At the 106th event of Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) underway in Punjab the claims made by, Andhra University vice-chancellor G. Nageswara Rao who also happens to be a Professor of inorganic chemistry sparked off a controversy. He claimed that the Kauravas from the Mahabharata were test-tube babies, that Ravana, from the Ramayana, possessed 24 aircrafts and that Sri Lanka at the time had airports. Many activists from the scientific community came out on streets in Bengaluru on January 6, to protest against these irrational claims. The protest was held by Breakthrough Science Society in association with All India People’s Science Network and other like-minded rationalists organization.
This is not the first time that such absurd claims have been made at the ISCA. Let’s take a look at the ludicrous claims made during the science congress over the years, making a mockery of actual scientific achievements of the country.
1) India invented airplanes 7,000 years ago: A speaker retired from the pilot training school claimed in 102nd edition of ISCA that India invented airplanes 7,000 years ago. And they could move in every direction and even hop from planet to planet.
We wonder why the Wright Brothers are known to be the inventors of airplanes.
2) Pythagoras’ Theorem Was Invented In India: In the very same event in 2015, the then Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan had also claimed that India had given the world algebra and the Pythagoras’ Theorem.
Greece has been falsely taking the credit.
3) Want to stay young? Just sit on a tiger skin and do yoga: In the 103rd edition held in Mysore in 2016, a paper said that if you sit on a tiger skin and do yoga, you can reverse the process of aging.
Now we know why are tigers endangered in India.
4) Cows can turn their food into 24-carat gold: The mystification of the animal was taken to another level when in the same 103rd edition of the event a speaker claimed that the holy cow carries in its body a bacteria which enables it to turn its food into gold.
Perhaps this is why the Right Wing is overprotective of the cows.
5) Vedas have a theory superior to E=mc^2: Imagine the plight of a country, where its Union Minister of Science and Technology makes irrational and illogical claims. In the 104th edition of ISCA held in Imphal, Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan falsely yet very strongly claimed that revered scientist Stephen Hawking said that the Vedas have a theory superior to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
No wonder the research and development sector of India is in a state of shambles.
6) Space is heavier than the sun: Revered Scientists like Newton and Einstein were dragged to the ground when in the current ongoing event in Punjab another supposed “scientist” Kanan Jegathala Krishnan said, “Space is heavier than the sun and every other planet and hence compresses all the planets. Equal pressure is applied to them, which is why they are moving.” He did not stop there and went on to say, “The quality of space is self-compressive, which is something that Newton and Einstein could not understand. Einstein did not guide the world in the correct way.” SURE!
Newton, what do you know? you got hit by an apple on your head.
7) India had guided missiles thousands of years ago: G Nageswara Rao had also claimed earlier that Lord Rama used astras and shastras, weapons to chase his enemies/targets. After hitting them they would come back to him. Hence this proves that the science of guided missiles is not new to India and it was present thousands of years ago.
In the field of defense technologies, scientists all over the world should learn a thing or two from ancient Indian Scriptures.