With Indian independence and coming of Indian Constitution; the foundations for progress in the society were laid. This was to be for an all out progress and the basis of this was the principles of scientific temper. This process was guided by the architect of modern India, Jawaharlal Nehru. We saw the surge of the institutions which contributed to the progress of the country; with great contributions of Indian scientists. There were flaws and weaknesses, of course, but the direction was a rational, direction was that of scientific approach. This fulfilled the clause of the Article 51a of the Indian constitution which enjoins upon citizens the “fundamental duty” to develop “the scientific temper”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its leaders, who are currently ruling and dictating the direction of scientific research and development, seem to have different ideas. While we have good foundations in all round areas of science and technology be it the area of basic science and technology, health, atomic energy, space science and what have you, it seems that currently direction being pursued by ruling dispensation is putting the things in the reverse gear.
During last seventy odd years the way our institutions have developed we can see their massive all round contribution in most areas of science and technology, though one can add, things could have been better. The inkling of this retrograde direction began with the previous BJP led NDA Government when Murali Manohar Joshi, the then MHRD minister introduced courses like astrology and Paurohitya (rituals) in Universities. In continuation with this pattern Dr. Satya Pal Singh, who is currently minster in MHRD, recently stated that Darwin’s theory is wrong as our ancestors did not mention that they saw ape turning into man in our scriptures. He was duly backed up by the RSS ideologue turned BJP leader Ram Madhav.
He himself a while ago he had stated that Wright brothers were not the first one’s to discover aero plane, it was and Indian, Shivkar Bapuji Talpade who had discovered it. He emphasized that such books should be taught in the schools which highlight the likes of Talpade. Theory of evolution has been one of the turning point discoveries of science, based on the painfully collected evidence by Darwin for a period of decades. As science is not based on faith there is always a scope to fill the gaps of knowledge of the original discoverer, and that’s how science develops. In contrast to the methods of science, the fundamentalists harp that all knowledge is already there in the Holy Scriptures, the word of almighty. Singh-Joshi-Ram Madhav clone is not the only ones’ in this retrograde thinking. The Christian fundamentalists went on to counter the theory of Darwin by putting together ‘Creation science’ and similarly Islamic fundamentalists like Zakir Naik also dismiss this theory on frivolous grounds.
Singh’s statement has been very disturbing for the scientific community in India. A large number of them expressed their anguish in a letter, which they sent to the Minister. The letter says that the minister’s statement was simplistic and misleading. “There is plentiful and undeniable scientific evidence to the fact that humans and the other great apes and monkeys had a common ancestor.” The letter further says that the minister’s claim that the Vedas contain answers to all questions is exaggerated and “is an insult to the genuine research work on history of Indian scientific traditions”.
“When a minister working for the human resource development in the country makes such claims, it harms the scientific community’s efforts to propagate scientific thoughts and rationality through critical education and modern scientific research,” reads the letter. “It also diminishes the image of the country at the global level and reduces faith of the international historical research community in the genuine research by the Indian researchers.”
At another level there are claims that Kauravas were born through the techniques mentioned in our holy scripture based on which Balkrishan Ganpat Matapurkar has patented the technique for body part generation, inspired by Gandhari’s giving birth to 100 sons and Karna taking birth from ear of Kunti. At equally interesting level is the understanding of the Chief of Indian Council of Historical Research, Y. Sudarshan. As per him reading of the Hindu epic Mahabharata can make us infer that the weapons described in them were the result of atomic fission and/or fusion. He also claims that stem cell research was there in Iron Age India.
It is not difficult to imagine that with this pattern of thinking among policy makers our science policy will get a strong jolt. Currently on most of issues the policy has been to encourage research and funding on topics, which are purely based on figments of imagination. Huge top level funding has recently been announced for Panchgavya, a mixture of cow urine, dung, ghee, curd and milk. The efforts to prove that Ram Setu (Adam’s bridge), bridge between India and Srilanka was for real and was built by Lord Ram with the help of Monkey army; are also on. In matters of History efforts are on to prove the existence of River Sarswati, to prove historicity of the epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are among the few of them.
The twin processes involved here are to claim that all the knowledge is already there in our scriptures and that science-technology research and development should be along those lines. Second is to claim that all discoveries have their roots here in India, more so in India before the coming of Christians and Muslims. This seems to be running in parallel with identifying India with Hindus and Hinduism alone. One does feel that already during last many decades good foundation of scientific enterprises has been laid, the question is whether this community of scientists and Indian society at large will be able to resist these impositions on the march of direction of our science? Will our next generations be able to benefit from the rational thinking and achievements of science in coming times?
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London, Nov 22: A bomb disposal squad deployed as a “precaution” to the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport concluded an investigation into a "security incident" on Friday after making a “suspect package” safe.
The South Terminal of Gatwick Airport, the UK's second busiest airport after Heathrow, which was briefly shut owing to the incident reopened following the incident.
The Gatwick is around 45 km south of London.
Two people detained during the enquiries have since been allowed to continue their journey as the airport was opened.
“Police have concluded their investigation into a report of a suspect package at Gatwick Airport. Officers from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team made the package safe, and the airport has been handed back to its operator,” Sussex Police said in an updated statement.
“Two people detained while enquiries were ongoing have subsequently been allowed to continue their journeys. There will remain an increased police presence in the area to assist with passengers accessing the South Terminal for onward travel,” the statement added.
Earlier on Friday, the incident caused severe disruption at the busy airport’s South Terminal, while the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport remained unaffected.
“Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20 am on Friday (November 22) following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage,” a Sussex Police statement said.
“To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with. As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport. This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible,” it said.
Footage on social media taken outside the airport showed crowds of frustrated travellers being moved away from the terminal building.
Gatwick said it was working hard to resolve the issue.
“A large part of the South Terminal has been evacuated as a precaution while we continue to investigate a security incident," the airport said in a social media post.
“Passengers will not be able to enter the South Terminal while this is ongoing. The safety and security of our passengers and staff remain our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”
Train and bus services that serve the airport were also impacted while the police carried out their inquiries.
In an unrelated incident in south London on Friday morning, the US Embassy area in Nine Elms by the River Thames was the scene of a controlled explosion by Scotland Yard dealing with what they believe may have been a “hoax device”.
“We can confirm the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers,” the Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.
“Initial indications are that the item was a hoax device. An investigation will now follow. Some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the majority of the police response will now be stood down,” it added.
