Every year since 1914,?more than 30,000 scientists have come together and met at the annual meetings of the Indian Science Congress Association. This year is no different, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the five-day annual Indian Science Congress at the Sri Venkateswara University,?Tirupati.
The event will be held from January 3-7 and?6 Nobel Prize winners from different countries such as the US, Japan, Israel, France and Bangladesh will also take part in it.?
Moreover, more than?14,000 scientists and scholars from across the country will attend the event.?
But the organisation, started with the agenda that scientific research in India could be stimulated if an annual meeting of research workers was held, somewhat on the lines of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, has reached another level.?
Somehow over the years, Hindu mythological claptrap has swept in, and science has taken a back seat. Take last year's meet for instance, where a paper was presented, stating 'Lord Shiva Is A Great Environmentalist'.??Could it benefit society, when the brightest minds in the country are shackled by mythology and superstition? In the same meeting, an IAS officer claimed that it was possible for white hair to turn black. I mean no offence, but is this the forum for such a proposition? In fact, the association has a history of projecting bogus ideas, sans validation.?
In another, back in 2014, some highly intellectual minds at the program claimed the aeroplane was a vehicle discovered in the Vedic age which could not only move from one country to another, but also from one planet to another.
"In those days aeroplanes were huge in size, and could move left, right, as well as backwards, unlike modern planes which only fly forward," said?Captain Anand J Bodas, one of the speakers.?
And now is no different.
Sudershan Rao, who was recently appointed as the head of the Indian Council of Historical Research by Modi, added another bizarre claim to the list. He said?that the art of fiction writing hadn't been invented until the last century and because the Mahabharata has been proved to be written at least two millennia ago, they must obviously be accurate and true.
Joining the aforementioned bandwagon, the PM said that the Hindu god Ganesh's head was evidence of ancient plastic surgery.?
Meanwhile, this is what the Indian PM aims for this year.?
We'll have to wait and see the bombs that drop this year.?