New Delhi: The special supplementary reading modules on the Chandrayaan mission brought out by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) credit Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its success, and mix space science with mythology.
“You know, due to the unsuccessful landing of Chandrayaan-2 on the Moon, the morale of all scientists shook, they were very sad. The Prime Minister of our country, Shri Narendra Modi, boosted the courage of our scientists and asked them to try once more. All scientists together tried and improved their work by learning from past experience so that the ‘lander’ could successfully land on the lunar surface by the launcher,” read an interactive module for nursery and Class I and II children, according to The Telegraph.
The module carries pictures of Modi joining the live telecast of the launch as well as his interaction with the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru along with the Chandrayaan-3 on the moon’s surface.
The special reading materials on the Chandrayaan mission were released by Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan at a programme in Delhi on Monday, October 17, in the presence of ISRO chairman S.P. Somanath.
“The leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi played a crucial role in the triumph of Chandrayaan-3 and landed our country’s name on the surface of the moon,” one of the modules lavishes praise on Modi.
Several space experts who spoke to the Telegraph described the wording as problematic, as it, according to them, gives an impression that the Chandrayaan-3 mission was possible only because of Modi. This, they say, goes against the ISRO’s track record of bouncing back from its failures.
Tracing the history of ISRO, a space expert recalled that a Satellite Launch Vehicle launched by the agency failed in 1979, but it attempted the exercise again the next year and emerged successful. Similarly, after the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle failed in 1987, ISRO made it successful the next year, in 1988. It was later successfully launched in 1994. The same thing happened with ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which failed in 1993 but was successfully launched in the next attempt in a year in 1994.
“After every failure, ISRO never gave up. However, the text in the NCERT module creates the impression that Chandrayaan-3 was launched only after the Prime Minister asked the scientists to try once more. This may not be matching Isro’s track record,” the space expert said.
In another module, meant for middle school children, one can see mythology mixed up with space science. “Did scientific achievement happen only now?… Literature tells us that it can be traced back through Vymaanika Shastra: ‘Science of Aeronautics’, which reveals that our country had the knowledge of flying vehicles in these days,” the module says.
It also goes on to say, “The Vedas, the oldest of Indian texts, makes a mention of various gods being transported on wheeled chariots pulled by animals, usually horses, but these chariots could also fly.”
The module also makes a reference to Pushpak Vimaan, a floating chariot mentioned in the Ramayana. “It was created by Vishwakarma, the chief architect of gods, out of the dust from the Sun for Brahma. Brahma gave it to Kuber. When Ravana took over Lanka from Kuber, it was used by Ravana as his personal vehicle.”
