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Indian Science Congress Association
Stop providing a platform for pseudo-science in 102nd Indian Science Congress
Ramprasad Gandhiraman
Sunnyvale, CA
India’s prestigious 102nd Indian Science Congress will be held in Mumbai, India from 3rd to 7th January. The conference will have high profile scientist speakers from India and Abroad including Nobel Laureates. What is strange about this India’s highly prestigious and historical conference is that, in a session on “Ancient Sciences through Sanskrit†, Mr. Bodas and Mr. Jadhav will be delivering a talk titled “Ancient Indian Aviation Technology†. 26th December 2014 Mumbai Mirror news paper reports that the speaker Mr. Bodas had told the following when questioned about his talk.
“The Vedic or rather ancient Indian definition of an aeroplane was a vehicle which travels through the air from one country to another country, from one continent to another continent, from one planet to another planet. In those days aeroplanes were huge in size, and could move left, right, as well as backwards, unlike modern planes which only fly forward."
Providing a scientific platform in a prestigious science conference for a pseudo-science talk is appalling. It questions the integrity of scientific process. It also appears that this is the first time such a session is held in Indian Science Congress. This talk is not an isolated incident to shrug off. A google search with key words “Indian Prime minister plastic surgery†, “Indian Home minister Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle†, “Indian Health minister sex education ban†, “Gujarat school books science myths†etc., will give plenty of alarming developments happened over the past 6 months. We as scientific community should be seriously concerned about the infiltration of pseudoscience in science curricula with backing of influential political parties. The accelerated pace with which it is being promoted will seriously undermine nation’s science and it will have a disastrous effect on the future generation scientists. Giving a scientific platform for a pseudo-science talk is worse than a systematic attack that has been carried out by politically powerful pseudo-science propagandists in the recent past.
Scientific temper and the accompanying curiosity to understand the universe had always existed throughout human history. Today, we live in an era which has seen amazing technological advancement. And we are able to understand our universe in a way that is far superior than our ancestors did at any point in human history. Pseudo-Science does a great disservice to science and it is the responsibility of the scientists to stand up and defend the science. If we scientists remain passive, we are betraying not only the science but also our children.
Please sign this petition requesting the Indian Science Congress to stop providing a platform for pseudo-science.
https://www.change.org/p/indian-science-congress-association-stop-providing-a-platform-for-pseudo-science-in-102nd-indian-science-congress-2
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Indian Science Congress organisers slip Vedic mythology about aviation into programme schedule
By Vikrant Dadawala, Mumbai Mirror | Dec 26, 2014, 12.00 AM IST
(L-R) Local sec Dr Rajpal Hande, ISC general president Sarjerao Nimse and MU VC Dr Rajan M Welukar interacting with the press about the 102nd Indian Science Congress
One of the speakers on age-old aeroplanes claims the aircraft could fly backwards, travel to other planets.
Straddling a lecture on ribosomes, resistance to antibiotics and the origin of life and a discourse about controlling the cell cycle, both delivered by Nobel laureates, is a talk that’s at odds with the programming at the five-day Indian Science Congress, scheduled to begin at Mumbai University’s Kalina Campus on January 3.
The lecture in question, included in a symposium that examines the role of "ancient sciences through Sanskrit", which will take place on January 4, is in keeping with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s untested claims that Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle takes root in the Vedas and India conducted the world’s first nuclear test "lakhs of years ago".
It is arguably inconsistent with the tradition of scientific method, testable methods and primacy of empirical evidence on which the 102-year-old congress was founded.
The talk that is symbolic of this anomaly deals with "ancient Indian aviation technology", which will be delivered by a retired principal of a pilot training facility in Kerala and a lecturer at the Swami Vivekananda International School and Junior College in Mumbai.
The first of the two speakers, Captain Anand J Bodas, told Mumbai Mirror that he believes "modern science is unscientific" in that it claims things it cannot understand do not exist. "The Vedic or rather ancient Indian definition of an aeroplane was a vehicle which travels through the air from one country to another country, from one continent to another continent, from one planet to another planet," he said. "In those days aeroplanes were huge in size, and could move left, right, as well as backwards, unlike modern planes which only fly forward."
Captain Bodas’s source text for these claims is what he terms is an ancient Indian treatise on aviation, Vaimanika Prakaranam, the authorship of which is attributed to the sage Bhardwaj. "Out of the 500 guidelines described in it, only 100 to 120 survive today," he said of the manuscript. "This is due to the passage of time, foreign rulers ruling us, and things being stolen from the country."
Prof Gauri Mahulikar, head of MU’s Sanskrit Department and coordinator for the session, said that this was the first time that the Indian Science Congress had held a symposium on ancient Indian science viewed through Sanskrit literature. "If we had chosen Sanskrit professors to talk about the references to aviation technology in Sanskrit literature, which includes information on how to make planes, the dress code and diet of pilots, the seven types of fuel used, people would have dismissed us, but Captain Bodas is himself a pilot, and his co-presenter, Ameya Jadhav, holds an MTech degree besides an MA in Sanskrit," she said.
