treasure found in books, as of other treasure belonging to the dead and hidden underground; for they dispose of both with great secrecy, defacing the shape and image of the one as much as of the other.” |
The import of the quote suits well for Reddy’s thievery. He is guilty of vandalism, too.
What Happens “in between”?
Thievery, more thievery, what else? Clicking on these links, you can see that these are all opinions of eminent scientists and the websites from where Reddy has lifted those parts properly acknowledge them all. But Reddy expediently takes what he needs, not just the data but even the entire sentences or turns of phrases and decides to remove the names of the scientists. Please note that nowhere in his speech he gives any courtesy acknowledgement to the scientists, CNR Rao and Dr Gangan Prathap.
A Touch of Originality too!
We shouldn’t accuse him of lack of originality altogether. The non-underlined, non-linked parts probably are his original thoughts and original phraseology.
Prof. Reddy: “It should not be difficult to induce brilliant young people into science as there is a deep fun in doing science. Selling chocolates, cookies and soaps might fetch more money but can not be intellectually challenging and spiritually fulfilling.” |
And he has turned out a very interesting phrase too, which is ‘a real beauty’, to use a cricketing phrase- “there is a deep fun in doing science”. This finest piece of wisdom should be displayed at all the scientific institutions in India and perhaps should be inscribed on the walls of every urinal and latrine students frequent. Reddy has titled his speech “The Argumentative India and its Scientific Temper”. What he meant by this is still too vague, though he names two “dissenters” at the beginning. One can wonder how much scope he allows for the argumentativeness in his own institution. People from NIT, Calicut can provide feedback on that aspect. “The scientific temper” we have seen through. Mr. Reddy, pardon the impertinence, who do you think you can enlighten with this gem of wisdom you allegedly fathered? Let’s sincerely thank you for all the deep fun you give us!
The full text of Prof. Reddy’s Speech as given at the NIT Calicut website.
The Argumentative India and its Scientific Temper G.R. C. Reddy Director National Institute of Technology Calicut NITC PO, Calicut - 673601 India is an ancient nation and its religious literature is voluminous, perhaps more than any other country. The earliest literature, Vedas, Upanishads and Geetha form part of that. These books are full of arguments and counter arguments. In our literature we also find the names like Charvaka, Gautama Buddha, intellectually combative giants. This informs us that our society accommodates and tolerates dissent. We have a long history of heterodoxy and plurality. Thus our society learnt to accommodate arguments and counter arguments, which leads to the search for truth. The search for truth leads to the understanding of nature and the development of science. Thus we have a long tradition of science. In the good olden days the traditional folk and the elite sciences are interwined reducing diversity of view into a way similar to bio-diversity, harmonizing various civilizations. Since the birth of history, different people have contributed to different branches of science and technology through interactive contacts across cultures separated by large distances. This nails the lie that India was less rational and scientific than the West. We have excellent contributions in several branches of science and technology. Harappan civilization was the first in the known civilizations to build and plan the towns with underground drainage. Their structural engineering and air-cooling architecture were well documented. Oven-baked bricks were invented in India. The technologies to manage water are well documented since Harappan days. Indian textiles have been legendary since ancient times. Greeks and Romans extensively imported them from our country. Roman archives record official complaints about massive cash drainage due to these imports from India. Iron was known in the Ganga valley much before Christ in the first millennium BCE. Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian swords. Rust free steel was an Indian invention and remained an Indian skill for centuries. The pillar near the Qutab Minar in Delhi is considered a metallurgical marvel and is a testimony to our skills. Another important Indian contribution to metallurgy was isolation, distillation and use of Zinc. This was observed in Taxashila in the 4 th Century BCE. Shipbuilding was one of India’s major export industries until recent times till the arrival of Britishers. Crop rotation and technology have been passed down for thousands of years and we have been pioneers in this field. Historically Indian’s agricultural production was large and sustained a huge population compared to any part of the world. Surpluses were stored for use in a drought year. Our contribution in medicine is well known. Many multinationals no longer denigrate our traditional