[Jaya Jagannath] Astrology in India

Hare Ram Krishna

Dear Jyotisha,

FYI

Regards,

Brendan

The following are exerpted from the ISAR weekly webletter - I thought them of

interest enough to forward to you...

ASTROLOGY CONTROVERSY IN INDIA

from Therese Voelker,

I found this article in the May 17 2001 NATURE magazine, an international

weekly journal of science that is very highly respected.

In the News section, along with energy crises, record salmon populations,

global atmospheric monitoring and discoveries in genetic research, there is

this article out of New Delhi entitled:

ANGRY RESEARCHERS POUR SCORN ON ASTROLOGY CLASSES by K.A. Jayaraman, New

Delhi

A proposal by the Indian government to encourage universities to

teach astrology has sparked a storm of protest among scientists.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has offered to fund fully

fledged departments of astrology with five teaching posts, a library, a

computer laboratory and horoscope bank. To be called Jyotir Vigyan

('astrological science' in Sanskrit), the departments are to be set up for

the 2001-2002 academic year. They will offer bachelors, masters and

doctoral degrees.

The proposal is the brainchild of science minister Murli Manohar Joshi,

who is also minister for education and a powerful figure in the ruling

Bharatiya Janata Party. Joshi, a physicist, believes that all answers

sought by scientists are buried in the ancient Sanskrit writings called

Vedas and Upanishads.

Leading researchers have condemned the move as an attempt to legitimize

pseudoscience and superstition, and some have said that it undermines

India's scientific credibility. The National Science Academy has expressed

strong opposition. But there is no sign of the government relenting.

Meanwhile, 35 of India's roughly 200 universities have sought

permission to set up courses, with more expected to follow.

" At a time when research in fields of pure science is being affected

for want of funds, there is no justification in spending huge amounts on

psudoscience called Vedic astrology, " said Pushpa Bhargava, founding

director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderbabad.

Defending the move, UGC chairman, Hari Gautam said that astrology

qualifies as a science, which he defined as " a subject that needs probing,

investigation and research " .

Two prominent UGC members-- S.K. Joshi, a physicist and former director

general of the Council of Scientific and industrial Research, and Sipra

Guha-Mukherjee, a plant molecular biologist from Jawaharlal Nehru

University in New Delhi-- seem to have consented to the move. And some

researchers, including Vijay Bhatkar, who developed India'sfirst

supercomputer, have publicly backed it.

" There is no doubt that the move is tantamount to giving [a] certain

amount of formal recognition to astrology as a science, " said Valangiman

Ramamurthi, secretary to the Department of Science and Technology. " I do

not want to comment whether it is right or wrong, but if anyone comes to me

with a research proposal on astrology we will evaluate it to see if it

makes sense scientifically before funding it. "