Union environment minister Prakash Jawadekar will deliver the inaugural address at the session, which will also dwell on engineering applications of ancient Indian botany, advances in surgery in ancient India and the neuroscience of yoga.
Mumbai University, which will host the event after a gap of 54 years, has included in its roster of speakers six Nobel laureates and four recipients of equally prestigious scientific prizes like the Fields Medal.
The scepticism that animates the work of such scientists was in evidence when Mumbai Mirror asked one of the country’s foremost experts on aviation, former Director of National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, Prof Roddam Narasimha, to discuss Captain Bodas’s source text. "There is no credible account of aviation in ancient India," he said. "[And] there is no authentic account of achievement in the field of aviation in ancient India. The book Vaimanika Prakaranam or Vimanika Shastra has been studied in great detail and the accepted view in the scientific community is that the descriptions given in it are not scientifically correct."
According to a study by five professors - H S Mukunda, S M Deshpande, H RNagendra, A Prabhu, and S P Govindaraju - of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, published in the journal Scientific Opinion, the Vimanika Shastra was not an ancient text as claimed by its votaries, but "cannot be dated earlier than 1904" and that the planes described in it are "poor concoctions" and "unimaginably horrendous from the point of view of flying".
The decision to include the lecture in the schedule does have its supporters; Dr S D Sharma, Prof of Aerospace Engineering at IIT-B, being one among them. "I would not dismiss the topic out of hand," he said. "A purely mythological lecture comparing aeroplanes in Sanskrit texts to contemporary ones could be very interesting. However, there should not be any kind of story telling that is not backed by evidence."
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Pseudo-science must not figure in Indian Science Congress
By Vikrant Dadawala, Mumbai Mirror | Dec 31, 2014, 08.08 AM IST
A scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in California has launched an online petition demanding that a lecture on ’Ancient Indian Aviation Technology’ to be delivered at the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai in January be cancelled as it brings into question the "integrity of the scientific process".
Dr Ram Prasad Gandhiraman’s petition, already signed by 220 scientists and academicians around the world, places its opposition to the lecture in the larger context of the increasing attempts in India to mix mythology with science, and cites Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling Lord Ganesha a product of ancient India’s unparalleled knowledge of plastic surgery as an example.
Mumbai Mirror was first to report how the organisers of the 102nd Indian Science Congress, to be held between January 3 and 7 at Mumbai University’s Kalina campus, had slipped in Vedic mythology about aviation into the Science Congress’ schedule, which is otherwise packed with talks on ribosomes, resistance to antibiotics and the origin of life, and discourses on controlling the cell cycle, all delivered by some of the finest scientific minds, including six Nobel laureates.
The lecture on the ’Ancient Indian Aviation Technology’ is to be delivered by Captain Anand J Bodas and Ameya Jadhav.
While speaking to Mumbai Mirror for the previous report, Bodas had claimed that the "ancient Indian aeroplane travelled from one country to another, from one continent to another, and from one planet to another." He also asserted that in those days aeroplanes "could move left, right, as well as backwards, unlike modern planes which only fly forward."
Dr Gandhiraman’s petition says that it is "appalling" that such a prestigious science conference is providing a platform to pseudo-science talk. "We as scientific community should be seriously concerned about the infiltration of pseudo-science in science curricula with backing of influential political parties. Giving a scientific platform for a pseudo-science talk is worse than a systematic attack that has been carried out by politically powerful pseudo-science propagandists in the recent past. If we scientists remain passive, we are betraying not only the science, but also our children," the petition says.
Communicating with Mumbai Mirror over the internet on Wednesday, Dr Gandhiraman, who has previously been a research scientist with America’s Universities Space Research Association and the Dublin City University, Ireland said: "I have emailed the organisers, the chief scientific advisor to PMO, scientific secretary and directors of a few IITs and IISc. I am now trying to contact the Nobel laureates scheduled to attend the Science Congress to let them know that they will be presenting at a conference that promotes pseudo-science."
Gandhiraman has also been in touch with Nobel Prize winner Prof. Paul Nurse who is due to deliver a talk at the Indian Science Congress and is famous for his strong stance against the distortion of scientific evidence for political or religious ends. Captain Bodas’s source text for his claims on ancient India’s aviation prowess is ’Vaimanika Prakaranam’, an Indian treatise on aviation, the authorship of which is attributed to the sage Bhardwaj.
A section of scientists, however, emphasise the importance of scientifically scrutinizing all claims about the past.
Prof S M Deshpande, one of the five authors of a study on aviation technologies in Sanskrit texts by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore said while there is no harm in making a presentation on ancient India’s aviation achievements, care must be taken to base the talk on a correct scientific study. "When we undertook a study of aviation in Sanskrit texts, we were driven by great intellectual curiosity and not by any desire to dismiss it as ’psuedo-science’.
Prof Deshpande’s study of the Vaimanika Shastra, the text Captain Bodas widely quotes from, had concluded that the text "cannot be dated earlier than 1904" and that the planes described in it are "poor concoctions" and "unimaginably horrendous from the point of view of flying".
