Some faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore have come together to appeal to corporate leaders not to fund hate. In an open letter, the group of current as well as retired faculty mention that the state of internal security in India is "fragile" and corporate heads should "de-fund the spread of misinformation and hate speech through news channels and social media."
The letter highlights the rise of hate crimes and atrocities against minority communities. "These trends concern corporate India, as they point towards an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country...Corporate India, which hopes to reach new frontiers of international growth and innovation in the 21st century, cannot afford to live with even a small possibility of such a scenario," the letter says.
One of the professors, Deepak Malghan, shared the letter on Twitter accompanied by a comment. "The letter points out that the risk of genocide in India is no longer close to zero, and urges corporate India to use its voice to rise up against hate, and stand up for fraternity."
The faculty have mentioned four demands in the document:
1. Stop hate funding - Funding should be stopped for all news and social media organisations that publicly air hateful or genocidal content.
2. Support responsible stakeholders - An internal should be conducted to audit to ensure that funds, in the form of advertising or donations, go to only responsible stakeholders.
3. Curate a welcoming work culture - Diversity and inclusion sensitisation events should be held periodically within organisations to ensure their work culture remains welcoming to people of a variety of faiths and social backgrounds.
4. Use your voice for fraternity - Corporates should vocally ensure that India’s diverse social fabric, public discourse, and democratic institutions remain strong.
The letter is signed by 17 faculty members in their personal capacity.
