Chennai: India has the potential to become a superpower and it needs significant achievements in the fields of education, health and industry to make the cut, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday as he mentioned the country’s glorious history including major discoveries by ancient scientists like Aryabhata ahead of their western counterparts.
In an online address at the convocation of IIM Ranchi, Singh delved into India’s rich contribution in the field of scientific research in the classical age of Indian mathematics and astronomy and noted that “Aryabhata confirmed the round shape of the Earth and its rotation on its axis about 1,000 years before famous German astronomer Copernicus did”.
“We want to make India a superpower. To make the country a superpower, we need even bigger achievements in the fields of education, health and industry, etc. The potential in these areas is within our country. It is not yet fully utilised,” Rajnath said.
“When we talk about making India a superpower, then we also have to take care of the development potential in all the states of the country,” he added.
The defence minister said the youth of the country has the ability to face any challenge and can turn them into opportunities with the help of āinvention, innovation and ideasā.
Encouraging students to play a key role in making of a ‘New India’, Singh said modern education should not deter them from taking inspiration from the country’s glorious history, adding it set new standards of knowledge and discovery for centuries in the fields of physics, social science, spiritual knowledge and economics.
“Modern education should not be a hurdle in taking inspiration from your glorious past. Just like studying science does not mean that you do not believe in God,” Rajnath said.
He also mentioned mathematician Ramanujan and added: “He said ‘an equation is meaningless to me unless it expresses a thought of God”.
Urging students to work towards nation-building, the defence minister cited the contributions of renowned ancient Indian scientists and said āno success is final and no failure is fatalā.
“India has been a witness to a long tradition of scientists from Aryabhata, Varahamihir, Brahmagupta, Bodhayan, Charak, Sushruta, Nagarjuna to Sawai Jai Singh,” said Rajnath.
“Before Isaac Newton, Brahmagupta had confirmed the law of gravitational force. It is a different matter that Western scientists got credit for all these discoveries for some reason,” Rajnath said, adding he is talking about it as he himself was a student of physics.
He said ancient Indian scientist Baudhayan discovered the ‘Pythagoras theorem’ years before Pythagoras did.
The defence minister said the list of India’s achievements in science is very long, at the same time added that the country was not behind in other fields like economics, history, political science and public administration.