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The
102nd
Indian
Science
Congress
being
held
in
Mumbai
will
be
remembered
for
a
very
long
time
to
come,
but
for
all
the
wrong
reasons.
For
the
first
time,
the
science
congress
had
a
session
on
Ancient
Sciences
through
Sanskrit.
If
the
Indian
Science
Congress
had
long
lost
its
eminence
as
a
forum
where
results
of
serious
science
being
done
in
the
country
are
presented
and
discussed
in
most
sessions,
the
inclusion
of
Ancient
Sciences
through
Sanskrit
has
only
lowered
its
standing
further.
Even
as
a
public
session,
there
is
no
real
reason
whatsoever
for
it
to
have
been
included
in
the
proceedings.
At
best,
a
session
could
have
been
devoted
to
the
history
of
Indian
science
which
has
real
and
substantial
achievements
to
celebrate,
with
serious
scholars
working
on
the
subject
presenting
papers.
With
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
setting
the
tone
for
this
antiquity
frenzy
with
his
implausible
claims
that
cosmetic
surgery
was
practised
thousands
of
years
ago
and
in-vitro
fertilisation-like
procedure
was
resorted
to
long
back,
and
different
political
leaders
following
it
up
with
several
other
incredulous
claims
well
before
the
start
of
the
national
event,
the
reason
for
the
inclusion
of
the
session
becomes
supremely
clear.
Instead
of
fostering
scientific
temper,
the
congress
has
provided
a
forum
to
seed
the
minds
of
young
people
with
pseudoscience.
Some
of
the
papers
presented
were
about
Indians'
knowledge
of
making
aeroplanes
that
could
undertake
interplanetary
travel,
between
7000
and
6000
BC,
and
radars
that
worked
on
the
principle
of
detecting
energy
given
out
by
animate
and
inanimate
objects
and
finding
out
if
a
body
was
dead
or
alive.
Science
is
grounded
on
the
principle
of
reproducibility
of
results.
The
claims
of
advanced
science
and
technology
in
the
ancient
world
are
based
on
some
references
in
ancient
scripts
that
may
be
wholly
imaginary.
Flying,
for
instance,
has
caught
humankind's
imagination
across
cultures
right
from
ancient
times.
Such
references
should
be
taken
for
the
myths
they
are,
not
as
scientific
facts.
Scientists
have
been
able
to
create
animal
chimeras
that
have
cells/organs
of
different
species,
much
as
what
Greek
mythology
describes.
Should
the
Greeks
then
be
taken
as
pioneers
in
the
science
of
chimera
production?
Thanks
to
our
understanding
of
genetics
and
the
ability
to
fertilise
eggs
outside
the
body,
producing
designer
babies
is
no
longer
in
the
realm
of
science
fiction.
Should
the
creators
of
the
science
fiction
then
be
credited
with
devising
the
procedures?
Compare
this
with
how
Sir
Arthur
C.
Clarke
documented
his
idea
of
communications
satellites
in
a
concept
paper
published
in
1945.
Dozens
of
geosynchronous
satellites
launched
each
year
do
precisely
what
Sir
Arthur
had
visualised
there.
The
102nd
Indian
Science
Congress
being
held
in
Mumbai
will