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Indian Knowledge Systems

Illustration by Copilot Designer


India’s New Education Policy [NEP 2020] lays much emphasis on what it calls Indian Knowledge Systems [IKS]. It refers to the integration of traditional Indian wisdom, including Vedic mathematics, Ayurveda, and ancient science and arts, into modern education. While some of that ‘ancient’ wisdom may be relevant today and some may be innocuous, much of that won’t do any good other than give us a hollow sense of pride in the antiqueness of our history. That sort of pride is as useful as one’s hope to have calluses in his backside because his great-great grandfather used to ride on an elephant’s back.

The most striking irony about NEP 2020 is the emphasis laid on Sanskrit. Sanskrit was deemed to be the divine language in ancient India and only the upper caste people were allowed to study it. If a lower caste person even happens to hear Sanskrit literature being recited, that person’s ears were to be damaged forever by pouring molten lead into them. Now, India is shoving the same divine language down the throats of its citizens who will find absolutely no use with it.

Regional languages are driven over by this revitalised steamroller of Sanskrit. NEP 2020 stipulates that Sanskrit should be “mainstreamed” as an important option in the three-language formula. Sanskrit will be offered at all levels of school and higher education as a choice for students to study, with the objective of rooting the students in their country’s glorious ancient culture and heritage.

Now, let us contrast this with the actual reality of our world. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and modern technology are taking over more and more jobs which have been performed by humans hitherto. 22% of the jobs are done by machines fully. That is, without any human intervention. This percentage is expected to rise to 34 by the year 2030. 47% of jobs are done by humans alone now and that figure is to go down to 33% by 2030. In other words, a lot of jobs are just going to vanish altogether as far as humans are concerned. Humans without knowledge of modern technology will be redundant. What is India going to do with Sanskrit and its Vedic wisdom in such a world?

A lot of critics have already written much on this subject. Too many writers have pointed out the bad intentions of implementors of NEP 2020. The ultimate intention is to make India a Hindu Rashtra. The state of Madhya Pradesh has already notified a list of books to be made available in the libraries of its educational institutions – whether government or private – authored by individuals with RSS connections. IIT Mandi has introduced a mandatory course titled ‘Introduction to consciousness and wellbeing,’ which includes topics like reincarnation. The course is meant for engineering students!

Where is NEP 2020 taking the country to?

One academician wrote recently in The New Indian Express that the IKS initiative of NEP 2020 “allows a backdoor entry to pseudoscience, contradicting a fundamental duty enshrined in the Constitution – the development of scientific temper.” When the world moves on to modern technology driven by AI, India seems to be aiming at keeping its youth ‘rooted’ in some millennia-old mumbo-jumbo.

It is true that many leaders like Donald Trump are indulging in much nationalistic chest-thumping. A question worth asking ourselves is whether India should go the same way. India has its own unique diversity which will be lost if the kind of nationalism envisaged in NEP 2020 is really imposed on the country. The entire effort of NEP 2020 seems to be the glorification of a particular historical narrative and motivated sidelining of diverse cultures and perspectives. 

The absolute neglect of minority institutions in NEP 2020 is striking. The minority communities in the country will gradually be sidelined totally. Even their languages and cultures and histories will all be pulverised under the Hindutva juggernaut.

Before striving to ascend the sublime heights of some ancient glory, what the present leaders of India should do is to bring the most fundamental ethics to their personal lives first and then to their politics. Perhaps, they can draw inspiration from Yajur Veda:

संगच्छध्वं संवदध्वं सं वो मनांसि जानताम्।
देवा भागं यथा पूर्वे संजानाना उपासते॥ (Yajurveda 36.17)

Meaning:
"Move together, speak together, let your minds be united in understanding. Just as the gods of old performed their duties with unity, may you also strive for harmony and cooperation."

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  1. Liz A.February 4, 2025 at 6:21 AM

    Why do politicians decide what should be taught in schools? Seriously, they have no idea what it's like in education. Those in education are better suited to figure that stuff out. But everything is political, so the politicians want to get their grubby paws wherever they can.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 4, 2025 at 9:33 PM

      Right-wing politics pervades everything. From courts to academics...

      Delete
  2. Yamini MacLeanFebruary 4, 2025 at 6:33 AM

    Hari OM
    An excellent closing quotation. As one who undertook studentship of Sanskrit, I can vouch for the intellectual efficacy of that pursuit. For it to be weaponised and enforced, however, is counterproductive. For administrative purposes, it is commonsense to have one uniform/national language, but it should not be at the expense of all other tongues and dialects of that nation. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalFebruary 4, 2025 at 9:34 PM

      All these slogans like One Nation One Language are conspiratorial...

      Delete
  3. Sonia DograFebruary 6, 2025 at 8:18 AM

    Growing up I didn't learn my mother tongue, which is Pahadi. I studied in a convent and my parents thought it better I read English and partly Hindi to deal with the real world. Naturally, I didn't pass on the language to my children..The story is same for my husband, who grew up in a Garhwali home. My children and his brother's children do not speak Garhwali and we are the last of the generation to do so. It saddens my heart to see how my beautiful culture will slowly die out because I have failed to pass it to my children. Even as I try to make amends it's too late to salvage the situation. What I mean to say is that art, culture, language are maybe, as you say, going forward of no use to the world. Doesn't mean we should let them die. Maybe it's difficult for you to understand because the South has beautifully preserved their language. When I visit Bangalore, I see how people take pride in talking in their regional language. It's not the case everywhere, especially with languages that don't have a script. While NEP seems impractical at many places, I wish we didn't have the option of French or German as the third language while growing up. Not sure if I've been able to say what I want to, but I don't see it as a totally futile move.

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