Solutions to world's problems lie in traditional Indian knowledge: Education minister

Solutions to many of the world’s problems lie in Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and we must build a future which creates synergy between knowledge from the past and contemporary issues, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

The minister was speaking after releasing a book on IKS for students of higher education on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.

The book titled ‘Introduction to Indian Knowledge Systems: Concepts and Applications’ is authored by professor B Mahadevan of IIM Bangalore.

Described as ”an idea whose time has come”, the book introduces concepts and applications of IKS to students of science and engineering in a way they can relate, appreciate and explore further, officials said.

”While we adopt the good things from our ancient past, we must also be mindful of the problems in our society and build a future which which creates synergy between knowledge from the past and contemporary issues. Solutions to many of the world’s problems lie in the Indian Knowledge Systems,” Pradhan said.

According to officials, although the book has been primarily developed for use by engineering institutions, the structure and the contents lend themselves easily to address the requirement in other university systems — Liberal Arts, Medicine, Science and Management.

”The newly released IKS textbook will enable the students to bridge the divide between traditional and modern education system by providing students with an opportunity to reconnect with the past, build holistic scientific temper and utilise it for carrying multidisciplinary research and innovation,” the minister said.

The textbook is developed by IIM Bangalore in association with VYASA Yoga Institute, Bengaluru, and Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth, Ernakulam, Kerala. It is co-authored by aoosciate professor Vinayak Rajat Bhat, Chanakya University, Bengaluru, and Nagendra Pavana R N, with the school of Vedic Knowledge Systems at Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth, Ernakulam.

The book is divided into four parts: Part 1 has a formal and concise introduction to IKS. Part 2 provides certain foundational concepts applicable across all domains of science and engineering. Part 3 is on science, engineering and Technology in IKS and Part 4 is about humanities and social sciences in IKS.

Mentioning the need to learn about traditional Indian knowledge, Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar cited examples from Ayurveda, construction of ships in ancient times, aircraft knowledge, architecture of of Indus Valley cities and political science that existed in ancient India.