Nearly a month after MoS for human resource development (HRD) Satyapal Singh called Darwin's Theory of Evolution scientifically wrong, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) included a question on his statement in its exam. The question asked the students to provide logical reasoning over what was wrong in the statement. The two marks question was included in the mid-semester examination for undergraduate students pursuing a course in evolution on Thursday.

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"None of our ancestors have said or written anywhere that they have seen an ape turning into a man. Darwin's theory is wrong and it needs to be changed in school and college curriculum," Satyapal Singh had said last month in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district.

Based on his statement, IISER included a question, "The MoS for HRD in India recently claimed that the Darwinian theory of evolution is wrong because nobody including our ancestors, in writing or orally, has said that they saw an ape turning into a man. What is wrong in this argument? NOTE: This question is NOT asking why biologists believe evolution to be correct. It is asking why the quoted argument cannot be correct in terms of disapproving the Darwinian theory of evolution."

When asked about the question, Dr Sanjeev Galande, dean of research and development at IISER said, " Students at IISR are supposed to give logical reasoning to questions. The question was quite clearly phrased in order to ask student to provide logical reasoning."

Galande also clarified that the institute does not want to create any controversy out of this question and it was only to check the students' ability to form logical answers.

Interestingly, Singh had visited the institute on February 12 and had interacted with the students.

WHAT MIN SAID

  • Satyapal Singh had argued that Darwin’s theory was scientifically wrong because “nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral, have said they saw an ape turning into a man”.