KAPURTHALA, PUNJAB: Andhra University Vice Chancellor Professor Gollapalli Nageswara Rao’s claims that hundred Kauravas were born as test tube babies and the technology along with the stem cell technology exists in India over thousands of years ago has begun to draw flaks from the science community all over and was also challenged by the Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA).
The Vice Chancellor had made the claim at the ongoing 106th edition of the Indian Science Congress at Lovely Professional University (LPU) here at Phagwara.
Calling it an unfortunate incident, Dr. Manoj Kumar Chakrabarti, General President of the Indian Science Congress said that the lapse had happened as some speakers at the annual Science Congress were selected by their ‘position’ only to motivate youths towards science and technology. Hence, there were no scrutiny of the content of their lecture.
“How can anyone expect that a Vice Chancellor of a reputed institution like Andhra University make such bizarre claims? He was called to motivate children towards science. We will call an explanation from him to prove his caim,” said Dr. Chakrabarti.
He further added that the technology in the ancient era might have been advanced than today but any claims made by any scientist or scholar should be supported by a scientific evidence.
“Indian mythology is filled with thousands such incidents claiming technology to be much advanced than today’s era but then we need concrete evidence to prove it with scientific explanation. He should have presented evidences along with his claims so as to avoid any controversy,” said Dr. Mathur.
Rao while addressing children at the annual Science Congress claimed that Ramayana and Mahabharata are not mythological but parts of the Indian history.
Interestingly, the Children Congress was inaugurated by Nobel Laureates and Professors, physicist F Duncan M Haldane, and biochemist Avram Hershko and aimed at inculcating scientific temper among children.
Giving another ‘cloning ‘ theory on Kaurava’s birth who were claimed to be of same age in mythological epic ‘Mahabharata’, Rao claimed that it was impossible for Kaurava’s mother Gandhari to give birth to 100 children.
“Adi Parva of Mahabharata describes how Kauravas were created from a Single embryo. The single embryo was split into hundred parts and were grown in separate containers,” claimed Rao in his presentation.
““How can anyone expect that a Vice Chancellor of a reputed institution like Andhra University can make such bizarre claims? He was called to motivate children towards science. We will call an explanation from him to prove his caim”
- Dr. Manoj Kumar Chakrabarti, General President, Indian Science Congress
Also he said that Ramayana claims Ravana has 24 different types of aircrafts or Vimanas of different capacities which were used for different purposes. Also, he has many airports in Lanka. He added that India was in possession of the aviation technology thousands of years ago and Vedic sage Maharshi Bharadwaja has described the process of making aircrafts in Rig veda.
Also he claimed the ‘Dashavtar’, ten avatars of Lord Vishnu, predate the Theory of Evolution given by English naturalist Charles Darwin.
More interestingly, Rao even claimed that it was US former President Barack Obama who ‘requested’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sign Civil Nuclear Agreement ‘123’ between the United States of America and India.
“When Indian PM requested Obama to be the Chief Guest for the Republic day in 2015, he initially refused him as he had rejected Modi’s visas when he was the Chief minister of Gujarat. It was only after US scientists forced him to visit India and request the Indian government to sign the civil Nuclear agreement, he accepted the offer and came here,” said Dr. Rao adding that Obama became the first President in the history of India and US to have requested India to sign a nuclear deal.
Professor Rao could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. HuffPost India has written to him and will update the report when receive reply from Dr. Rao.
In yet another lecture on Saturday, At the same session, K J Krishnan, a scientist at a centre in Tamil Naidu claimed that the theories of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein were wrong and would be disapproved. He further added that gravitational waves should be renamed as Modi Waves and gravitational lens effect in physics should be renamed as Harshvardhan effect after the incumbent Science and Technology Minister of India.
This is not the first time ISC landed in controversy
In 2018, Dr. Harsh Vardhan at the inauguration of the conference, said Stephen Hawking, the science genius had proved that Vedas have a theory that is superior to Albert Einstein’s famous equation E = mc^2. Later, when the minister was asked for the source of his Hawking remark, he remained cryptic.
Also in 2016, calling ISC a ‘circus’, Nobel Laurette scientist Venkatraman Ramakrishnan had slammed the ongoing Indian Science Congress and said that political and religious ideologies should not be mixed with science.