'Don't use the past as a battlefield'

The claims of inter-planetary travel by Indians several millennia ago and other papers based on mythology at the 102 nd Indian Science Congress (ISC) has drawn biting criticism from academics and activists alike.

Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad chair at the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, S. Irfan Habib, cautioned against, “using the past as a battlefield instead of a spring board for research.”

 

He told this reporter, “We actually do more harm than good in this race by claiming all achievements as Indian. This denigrates what already existed.” Dr. Habib explained that several scientific theories now being attributed to ancient India were simply ideas that were floated. “We do not have a series of investigations by a line of scientists to improve upon what was already known.”

  

Archaeology professor Nayanjot Lahiri of Delhi University said, “How can modern science contribute to the study of science in Ancient India is what needs to be assessed. The scientific data base, for instance, available for understanding ancient metallurgy is extremely shallow. It can, however, be qualitatively expanded through technical studies of ancient artefacts themselves and not through an analysis of ancient texts.”

Indian History Congress 

Last month, the Indian History Congress passed a resolution here demanding that the government not distort history. “Unfortunately, even the Prime Minister has suggested that in the hoary past, Indians had learnt, and then forgotten, plastic surgery of a kind going far beyond what is now possible. There is widespread belief that soon textbooks will be revised or rewritten, to inculcate such a strongly misleading and divisive brand of history among pupils in our schools,” it said.

Signature campaign 

California-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientist Ramprasad Gandhiraman had launched a signature campaign to remove the lecture on ‘Ancient Indian Aviation Technology’ from the ISC, fearing that it would gain the legitimacy to be included in school curriculum.

 

“Interestingly, talks like this are allowed on respected platforms only when the BJP comes to power,” said ND Jayaprakash of the Delhi Science Forum. “India certainly made contributions to astronomy but talking about aircraft 7000 years ago is a joke. They constantly need to revisit what they call past glory to drum up support for their ideology,” he added.