New Delhi: Indian scriptures mentioned the concept of gravity long before Isaac Newton did, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said in the national capital Saturday.
Nishank made the comments while appealing to the directors of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) to take up more research on ancient Indian science to prove that the country was indeed a pioneer in the field.
He was speaking at Gyanotsav, an event organised by RSS-affiliate Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas to discuss the New Education Policy. The event was attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s close aide Balkrishna and other RSS functionaries. Various directors of IITs, NITs and heads of organisations like the University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education were also present.
“When I say that India was ahead in all fields including science and technology, today’s youngsters question me. They say what is the education minister saying…” said the HRD minister, while addressing the gathering in the premises of Indira Gandhi National Open University.
“When we spoke about Yoga, people used to cringe. Whatever we had in the past was never conveyed to the youngsters in a modern way, we erred someway in communicating our ancient wisdom. This is why I want to appeal to all the directors of IITs and NITs that they should take up more research on ancient knowledge.
“We need to prove that all that we keep talking about like Charaka, Aryabhata, they all existed and that our scriptures mentioned the concept of gravity much before Newton discovered it,” said Nishank.
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Value-based education
Talking about the Modi government’s New Education Policy, the HRD minister hinted that there will be a strong influence of RSS suggestions on the blueprint.
“We are taking suggestions from all quarters for the New Education Policy and the idea of value-based education is a very good idea. Because a human being is nothing without values,” he said.
Value-based education, environment education, character building, education in mother tongue and Indianisation of education were some of the suggestions given by RSS to the government for inclusion in the New Education Policy. A document on the same was also released by the organisation at the event.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s close aide Balkrishna also spoke at the event, calling for a change in the current education policy. He appealed for granting degrees to students who study medicine in Sanskrit, just like students studying in madrasas get a Unani degree.
“Those who study medicine in madrasas get a Unani degree, why not grant degrees to students who study in Sanskrit. We should focus on promoting our ancient knowledge.
“Even in China, students first study the Chinese medicine system and then study the modern medicine, this is reason that China has been progressing and its methods are reaching world over. India also needs a push like this,” said Balkrishna.
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