How old is the Earth? There are different theories on that, the most general one that says our planet was formed around 4.54 billion years ago.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday claimed that the Earth came into existence 1.97 billion years ago, noting that only ancient India’s cosmological calculations were “the nearest” in tune with modern scientific ones about our planet’s age.
Citing renowned American astronomer, cosmologist and astrophysicist Carl Sagan, Rajnath Singh said he also “accepted” that ancient Indian scriptures had information on earth’s age. The home minister was speaking at the inauguration of the second India International Science Festival, backed by the government’s ministry of science and technology and RSS-linked Vijnan Bharati.
“When was the earth created? Some say 25,000 years (ago), some say 20,000 (years ago) while some say 40,000 (years ago).
“When Carl Sagan came up with a coded message... a pioneer satellite with a coded message was sent to the solar system to know which is the oldest civilisation. So, the work of decoding the code was done by Carl Sagan,” Singh said.
He noted that even Sagan once observed that ancient India’s cosmological calculations were the nearest in tune with modern scientific calculations.
“(Even) he accepted that it is mentioned in the religious texts and literature of India, the earth came into existence 1.97 billion years ago. Sagan has accepted it,” Singh said, adding that in ancient times India was a repository of scientific knowledge and temper.
The home minister also said he did not want India to become a ‘super power’, but a teacher to the world (vishwa guru).
“People get scarred to stand with powerful, but they one only experience love when it comes to standing with guru,” the senior BJP leader said.
Singh, who worked as a lecturer of physics, also said that nobel laureate German physicist Werner Heisenberg, got the idea of basic uncertainty of principles while he was discussing Vedas with Rabindranath Tagore.
“Heisenberg’s friend wrote a book. In that when (Fritjof) Capra asked him from where did he get the concept of ‘Principles of Uncertainty’ he (Heisenberg) said, ‘I got the concept of principles of uncertainty when I was discussing Vedas with Rabindranath Tagore’,” Singh added.