Prof Gauri Mahulikar, head of MU’s Sanskrit Department and coordinator for the session, said that this was the first time that the Indian Science Congress had held a symposium on ancient Indian science viewed through Sanskrit literature. "If we had chosen Sanskrit professors to talk about the references to aviation technology in Sanskrit literature, which includes information on how to make planes, the dress code and diet of pilots, the seven types of fuel used, people would have dismissed us, but Captain Bodas is himself a pilot, and his co-presenter, Ameya Jadhav, holds an MTech degree besides an MA in Sanskrit."
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’We cannot allow political ideology to hijack science’
‘Such kind of mythology-based talks do not in any way contribute to science’.
‘My biggest concern is these things will (eventually) become part of school curriculum (in India), and that is completely unacceptable.’
Ramprasad Gandhiraman, a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in California, has launched a petition demanding that a lecture on Ancient Indian Aviation Technology to be delivered at the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai be scrapped. Ritu Jha reports.
Ramprasad Gandhiraman (pictured below), a scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research center and the Universities Space Research Association in California, has launched an online petition demanding that a talk ‘Ancient Indian Aviation Technology’ be scrapped from the 102nd Indian Science Congress.
The Congress, to be held from January 3 to 7 at Mumbai University, will see Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending.
"I have a suspicion," Gandhiraman told Rediff.com, "that this kind of glorifying of the past without proof or scientific evidence is linked to the prime minister’s recent claim on genetic science and plastic surgery."
His petition has received 576 signatures from across the globe.
"Such kind of mythology-based talks do not in any way contribute to science," Gandhiraman continued. "My main concern is by allowing such talk in the Science Congress you are devaluating science itself in India."
"What impact it would have on Nobel laureates, who come and listen to such kind of talks that say ancient Indians had airplanes that could travel from planet to planet? You can’t imagine President Obama talking like this and the American scientific community keeping quiet."
"I sense a new trend of parliamentarians openly eulogizing the past without any scientific basis," Gandhiraman said.
Mumbai Mirror, which reported on the controversy, wrote, ‘how organisers of the 102nd Indian Science Congress… had slipped in Vedic mythology about aviation into the Science Congress’ schedule, which is otherwise packed with talks on ribosomes, resistance to antibiotics and the origin of life, and discourses on controlling the cell cycle, all delivered by some of the finest scientific minds, including six Nobel laureates.’
Ramprasad Gandhiraman has already received 576 signatures on his petition demanding that the lecture titled Ancient Indian Aviation Technology be scrapped from the 102nd Indian Science Congress.
The newspaper reported that Captain Anand J Bodas, when questioned about his talk on ‘Ancient Indian Aviation Technology’, had said, ‘The Vedic or rather ancient Indian definition of an airplane was a vehicle which travels through the air from one country to another country, from one continent to another continent, from one planet to another planet. In those days, airplanes were huge in size, and could move left, right, as well as backwards, unlike modern planes which only fly forward.’
"People are entitled to their opinion," Gandhiraman told Rediff.com. "There’s Flat Earth Society, who still believe that the earth is flat, but those people will not find a platform to talk about flat earth in scientific conferences. So, it’s about scientific community providing a platform to discuss pseudo-science.â€
“Nothing will happen to science, because whatever is not proved and substantiated will fade away, but my biggest concern is these things will (eventually) become part of school curriculum (in India), and that is completely unacceptable,†Gandhiraman said. “And that is why I decided to start a petition."
"Science should be independent of political and religious interference. We cannot allow political ideology to hijack science."
Tamil Nadu native Gandhiraman, a materials scientist, said he has attended over 30 scientific conferences and has given scientific talks in 10 countries.
He said our ancestors had good knowledge on astronomy, mathematics, materials and civil engineering like the ancient Mesopotamian civilization, and cited yoga as a major Indian contribution to knowledge.
While he has not done any research on the possibility of aviation technology in ancient India, Gandhiraman cited work published by aerospace and mechanical engineering faculties from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1974 that analyzed two books — Brihad Vimana Shastra by Bramhamuni Parivrajaka published in 1959, and Vymanika Shastra by G R Josyer in 1973 — and concluded that the Sanskrit texts in those books are not of ancient origin and the geometry and principle of propulsion noted in those books are scientifically unacceptable for flying.
"It’s been 40 years since the IISc faculties countered this ancient aviation claim with scientific facts," Gandhiraman said. "Mr Bodas should have challenged the scientific reports of IISc and submitted his scientific claims for peer review in scientific journals. That is how science works. This is the universally accepted way of dealing with science."
Ritu Jha in California
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’Forget Wright brothers, it was an Indian who first flew a plane in 1895’
Vikas Pathak, Hindustan Times New Delhi, January 01, 2015
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/flight-envisioned-by-sage-autopsy-in-ancient-sanskrit-texts-why-indian-science-congress-won-t-be-a-dull-affair/article1-1302420.aspx
