In 1792 the British East India Company set up the first modern observatory
on the subcontinent in Madras. In the early years of this century observatories
were set up in Kodaikanal and Hyderabad. But the most significant advance
occurred in the post-independence period, after 1947.

Today there are excellent opportunities for front-line research work,
which encompass almost the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including a
2.3-metre reflector as well as satellite-based X-ray detectors, neutrino
and high-energy gamma-ray detectors. One of the world’s largest metre-wave
radio telescopes is being built near Pune and is expected to be operational
by 1993.

Despite this impressive progress there is a paradox. An awareness of
modern astronomy is almost absent among the Indian public. Superstition
is so deeply rooted that a large proportion of the population does not discriminate
between astrology and astronomy. When Halley’s comet visited the Earth recently,
observatories were flooded with crowds, but the majority of people still
regarded it as an omen of evil.

This will not be surprising to those living in India. India never had
a tradition of scientific culture as the West did. Most Indians are illiterate,
so new culture is slow to take hold. In a country of about 800 millions
there are hardly 10 serious amateur astronomy groups. There are no magazines
and virtually no books on astronomy published in India. Astronomical topics
are covered by science magazines and most of them are in English. Western
books are very expensive.

The teaching of astronomy at all levels of education is hopelessly inadequate.
Up to the Indian equivalent of A levels, astronomy is virtually confined
to the solar system, and is introduced through geography or physics. One
geography text book claims the existence of a tenth planet, called Poseidon.

Only a few universities offer astronomy at undergraduate level in combination
with physics and mathematics. Their facilities are rather primitive. Although
there are several universities where one or two optional courses in astronomy
and astrophysics are offered at postgraduate level, only about five universities
offer MSc courses. Students wanting to study for a doctorate have to join
a PhD programme at one of the astronomy and astrophysics centres.

What is being done to change the existing trend? In order to improve
the teaching and research in Indian universities, the Inter-University Centre
for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) was set up in Pune in 1988. Teachers
and students from various universities have access to the facilities of
the IUCAA which they will be encouraged to use for scientific and developmental
projects. The centre will cooperate with universities to improve teaching
and it will also try to popularise astronomy. Attempts are being made to
prepare a popular astronomy television serial in Hindi.

In order to encourage amateur astronomy the Astronomical Society of
India (ASI) gives about five fellowships every year for students to spend
about a month at one of the research centres. During the return of Halley’s
comet 7.5 centimetre refractors were given free to several schools and colleges.
Recently even telescope-making workshops have been funded where students
grind their own mirrors and make telescopes, which finally become their
school’s property.

Astronomy is an ideal tool to stimulate students, teachers and even
laypeople. The teaching of astronomy would do much to dispel superstition
in India. In my view the IUCAA should make available cheap astronomy books
and magazines in the students’ own languages.

It should also send astronomy popularisers around India’s towns and
villages, as this would be more effective than television serials. The IUCAA
should also encourage teachers and students to set up amateur astronomy
groups.

The ASI should advertise their fellowships more effectively and increase
their number. Holding telescope-making workshops is not enough. Some time
must also be spent explaining to students and teachers what sort of information
they can obtain with the instrument. If all this happens, a new phase of
astronomy will begin in India.

Barkat Sorathia did his schooling in India. He is now an undergraduate
astrophysics student at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

I came across a news item in my local newspaper about a strange event
in the sky that was predicted to take place on 26 May 1983. This was to
be the pivotal day in my life. I was 14 and had just completed my eighth
year of schooling in my home town Gondia, in northern India. The newspaper
declared that in the early hours of the following morning the planet Jupiter
would be seen as a diamond shining inside the Moon. I wondered how Jupiter
could possibly be seen inside the Moon. Although I was sure the report was
wrong the idea fascinated me and I decided to rise early and observe the
event.

When it occurred I saw Jupiter disappear behind the Moon and about an
hour afterwards it reappeared. I was so excited that, while furiously pedalling
my bicycle to report the true circumstances of the event to the local newspaper,
I had my first accident, resulting in a visit to the doctor instead of a
front-page splash. I learnt from the Positional Astronomy Centre in India
that the event was an occultation and they sent me dates of two further
occultations that were to take place later that year. By that time I had
tried to build a telescope, and my bedroom was filled with books about astronomy,
techniques of observation and mirror making. The ball had started rolling.

