India’s First Anti-Science Government?
This is not the first time a BJP minister has challenged science.
The world lost renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking earlier this week on March 14.
Today, while delivering his address to Indian Science Congress in Manipur, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan went on to say that even “Stephen Hawking had once said emphatically on-record that our Vedas might have a theory superior to Einstein’s law E=MC2.”
Harsh Vardhan’s statement sent some of the journalists attending the conference scurrying for the source of this information. When the correspondents asked him to cite the source, Harsh Vardhan said: “You in the media should do some work and find out the source of this statement. When you have failed, then I shall disclose the source of my information.”
In August 2017, scientists across prominent institutions in India participated in a ‘March for Science’. An appeal by many of the scientists supporting this march said:
“While we can justly be inspired by the great achievements in science and technology in ancient India, we see that non-scientific ideas lacking in evidence are being propagated as science by persons in high positions, fueling a confrontational chauvinism in lieu of true patriotism that we cherish. Promoting scientific bent of mind can certainly help improve the social health of our country where incidents of witch hunting, honour killing and mob lynching are reported regularly.“
A little over a month had passed when Satyapal Singh, Minister of State for HRD asked at an award ceremony:
“Why are IIT students being taught about the Wright brothers when an Indian invented the aircraft?”
In January 2018, Singh said that nobody had ever mentioned in writing or “Nana-nani tales” that Darwin went to the jungles to witness an ape metamorphose into a human. The minister then went on to reject Darwin’s theory to such a degree that he demanded schools stop teaching students about it. “Humans appeared on Earth as humans, right from the beginning and man will always remain a man,” Singh had stated.
In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed “We all read about Karna in the Mahabharata. If we think a little more, we realise that the Mahabharata says Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time. That is why Karna could be born outside his mother’s womb.”
While the PM and his ministers keep looking at some imaginary past, Indian scientists remain stuck in the present. The abovementioned appeal by scientists also said “We note with deep concern that financial support to even premier institutions like IITs, NITs, and IISERs has been slashed. Universities are facing shortage of funds to adequately support scientific research. Research funding agencies like DST, DBT and CSIR are reportedly impacted by reduced governmental support. Scientists in government laboratories are being asked to generate a part of their salary by selling their inventions and from other sources.”
One can only hope that the Indian government decides to come back to the present.