medicine. Our contribution in Mathematics is well known. We invented “Zero”, which is the result of concept of nothingness, i.e. Shunya. We have invented negative numbers – the British mathematician Hogben, grudgingly acknowledging this, derisively commented that “perhaps Hindus were in debt more often than not, it occurred to them that it would also be better to have a number which represents the amount of money one has”. The Kerala mathematician ‘Nilakantha’ wrote the sophisticated explanations of the irrationality of ‘pi” before the west had heard of the concept. We used Pythagoras theorem long before its advent in Greece. Vedic Indians solved square roots. Our contribution in astronomy is magnificent, which I need not elaborate. Thus from the days of Rigveda which asserted that the gravitation held the universe together (thousands of years before the apple fell on Newton’s head) to the present day, India has a very long cherished scientific tradition and this is mainly due to heterodoxy, plurality, allowing the arguments and counter arguments accommodating, tolerating and respecting the dissent which lead to the scientific temper. Thus Indians are by nature scientifically tempered. Andalusia, a noted Arab scholar in his celebrated book ‘Tabaqat al-umam’ has stated that ‘ India is the first nation to have cultivated science’. However, in between something happened to us and West forged ahead of us. Despite this long scientific tradition what happened to us in between? Is it because our society is developed exclusiveness of certain sections of the people leading to the confinement of knowledge to a particular section or is it because of colonial domination over the country for several centuries? A recent much accepted top 500 ranking of world universities features only three Indian universities – Indian Institute of Science in the 251-300 rank slot and Indian Institutes of Technology Delhi and Kharagpur in the 451 – 500 slot. The fact, however bitter, is that the contribution of India to science has come down enormously. Our share of contribution to global research and development is just 1.58 percent. This reflects the health of research in the country. According to one estimate, India has to step up the number of Research and Development workers by a factor of 12 and increase the scientific effort 50 fold, if India wants to keep pace with the developed world. However, I am an optimist. Some of our institutes like IISc, IITs, NITs and Central Universities have produced finest minds, thanks to the vision of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister. Their degrees are held in the same esteem as that of any noted university in the west. These finest minds made strides in Atomic energy and Space where major developments have been made by the public sector without critical technical assistance from abroad. Recent launch of four satellites put into orbit by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) and the recovery of Space Capsule is a testimony of our maturity in Science & Technology. In the area of chemicals and pharmaceuticals the country has moved significantly forward. Even our farm sector is not lagging behind. Young persons are coming to R & D and industry with greater confidence and competence. We are making great progress in several other fields too including Information & Communication Technology. Of late, I see great change in the Science & Technology scene of the country. In the year 2006-07, the Indian Science budget is enhanced by 17%, substantial indeed. But why any body should do science? Here the Industry comes into picture which reaps the fruits of science and it should take care of it and it should happen in a big way. Industry should address the needs of science in a cooperative way. We should understand that the more we use foreign gadgets the more we create the gap between us and the developed world. It should not be difficult to induce brilliant young people into science as there is a deep fun in doing science. Selling chocolates, cookies and soaps might fetch more money but can not be intellectually challenging and spiritually fulfilling. When I see in my campus the young boys and girls with critical minds, I am never in despair. The days are not far off when India once again roars. However, I may add here that still India is one of the world’s most illiterate countries and not even 1 or 2 percent of our students do science. Unless we do something about this, it is difficult to operate on the frontier of Science & Technology knowledge. (The speaker acknowledges Amartyasen, Muralimanohar Joshi, Yashpal and Shashi Tharoor) Valedictory Address at 19 th Kerala Science Congress held on January 31, 2007 at Kannur, Kerala. |
Post Script: As we expected, the erring speech was removed promptly from the website. However, you can see the speech here where it has been retrieved and cached in the original form and from the original source. And the Homepage of the website with the link is cached and preserved here.
--ইন্দ্রলাল--
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