In July 1984, the local branch of the Lions Club (an international club
rather like the Rotary Club) formally adopted me and gave me every possible
encouragement in the pursuit of astronomy. In August 1984 the Lions Club
sponsored my first two-day visit to the Solar Observatory in Kodaikanal
which entailed a journey of more than 1000 kilometres.

The visit was very short but reports of it attracted the interest of
some professional astronomers and, in October 1985, I was offered a one-month
fellowship from the Astronomical Society of India to work at the Solar Observatory
in Udaipur. I was particularly pleased about this; normally only graduates
are entitled to the fellowships whereas I had just completed the Indian
equivalent of O-levels. The work resulted in my first paper, a joint publication
on the flare associated with the surge prominence in October 1980. This
appeared in the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics in December 1987.
It was thrilling to analyse the high quality solar pictures from this internationally
known astronomical centre and to present a paper on it.

In May 1986, following a short visit to the Radio Astronomy Centre in
Ooty, the head of the centre offered me a summer studentship, provided I
chose radio astronomy as my specialisation and maintained a good standard
in my academic studies. So in May 1987, after completing the Indian equivalent
of A-levels, I visited the observatory on a summer studentship. By that
time I had visited the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore and
the director agreed to lend me a 3-inch telescope to enable me to install
a small lunar and asteroid occultation station in Gondia.

In 1987 I joined a BSc course in electronics in Gondia. I was exasperated
to find that the lecturers expected students to accept everything they said
and not to question even the most controversial topics. Once a lecturer
was so unsettled by my questioning that I was asked to leave the class to
avoid further embarrassment.

By February 1988 the idea of changing to astronomy and astrophysics
was starting to take hold. No such BSc(Hons) course is available in India
so I decided to seek a place in a good overseas university. Since I didn’t
know any German or Russian, a university in Britain or the US was the obvious
choice. The process of application to the US from India was bedevilled by
red tape so I had to choose a British university. I didn’t have the usual
A-level qualifications, so it looked as if my application might be a lengthy
and costly affair. However, Professor Paul Davies offered me a place on
the three-year course at Newcastle University on the basis of my Indian
qualifications and my scientific knowledge.

But how was I to pay the fees? The cost for an overseas student is around
Pounds sterling 5000 a year, about 10 times the cost for a British student.
Are overseas students being viewed as simply a money making concern? Why
is such a high price being put on knowledge? I hoped for sponsorship from
the Ismaili community’s scholarship agencies, such as the Aga Khan Foundation,
or from the Prime Minister of India’s Office, but unfortunately this was
not forthcoming. However, the Lions Club of Gondia had already started a
fund-raising project for me and eventually they succeeded, in conjunction
with local Ismailis, in raising an amount equivalent to about Pounds sterling
4700. A typical Indian would earn in a year only a quarter of this sum.
It was a very challenging task that the Lions Club embarked on and fulfilled
with great diligence on my behalf. Although I obtained my passport and visa
easily, it took so long to obtain a foreign exchange permit (it would take
another 1000 words to describe the bureaucracy) that I had to defer my arrival
in Britain until 1989.

Eventually, it became clear that no more funds could be raised for me
in India, but, being a very strong believer in optimism and positive thinking,
I decided to fly to London.

On 18 August 1989 I at last arrived in Newcastle. I immediately discussed
my financial difficulties with the university staff, local Indians and the
Lions Club of Newcastle. Although the university could not grant me financial
concessions for fear of setting a precedent which would jeopardise their
future earning capacity from overseas students, it has given me a great
deal of moral support. The Students’ Union and the Lions Club of Newcastle
have written to many organisations seeking financial support on my behalf.
Local philanthropists who became aware of my difficulties formed a trust
to raise funds. The initial uncertainty, which gradually gave way to a chance
of success, boosted my determination and I embarked upon the first year
of my course on 3 October 1989. I now hope to complete my studies.

If young scientists in India (and in the other parts of the world, too)
are to succeed, things must change. The jungle of fixed rules and regulations
and the unhealthy political atmosphere that has spread across many of the
world’s education and research institutes must be cleared away. People must
change the attitudes that frustrate and depress the younger generation.
Individual students should be encouraged to develop their own ideas and
not merely be trained as memory banks of irrelevant facts.

What about the future? After my first degree I would like to take up
a PhD in observational or theoretical cosmology and proceed to research
in this field. I would plan to fulfil my dream to establish a group to promote
more widespread interest in astronomy within India. Above all, I want to
get satisfactory answers to at least some of the mysteries of the Universe.