Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Lok Sabha member from West Bengal Mahua Moitra questioned the motive of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) sending a team of scientists to the upcoming Ram Mandir in Ayodhya over a demonstration of how the sun’s rays would reportedly fall on Lord Rama’s head on Ram Navami next year.
Sharing a video from the mainstream news channel Zee News, CSIR had tagged various senior government officials, including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) after the visit. Minister of Earth Sciences of Government of India Dr Jitendra Singh, director of the CSIR-Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI) N Kalaiselvi, and Central Building Research Institute, all scientific government officials and institutions., were also mentioned.
The video talks about the demonstration and explanation conducted by the CSIR scientists on the topic of the first sun rays falling on the head of Lord Rama on Ram Navami Day 2024 in front of temple trustees. The scientists also discussed setting up of eight new idols with the temple trustees.
CSIR was established in 1942 as an autonomous body that focuses on various scientific research and development, including aerospace engineering, structural engineering, ocean sciences, life sciences; and healthcare including diagnostics, metallurgy, chemicals, mining, food, petroleum, leather, and environmental science.
Although the department comes under the Ministry of Science and Technology, it is an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act 1860. In the past, CSIR’s achievements include:
- Flowering of Bamboo within weeks as against twenty years in nature
- Drug screening for cancer patients
- Invented non-steroidal family planning pill Saheli and non-steroidal herbal pill for asthma called Asmon,
- Establishment of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library which can be accessed in five international languages such as English, German, French, Japanese and Spanish
- Completion of the sequencing of the human genome
Successfully tested India’s first indigenous civilian aircraft and very recently clinical trials to reduce the mortality rate in COVID-19 patients.
The above mentioned are just a few of the many scientific breakthroughs that CSIR has gained since its establishment. However, the latest tweet has raised questions over its nature of work. Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra tweeted on her page that a friend of hers’ who is also a CSIR scientist, told Mahua how “ashamed” the latter was to call themself a scientist after the temple visit.
Mahua Moitra however indirectly lamented the scientific body encouraging such a visit. She wrote, “A senior scientist sent to me saying she was ashamed to be part of Indian scientific community. “ বৈজ্ঞানিক হিসেবে নিজের পরিচয় দিতে লজ্জা করে “ (Shy to identify himself as a scientist) CSIR among world’s largest publicly funded R&D organisation. Our tax money being used for this. Shameful. New low everyday.”
