According to a report on the New Indian Express website on May 28, India’s Ministry of Culture is purchasing DNA analysis kits and related state-of-the-art instruments to establish the history of genetics and “track the purity of the Indian race.”

Source: Global Times New Media

Recently, a project invested by the Indian Ministry of Culture has caused controversy in the country. According to a report on the New Indian Express website on May 28, India’s Ministry of Culture is purchasing DNA analysis kits and related state-of-the-art instruments to establish the history of genetics and “track the purity of the Indian race.”

Data map: Professor Vasant S Shinde

The report quoted senior government sources as saying that among the officials of the Ministry of Culture, Govind Mohan and Professor Vasant S Shinde, etc. The procurement process has begun following a meeting between a group of archaeologists.

British media said The Bharatiya Janata Party denied the "Aryan migration theory"

Professor Shinde admitted in an interview with the "New Indian Express" that test kits are being purchased. "We wanted to look at how genetic mutation and admixture occurred in the Indian population over the past 10,000 years," he said. "Mutation depends on the intensity of contact between groups and how long this process took. Then, we will There is a clear understanding of the genetic history (of the Indian population). It can even be said that this is to trace the purity of the Indian race."

Rahul Gandhi linked this matter to the Nazis

"The New Indian Express" pointed out , the Anthropological Survey of India (ANSI), a Kolkata-based research organization that was initially involved in the project in 2019, recently expressed its unwillingness to continue tracing the genetic origins of early Indians because the issue "has political overtones" One of the participants when it was conceived. Sources said that the Indian government has earmarked a budget of 100 million rupees for the procurement of DNA analyzers and other related scientific research equipment. According to ANSI, the aim is to "develop cell lines as well as DNA sample resources that can be used to study DNA sequence polymorphisms in contemporary Indian populations."

ANSI stated that its more important purpose is to try to "establish the role played by India in the process of the spread of modern humans from Africa" ​​because "modern humans may have followed the 'southern dispersal route', following the coastline from Africa through Arabia, Traveling through the Indian subcontinent then into Southeast Asia and finally into Australia." Secondly, ANSI hopes to understand the genetic diversity of the population among different ethnic groups in different regions of India. ANSI acknowledged that under the project, the agency has studied 75 communities, including collecting 7,807 blood samples from different parts of the country.

A few days after the incident came to light, Rahul Gandhi, the former chairman of India’s largest opposition Congress Party, criticized the above-mentioned practices on May 31. He wrote on his Twitter: “The last time a country’s Ministry of Culture tried to study 'Racial purity', the results are not good, India needs job security and economic prosperity, not 'racial purity', Mr. Prime Minister." The Indian media pointed out that Rahul obviously refers to Hitler's Nazi Germany, at that time Hitler promoted the concept of "racial purity" and targeted Jews.

According to "Hindustan Times", the Indian Ministry of Culture said in response that the above-mentioned Indian media reports were "misleading, malicious and contrary to facts." While not denying the matter outright, the ministry clarified: "The Ministry of Culture has received a proposal from ANSI to upgrade the DNA laboratory to a next-generation facility for certain ongoing projects. The proposal is related to establishing genetic history and tracing India's racial purity has nothing to do with it... The proposal is currently under review."

Indian Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy also tweeted a rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi: "In Gandhi's Before tweeting (probably from abroad), the official Twitter account of the Indian Ministry of Culture had marked the report as 'misleading'. Did he turn a blind eye to this, or did he deliberately choose to further spread this fake news?"

This matter is in India It has also attracted attention outside the country. The British "Independent" pointed out that Professor Shinde is known to support the "Hindu majority" narrative, that is, he refuses to accept an academic theory: Aryans migrated to India and replaced The country's indigenous population. The British media stated that the denial of the "Aryan migration theory" has been officially endorsed by the currently ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.