Mumbai: The coming to power of the NDA regime in 2014 brought with it several attempts to re-imagine and reinterpret the history of India. Our scientific history, in particular, bore the brunt of this as various outlandish claims were made about supposed technical advancements in the Mahabharata . Reports soon followed about astrology potentially being made a part of science education and of course, of extensive research being done into the health and scientific benefits of cow dung.
Faith-based science is necessarily a pseudo science, and countering it requires a reaffirmation of our commitment to having a scientific temperament. This was the subject of a panel discussion titled ‘The glorification of Pseudo Science’, held as part of the Mumbai Collective on Saturday. Speaking on the subject were Vivek Monteiro, principal adviser, Navnirmiti Learning Foundation, Vinita Bal from the Indian Institute of Science education and Research in Pune, and Tejal Kanitkar from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The session was moderated by senior journalist Kumar Ketkar.
Mr. Monteiro started by reading out statements made by RSS leaders, claiming for instance, that genetic science was invented at the time of the Mahabharata . "This kind of thinking used to be on the fringe but it has now been brought to the mainstream," he said. Mr Monteiro also pointed out that books written by RSS ideologue Dinanath Batra are now being prescribed as part of school curriculums in some states.
A scientific history
India, he said, has a true scientific history and there are instances of true innovations. An example he mentioned was Tipu Sultan’s use of rockets against the British. The British studied them and it nearly helped early innovations in aeronautics he said. Yet, he argued, contributions like these are ignored in the larger sweep of trying to glorify our past.
Mr. Monteiro said we need to remember that scientific temperament is something enshrined in our constitution. “Any knowledge must be subject to collective critical scrutiny. Any system not willing to face public scrutiny cannot claim to be scientifically valid,” he said.
Ms. Bal argued that science, as a concept, is accommodative and is ever changing. “Pseudo science on the other hand remains static since it cannot be challenged.” She gave the example of panels being set up to study benefits of cow dung, and said committees such as those would not follow a scientific method, and would simply look for proof to confirm what they already know they want to find.
Ms Kanitkar asked the question of how so many fake pronouncements about science are made in public and how the people making them are allowed to get away with it. She argued that it was because of 'an everyday obscurantism' that occurres with regard to people not truly letting go of faith based beliefs. "To truly let go of those beliefs would be to truly embrace modernity in this country," she said, arguing that many were not ready to do that.
