Indian Science Congress organisers refuse to share paper on ‘ancient Indian aviation’

The organisers of the controversial session on 'ancient sciences through Sanskrit' in the 102nd Indian Science Congress underway here, have refused to share the presentation or the paper on ancient Indian aviation technology.

The paper presented here on January 4 by Captain Anand Bodas, a retired principal of a pilot training institute, and Ameya Jadhav, a college teacher, courted controversy by claiming existence of interplanetary aircrafts in India thousands of years ago, and planes of the size of 60 by 60 feet.

The paper claimed that ancient radar system known as

Roopakarshanrahasya , gave the shape of the entire aeroplane on the radar. “It depended on the basic principle that any animate or inanimate object radiates energy all the time. The minute anything stops radiating, it is dead,” Captain Bodas had said during his presentation.

But when

The Hindu approached him for a copy of his presentation, he refused to share it. "Please ask the organisers. I have given my copy to them. I did not even operate the computer during the presentation," he said.

The organisers, on their part, said they will have to seek Captain Bodas' permission. "If he has asked you to approach us, he clearly does not want to share it," an organiser said.

When asked about the announcement that all presentations will be uploaded on the official website, the organisers said they had reversed the decision.

"We had earlier decided we will upload all the presentations on our website. But we have changed our minds now. We will only upload a report on the session," Uma Vaidya, chairperson of the session and Vice Chancellor of Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, told The Hindu .

When asked the reasons for not sharing a public presentation, Gauri Mahulikar, co-host of the event, associate professor and Head of Sanskrit Department, Mumbai University, said, "There are copyright issues. We fear that others who have nothing to do with this research, will claim it as their finding," she said.

She said that a few students of Sanskrit had already taken some papers from them, and claimed to be their own works.