Scientists and policymakers make for strange bedfellows.

The land subsidence in Uttarakhand’s hill town Joshimath, which has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate in the last two weeks, only reminds us why. An article published in a national daily pointed out that two different expert scientific committees, one in 1976 and another in 2021, had raised red flags, warning against heavy construction work, felling of trees and rampant agricultural activity on the slopes of the town. In fact, the 2021 panel of geologists had even recommended urgent slope stabilisation and evacuation, but no action was taken. That men of science are being consistently ignored and sometimes even silenced, became evident when the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) last week directed organisations against releasing data related to Joshimath on social media platforms or interacting with the media. The direction came after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had in a report stated that the town had sunk 5.4 cm between December 27 and January 8. ISRO later withdrew the report and related satellite images from its website. Scientists and conservationists are not surprised by this U-turn.