“
The Indian Space Research Organization and the Ministry of Science and Technology plan to host a two-day conference in Dehradun with the theme “Akash Tatva” (the element Akash) (MoST).
The conference will “expose the young of India to the knowledge of ancient science coupled with modern scientific breakthroughs,” according to Science Minister Jitendra Singh.
The conference is being co-organized by Vijnana Bharati, an entity supported by “swadeshi science” and linked with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. (RSS).
The conference will feature 35 “excellent speakers” who will give speeches over the course of three days about topics such as developing a “sustainable existence based on panchmahabhoot.”
The latter claims that the prescientific concept of the five elements—earth, fire, water, wind, and air—make up all matter. According to S. Somnath, Secretary of the Department of Space, the primary objectives of the conference are to clarify the significance of the “tatva Akash” and how ancient knowledge relates to modern science.
Ajay Sood, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, said that the conference would cover subjects like “Earth and Atmosphere: Interaction of Akash, Environment,” “Climate Change: The Role of Modern Technology,” “Climate Change: The Role of Akash,” “Impact of Modern Technology,” and “Adaptation and Mitigation Measures.”
At the Indian Science Congress in Mumbai in 2015, professionals, including Nobel Laureates, attended a session on “flying in the Vedic age” that many scientists considered to be “pseudoscientific.”In response to questions from the media about whether the “Akash Tatva” conference might veer into the pseudoscientific, Minister Singh emphasised that it would be a “purely scientific meeting” and that efforts would be made to have a “scientific synthesis of ancient wisdom.”
