The Saeima’s Committee on Citizenship, Migration and Social Cohesion will consider a motion tabled by an unnamed Member of Parliament calling for an investigation into the facts surrounding the granting of Latvian citizenship to Indian scientist Divya Kannan Vishwanath, Latvian Television reported on October 19.
‘On the development of innovative products and technologies, the practical application of research findings, and the promotion of Latvia’s international recognition and competitiveness’ – this is how members of the relevant Saeima committee justified the draft law, which provides for the naturalisation of Divya Kannan Vishwanath, a citizen of the Republic of India, as a Latvian citizen. She was granted citizenship on 15 October.
Recommendations for Vishwanath’s naturalisation were prepared by representatives of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, including its President, Ivars Kalviņš.
Social media users have noticed that the ‘Research’ section of Vishwanath's website listed three supposedly published scientific articles which cannot be found when searching online databases of scientific publications. Latvian Radio was also unable to find such publications, although two of the three journals with these titles do indeed exist. Meanwhile, the ‘Research’ section of the website has disappeared at some point since Saturday. It is still possible to access it by entering its address, but the text there has now changed and makes no mention of any publications.
However, the page now features a section titled “My Publications”, which was not there just a few days ago, according to Latvian Radio. It lists ten articles published in seven journals, which can be found online. All of these journals are so-called ‘open-access journals’. Their publication model works as follows: authors pay to have their articles published. Journals of this type are often criticised in academic circles for the high likelihood that publications in them may not comply with the fundamental principles of scientific publishing, as it is not always possible to ensure or verify truly independent evaluation and editing of content in this way. The President of the Latvian Academy of Sciences (LZA) took a different view of the situation. He explained that authors often pay to have their work published in these journals in order to get their research out into the public domain more quickly.
Latvian Radio managed to contact Vishwanath via email. She referred to 10 publications, but regarding her higher education, she stated that she had obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Mumbai in India, and in 2018 she had obtained a PhD in computer science from the Janardhana Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth University in India.
“All information (including diplomas) has been submitted to the relevant authorities, and its authenticity has been confirmed both by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and by checks carried out by several Latvian state institutions,” writes Vishwanath.
Latvian Radio requested documents to confirm this, but she did not provide them to LR. However, regarding the changes made to the website, Vishwanath claimed that the website had been hacked, which is why the information displayed there had changed.
The Academic Information Centre, which assesses education obtained abroad and carries out the academic recognition of documents in Latvia, told Latvian Television that no such person is listed in the centre’s records. Consequently, a certificate was never issued for this person.
“I have seen the diploma myself. It has been certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in India and notarised. I’m sorry, but I have no doubt that such a diploma exists,” said Kalviņš.
Information posted on social media has come to the attention of the law enforcement authorities. The State Police have confirmed that they have received the complaint and are assessing it.
Gunārs Kūtris (Union of Greens and Farmers), chair of the Committee on Citizenship, Migration and Social Cohesion, emphasised that MPs had reached the decision to support the granting of citizenship after assessing all the documents submitted.
“We essentially rely on the person submitting the documents to take responsibility for them. This is particularly the case when the documents – including educational qualifications – have been certified as genuine. Certified copies are provided. Another point: we also place great trust in the institutions that make the recommendations. We do not carry out any in-depth verification of whether a person has studied there or not, because, at the end of the day, we even grant citizenship to people who have no formal education,” said Kūtris.
The MP declined to comment on the criticism voiced on social media. The relevant committee announced that it had received a submission from a Member of Parliament calling for an investigation into certain facts relating to the granting of citizenship to Vishwanath. Meanwhile, the bill was passed by the Saeima under urgent procedure, and therefore the President cannot return it for further scrutiny.
It is also possible to revoke the citizenship granted if MPs draft a relevant bill and vote in favour of it.
Seen a mistake?
Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor
Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor