‘TEACH PURANS IN ENGINEERING COLLEGES’

Why are students not taught that before the Wright brothers, an Indian called Shivakar Babuji Talpade was the first to invent the airplane? SATYAPAL SINGH, MoS for HRD

NEW DELHI: Teach them about the Indian who invented plane eight years before the Wright brothers — as the world knows. That’s just the beginning. Minister of state for HRD Satyapal Singh on Tuesday called for a liberal dose of mythology and puranas in the teachings at engineering colleges across the country.

“Why are students not taught that before the Wright brothers, an Indian called Shivakar Babuji Talpade was the first to invent the airplane. This person invented the plane eight years before the Wright brothers. Are our students taught these things in IITs or not? They should be,” he said at an award ceremony for the first AICTE-ECI Chhatra Vishwakarma Award held on Tuesday.

He also mentioned that students should be taught about the ‘Pushpak Vimaan’, a flying chariot which is mentioned in Indian epic Ramayana.

He emphasised that students should be taught about ancient Indian scientific discoveries and inventions also.

He added India is currently lagging behind in research and innovation, and researchers need to be told about the country’s rich culture and civilization that dates back to many thousands of years

Giving an example of the Kingdom of Ravana from the Indian epic Ramayana, he said that the plants there were not required to be watered as they contained Chandramani. “Such ancient technology should be taught to our students,” he said.

The minister also stressed on the fact that quality should be maintained where research is concerned.

He said that while India produces 40,000 PhD holders every year, the quality of the research is not up to the mark and remarked that it is possible to buy research papers these days.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Engineering Council of India (ECI) had invited nominations for ‘AICTE-ECI Chhatra Vishwakarma Awards’ for the students of AICTE approved degree and diploma level technical institutes and universities.

The awards were given by the MoS on Tuesday.