[ Karyir Riba ]
ROING, 16 Aug: The Idu Mishmi Cultural and Literary Society (IMCLS) has blacklisted four researchers from National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Indian Foundation for Butterflies Trust (IFBT), and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), for alleged breach of the Idu Mishmi Community Research Code of Ethics (IMCRE).
The blacklisted researchers are Dr Krushnamegh Kunte from NCBS, Fahim Khan from IFBT, Rajkamal Goswami affiliated with the ATREE, and Aavika Danda, formerly affiliated with ATREE. They will not be permitted to undertake any research activities in Idu Mishmi-inhabited areas hereafter.
The Idu Mishmi community has its own community code of research ethics, the IMCRE, framed in 2024 and launched by Chief Minister Pema Khandu. As provided under the IMCRE, a Research Ethics Review Board (RERB) has been constituted to review research proposals seeking permission to undertake research activities in all Idu Mishmi inhabited areas.
According to IMCLS, the objective of the IMCRE is to meaningfully engage with the wider research community while taking into consideration the concerns of the indigenous community through the basic principles of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), data regulation, ethical research, doing away with parachute research and decolonising research methodologies before research is undertaken in the indigenous community.
IMCLS has stated that, despite repeated communications, members of ATREE, who worked in the Mekola Community Conserved Area (CCA), failed to obtain prior approval from IMCLS and did not seek the required consent from the RERB before undertaking what the society describes as unethical research practices.
"Such activities included the use of camera traps and the sharing of community-related data with the Forest Department and placing such data in the wider public domain without proper community consent," they said.
The society has further alleged that such actions contributed to complications relating to land matters in the Hunli-Desali circle, without the researchers fully understanding the legal landscape surrounding the issue.
IMCLS alleged that these activities were undertaken by Rajkamal Goswami and Aavika Danda without prior informed consent, in what the society described as a race to complete their tasks and enhance their academic credibility.
IMCLS further stated that Danda was called in writing for a meeting with the society but did not attend the meeting and subsequently left ATREE after completing the work, including collection of data, which the society alleges was undertaken through unethical means.
The society stated that many villagers have complained about the issue and that the matter is currently pending before the appropriate district-level competent authority
IMCLS stated that the members associated with NCBS and IFBT were also blacklisted because, while their research permission was still pending before the RERB, they proceeded to a sensitive border area in Dibang Valley for their research work.
According to IMCLS, when its members interacted with the researchers in Dibang Valley and requested them to obtain prior permission from the RERB, the researchers initially agreed to do so. However, they subsequently did not appear before the RERB despite the board waiting for them at Roing for more than two hours, the IMCLS said.
It further alleged that the team, thereafter, left Lower Dibang Valley directly from Dibang Valley without appearing before the RERB or obtaining the required permission
"This is not the first occasion on which it has blacklisted researchers for alleged violation of the community's research ethics framework. In the past too, a researcher from Germany and a researcher from IIT Gandhinagar had also been blacklisted despite repeated requests and written communications asking them to comply with the community's research ethics requirements, the IMCLS stated.
The IMCLS said it is taking the matter of alleged breach of the IMCRE very seriously, and stated: "In order to meaningfully engage with researchers and clarify any confusion regarding the community's research ethics requirements, we organised several internal meetings, shared written representations and copies of the IMCRE with competent district authorities and the PCCF, Itanagar, held meetings with community stakeholders, and placed details of the matter and the community's research ethics framework on its website."
The society reiterated that its objective is not to oppose genuine scientific research, but to ensure that research undertaken in Idu Mishmi areas respects the rights, consent, knowledge systems, customary institutions and data sovereignty of the indigenous community.
IMCLS further said that villagers across Dibang Valley are supporting its efforts through Gram Sabha resolutions to establish reasonable regulation of research practices and to oppose, in particular, extraction-based research in Dibang Valley undertaken without the informed participation and consent of the community.
"The IMCRE is intended to ensure that research in Idu Mishmi areas is conducted in a transparent, ethical and responsible manner and that researchers meaningfully engage with the community before undertaking research, collecting data or disseminating community-related information," the IMCLS said.
The IMCLS reiterated its commitment to constructive engagement with the wider research community while insisting that all research activities in Idu Mishmi inhabited areas must comply with the IMCRE and the procedures of the RERB.
