I've been quite dismayed by this but I don't think overall it's yet as serious as it sounds.
The IITs are quite solid and several are among the pool of top institutions in the world. There are many really good engineers and scientists in the country.
More interestingly, the upper bureaucracy (i.e. non-political appointees) of science and engineering oriented ministries (e.g. MNRE) tend to be actual scientists.
There's a pseudoscientific froth in India, Turkey, USA, Iran, and other religious countries, but they still get power plants and satellites built. The froth gets attention because 1> it's shocking and 2> it appeals to the short-term aims of various politicians and their bases.
So when India can't get a fighter plane built I ascribe it to garden variety corruption, not disdain for science.
That a naive thinking.You didn't try to reason the motivation behind the claims of accused scientists in the article. There have been numerous discoveries of ancient artifacts proving again and again the advancement of our ancestors in the field of science and technology. Why is it wrong to study ancient texts to try to understand their techniques? Why are such professionals are being targeted? Do you atleast believe in ancient medical science of Ayurveda, whose methods are increasingly being accepted in modern medical institutions in Europe and USA? You wouldn't dare point finger at them but you would do it, without thinking twice, when someone from your country try do it.
Although laboratory experiments suggest it is possible that some substances used in Ayurveda might be developed into effective treatments, there is no scientific evidence that any are effective as currently practiced.[11] Ayurveda medicine is considered pseudoscientific.[12] Other researchers consider it a protoscience, or trans-science system instead.[13][14] In a 2008 study, close to 21% of Ayurveda U.S. and Indian-manufactured patent medicines sold through the Internet were found to contain toxic levels of heavy metals, specifically lead, mercury, and arsenic.[15] The public health implications of such metallic contaminants in India are unknown.[15]
