India & knowledge

Evidence of an Indian knowledge society in the past

▪ The Hindus Valley civilization is one of the oldest of the world and dates back
5,000 years
▪ India used to worship knowledge
▪ Indeed, goddess Sarasvati used to be revered
▪ Being oblivious of India's past may be offensive
▪ India is the only ancient civilization where knowledge was deified, with the
honour going to Sarasvati
▪ Sarasvati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom,
and learning.
▪ There are around 30 million manuscripts according to US scholar D. Pingree
▪ There were numerous and diverse educational institutions
▪ In the 17th century, travellers were surprised at how eager for knowledge
Indian families were
▪ There are indications of a great concern in imparting knowledge in old texts
▪ India has many firsts to its credit such as the invention of "zero"
▪ Many discoveries and breakthroughs in mathematics (invention of “zero”),
astronomy, medicine, physics, town planning are Indian achievements
▪ Nalanda University (first of its kind) with over 10,000 students and 1,500
teachers dates back the 5th century

A resourceful society

▪ Evidence of dentistry being practiced as far back as 7000 BC

▪ 2400 BC, India had rulers calibrated less than 2 millimeters
▪ Weighing scales date back to between 2400 BC-1800 BC in the Indus valley
civilization
▪ Historians believe plastic surgery was being carried out in India as early as
near 2000 BC
▪ At least 200 BC South India was producing high quality steel, using a method
Europeans would later call the crucible technique
▪ Hindu cosmological time cycles giving the time it takes the Earth to revolve
around the Sun, was the most accurate estimate in the world for over a
thousand years.

India is still a knowledge society

▪ It is an important factor in the IT field

▪ India is sometimes portrayed as an EMERGING knowledge society,
regardless of its glorious past
▪ India is bustling with activity and full of dynamism in IT
 ▪ There was an IT boom in the 1980's and 1990's
▪ The sudden rise of India as an economic power came as a surprise on the
international stage.
▪ In 1930 Sir Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics or his work on the
scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him
▪ The Indian Institute of Science became a “hub” for the best Indian scientists,
meaning some precious successful research was carried

India is not a knowledge society today

▪ Almost 71% of Indians live in rural areas

▪ 18 million children live on the street
▪ 47% of its workforce is still in agriculture
▪ Today, India is a consumer rather than a supplier
▪ By creating a National Knowledge Commission in 2006, the Indian Prime
Minister implied that India was not a knowledge society

Who is to be blamed for?

▪ India has always been an elitist society. In other words, no matter how much
knowledge is worshipped if it can't be imparted
▪ Indian educational policies do not make room for specifically Indian knowledge
▪ India was a British colony from the 17th to the 20th century
▪ Colonists can be blamed for the current situation
▪ India became independent in 1947, thus has been independent for several
decades
▪ When JM Tata wanted to develop a world class institution
▪ A prominent businessman, JM Tata, spent huge amounts of money, overcame
many hurdles but never gave up.
▪ At the end of the 19th century, he wanted India to be part of the new world of
science and technology
▪ The Viceroy at the time tried to deter him from doing so, saying India didn't
need it
▪ India's pursuit of knowledge might have been slowed down by more than two
centuries of colonization