Education experts and opposition parties in Karnataka on Thursday said that depending on discussions on Google and Quora as evidence to question established scientific theories is in itself a mockery of academic processes meant to improve content.
Hindustan Times on Thursday published an interview of Karnataka National Education Policy (NEP) task force chief Madan Gopal reported in which he said there were discussions on platforms like Google and Quora about the origin of Isaac Newton’s theory on gravity and the Pythagoras theorem, which were rooted in ancient India.
“What is the authenticity of both of these sources? Even to get into an academic discussion, we need a different forum for that, and it’s certainly not Quora or Google. We need an academic forum for that, and whenever we get into academic discussions, we need a lot of research and research papers,” Niranjan Aradhya, an expert on public education, said on Thursday.
Aradhya said that the established norms to discuss issues of this nature were to call for academic discussions and ask members to present their viewpoints and arguments with scientific papers and evidence.
Google and Quora are certainly not the fora to discuss it,” he added.
“If you just go to Quora or Google anywhere, the knowledge on India, the paper did not question the content of the theorem but only questioned the origin of the theorem. There is a lot of debate and discussion and there is evidence that it was Boudhayana who propounded this theory. So, subsequently, it was adopted by Pythagoras,” Madan Gopal, the head of the state’s task force on NEP, told HT on Wednesday.
He even said that Newton’s theory was taken from ancient texts from Kerala. The position paper on health and wellbeing also states that eggs and meat cause lifestyle disorders.
“Given the small body frame of Indians, any extra energy provided through cholesterol by regular consumption of egg and meat leads to lifestyle disorders. Lifestyle disorders like diabetes, early menarche, and primary infertility in India are escalating, and studies conducted across the countries suggest that animal-based foods interfere with hormonal functions in humans. The Gene-diet interactions indicate what is best for Indian ethnicity, and the natural choice of the race needs to be considered,” according to the position paper.
The position paper added to the controversy surrounding school education in Karnataka with issues like hijab, textbook revision contentions and now the potion papers casting a dark cloud over the BJP government that has been accused of trying to saffronise education.
The Congress party, the principal opposition in Karnataka, said that “the NEP stood for Nagpur Educational Policy and not National Education Policy as it confuses Mythology and scriptures with science”.
“Now you (BJP) want to push your political agenda…you don’t want enlightened and knowledgeable citizens but zombies whom you can control. So you are headed to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq….these were all once flourishing civilisations. When radicals took over and enforced their religious beliefs on the society at large, they killed scientific temperament and look where they are now,” Priyank Kharge, former minister and Congress legislator, said.
He said that children of BJP politicians are sent to study in Ivy League schools and not research Pushpaka Vimana or Puranas.
“Surprisingly, officers and politicians who have come through an education system and have been prosperous are now against the same education system,” he added.
HT reached out to two Karnataka ministers but couldn’t elicit a response.
