Scientists flag NCERT's 'misleading' Chandrayaan content, demand withdrawal

New Delhi: A section of scientists on Monday demanded the withdrawal of a set of documents on Chandrayaan-3 released by the NCERT for school students because of the “pseudo-scientific claims and misleading scientific content” in those materials such as references to “flying chariots”, “Vimanas” and “Vymaanika Shastra”.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training published ten “Chandrayaan Utsav” modules on October 17 but recalled them within days following criticisms of masquerading mythology as science in the text.

The council, however, put the material back online after the Union government last week defended the documents arguing that “mythology and philosophy put forward ideas” that lead to innovation and research.

“All these mentions of flying vehicles in various Vedic texts and epics are understood to be products of the poets’ imagination. Almost all ancient cultures around the world have literary references to their Gods flying in the sky. However, they are not taken as proof of the existence of flying vehicles in ancient times,” the All India People’s Science Network said in a statement.

“There is no proof of any human leaving the earth to travel to space before Uri Gagarin did it in 1961,” said the AIPSN, an umbrella body consisting of 40-odd organisations across the country working on science and society-related issues.

AIPSN President Satyajit Rath, a veteran scientist formerly with the National Institute of Immunology, Delhi said disseminating such documents would pose a clear danger to students, causing them harm.

The network also trashed Vymaanika Shastra, a Sanskrit title often quoted by the right-wingers and which according to the NCERT carried “mind-boggling details of construction, working of engines and the gyroscopic systems”.

The scientists said the origin of the much-touted text could be traced to the early 20th century. “The designs, engines and instruments described in it are completely imaginary, unscientific and useless. This has been proven conclusively,” Rath said.

Almost half a century ago, five scientists at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru checked the vintage and veracity of the claims made in Vymanika Shastra. They traced the authorship to Pandit Subbaraya Shastry, who lived in Anekal in Karnataka and died in 1941. The texts were written between 1900 and 1922.

“The planes described are a poor concoction rather than an expression of something real. None of the planes have the properties or capabilities of being flown; the geometries are unimaginably horrendous from the point of view of flying and the principles of propulsion make them resist rather than assist flying,” the IISc scientists wrote.

Other incorrect and misleading information in the NCERT special modules include “moon protecting the earth from solar wind” and “Chandrayaan-2 discovering an ice sheet in the lunar crater.”

There are several other mistakes, both scientific and grammatical, and misleading information in the NCERT documents, which have been prepared separately for primary, secondary and high school students.

“The way NCERT reacted after the criticism to withdraw them and then put them back on after the government defended the mythology must not happen again,” the AIPSN said.

The NCERT put the modules in the public domain a second time after the Union Education Ministry came out with a statement defending the content of the ten modules.

“Mythology and philosophy put forward ideas and ideas lead to innovation and research. Numerous research studies emphasize that mythology plays an indispensable role in the cultural fabric of any country, including Bharat,” the ministry said in a statement on October 25.

“The integration of culture into education not only fosters a profound understanding of a nation's historical legacy but also bolsters creativity and problem-solving skills among students. It’s the whole gestalt of India’s association with sky and space,” it added.