All posts by Rajesh Kochhar

About Rajesh Kochhar

Honorary Professor, Mathematics Department, Panjab University Chandigarh. Astrophysicist by training, I am currently interested in history and sociology of science and technology; modern science and the Non-West, globalization-era science and education policies, and Ancient India. Author of The Vedic People ( Orient BlackSwan, 2000) and various other works and articles. Currently, President-Elect of International Astronomical Union Commision on History of Astronomy.

Frauds in Indian scientific research

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Images are an integral part of experimental biomedical research. Increased sophistication of detection techniques has made it easier than ever before to detect unethical image processing. Many old frauds that were considered safe in their time can be exposed now. There are many more skeletons waiting to tumble out from the cupboard.

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The UGC and other regulatory bodies are solely responsible for bringing about a precipitous decline in Indian scientific research. There is now an unhealthy obsession with research and research degrees. Science today is a child of high technology. No policy-maker in India has ever asked the question: Given the standards of school and college education and absence of industrial prowess, how much high-quality research can India sustain? If unrealistic demands are made on the system, only fake publications and bogus degrees can be the result.

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/frauds-in-indian-scientific-research/789742.html#disqus_thread

A learned Brahmin’s Brahminism

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Brahmin’s Brahminism can be innovative. There was a very celebrated Pt Umapati Dvivedi (1853-1911) based in Ayodhya. ( His own family name in fact was Mishra). Pt Umapati considered himself to be an incarnation of Rishi Vasishth, the same Vasishth who was King Dashrath’s purohit and who presided over the putreshti yagya. Umapati treated himself as Ram’s purohit and him as his yajamaan. Whenever Umapati came to the Kanak Bhavan in Ayodhya and went to the Ram temple, he removed phool mala from around his own neck and put it across Ram’s. In addition he gave him his blessings and wished for Ram’s long life. ( Ref: Upadhyaya, Baldev (1994) Kashi ki Panditya Parampara ( Varanasi: Vishvavidyalay Prakashan), pp. 379-380.)

Hinduisms of India: The harsh religion of today is based on illiteracy of texts, is divisive.

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During the Rajasthan assembly elections, a Congress candidate, C P Joshi, was singled out for a casteist public speech. Brahmin by birth, Joshi declared that the likes of Narendra Modi, Uma Bharati and Sadhvi Ritambhara, who came from castes traditionally considered “low”, had no right to speak about Hinduism. That prerogative, he suggested, squarely rested on the Brahmins who had the requisite knowledge. Had Joshi been aware of his community’s historical role before and during the British period, and expressed himself in a more nuanced manner, he could have avoided embarrassment to himself and his party.

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hinduisms-of-india-5577719/