NCERT document opposed for saying Pushpaka Vimanas were real

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: All India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO) has demanded that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) withdraw a document that they have prescribed for school students that contains unscientific claims.

The document in question is called ‘Chandrayan Utsav’ which portrays the mythical flying vehicle ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ as a real example of ancient India’s knowledge of space science.

The document also cites Vaimanika Shastra as an ancient book on aeronautics. The development comes in the backdrop of the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan 3 on the south pole of the moon.

AIDSO Karnataka State Secretary Ajay Kamath said that the document ‘Chandrayan Utsav’ was a part of the larger module called ‘Bharat’s expedition to the Moon’.

“AIDSO Demands NCERT to immediately withdraw this module from ‘Bharat’s expedition to the Moon’ and calls upon all science-loving and education-loving people of the country to remain vigilant against the spread of unscientific and obscurantist ideas which are forever against the development of scientific bent of mind and genuine knowledge,” he said.

AIDSO All India Committee expresses deep anguish at the unscientific claims made by NCERT in the module.

‘Chandrayan Utsav’ mentions that space science is not a new phenomenon in India and it existed way back during Vedic age. By citing the example of ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ the document says that it was used by the gods to travel from one world to another.

It also claims the book Vaimanika Shastra is scientific evidence to prove that Indians knew advanced scientific knowledge about aeronautics!” he added.

An Indian Institute of Science (IISc) research had claimed that the book Vaimanika Shastra which claimed to be written during Vedic times, was actually written in 1923.