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How the DRDO is riding the saffron chariot to please Modi

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Devanik Saha
Devanik SahaDec 26, 2014 | 20:37

How the DRDO is riding the saffron chariot to please Modi

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised a storm by saying that "We worship Lord Ganesha. There must have been some plastic surgeon at that time, who got an elephant's head on the body of a human being and began the practice of plastic surgery". A few days later, home minister Rajnath Singh added to the controversy by saying that "famous scientist Heisenberg's Theory of Uncertainty was based on Vedas". These comments can be classified as, if I may dare to say, "scientific illiterate" comments.

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Given BJP and other Hindu groups' gratuitous love for inculcating Hindu culture and values, Modi and Rajnath's comments, although objectionable, still can be given some respite, given their umbilical links to the RSS. Additionally, politicians have an old habit of uttering illogical statements to gain political mileage and there is no use wasting our energy on debating them. But, if such a scientific illiterate comment comes from the chief of one of the most respected and prestigious technical institutions in India, then there is a huge reason to be bothered.

On December 24th, at the 27th Intelligence Bureau Centenary Endowment Lecture, Defence and Research Development Organisation (DRDO) chief, Avinash Chander, said, "Information gathering and intelligence have been emphasised even in Vedas and Puranas. We find the invocations in Rig Veda and Atharva Veda, where it talks how the spies of Agni came down from the sky with thousands of eyes. The son of Brahaspati, teacher of gods, Kaccha was sent as a spy to Shukracharya to know the Sanjeevani mantra as explained in Mathsyapurana. He further added, "In Sabhaparvam of Mahabharata, 'Lokapala Sabhakhayana Parva'  explains the importance of information gathering, establishing the spy network and related instrumentation in connection with the armed forces". It needs to be noted that the other guests at the event were national security advisor Ajit Doval, new Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Dineshwar Sharma and outgoing IB chief Syed Asif Ibrahim.

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Chander joined DRDO in 1972 after completing graduation in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. He obtained a masters in spatial information technology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad. He is the chief architect of Agni series of ballistic missile systems and was recently awarded the Padma Shri.

Coming from such a notable and famous scientist, this unreasonable statement is extremely appalling. Ancient Hindu mythologies and scriptures might have mentioned the importance of spies and information gathering, but just a mention in the mythology for setting up intelligence networks definitely doesn't merit more credence than knowing about Pakistan and China's perilous plans. Moreover, I believe if ancient India had indeed realised the importance of intelligence gathering thousands of years ago, then our agencies would have been the best in the world, given its first-mover advantage.

Unfortunately, we are still far behind the CIA, Mossad and other Western agencies, in terms of gathering classified inputs and information.

But there appears to be a veiled reason behind these statements by Chander.

Earlier this week, DRDO's internal irregularity and malpractices came to light through a parliamentary committee report. As per documents accessed by the DNA; shoddy research, inordinate delays, corruption and its fancy for reverse engineering have resulted in the parliamentary standing committee on defence raising the red flag on DRDO budget for 2014-15. The documents suggest that "DRDO labs are more interested in importing systems, modifying them a little bit, re-labelling them and reselling them to the armed forces". Chander, who was supposed to retire on November 30th, was given an extension by the government till May 2016.

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Moreover, in August, Narendra Modi had criticised the DRDO saying that India had the potential to be a world leader in the defence sector but was being held back by a "chalta hai" attitude.

The pieces of the puzzle clearly point that Chander deliberately linked intelligence gathering and espionage to the Vedas and Mahabharata, to please the BJP government; which obviously, places more significance on mythologies and Hindu scriptures rather than the hardwork and research of modern age scientists. With the DRDO under heavy criticism, it is disgraceful that Hindu mythology seemed to be the safest bet for Chander to save his face and remain in the good books of the Modi government. Otherwise, such out-of-the-blue remarks from a person with the calibre of Chander, doesn't make any sense.

If such eminent scientists link scientific and technological developments to mythologies and Hindu scriptures, it will set a perilous precedent for budding scientists and young researchers. The bigger cause of worry is that if this formula of linking Hinduism-to-science becomes increasingly viral, then, India's population of scientific illiterates will surge dramatically, which will be detrimental to Narendra Modi's vision of making India a global power.

Last updated: December 26, 2014 | 20:37
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