Minister tells scientists not to be ashamed of ancient history

Even as organisers of the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai refused to share a paper on ancient Indian aviation technology with a section of media, Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan has asked the Indian science community not to be ashamed of “our ancient history”.

The paper that caused controversy was presented by Captain Anand Bodas, a retired principal of a pilot training institute, and Ameya Jadhav, a college teacher, who claimed existence of inter-planetary aircraft in India thousands of years ago.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the Union minister said: “It has been accepted even by the West that India has huge amount of knowledge in every field. That is our heritage. We will benefit from such knowledge.”

He further said that India also had set its eye on modern science and technology by taking part in the 30-metre telescope project in Mauna Kea in Hawaii at a cost of Rs 1,299.8 crore and the Indian Neutrino observatory.