Mumbai: Eminent speakers at the 102nd Indian Science Congress highlighted the fact that while ancient India was way ahead in medicine and other sciences, it had taken the congress 100 years to discuss the same.

Referring to the advancements in ancient Indian surgery, Dr Ashwin Sawant, one of the speakers, said that the same was now being recognised by the world and some of it was still being researched by the global medical fraternity.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar, who was also a speaker, said that the centuries old theories of ancient India were still relevant and are being exploited by European countries.

Noted computer scientist Vijay Bhatkar said, “We observe that it is for the very first time in 102 years at the Indian Science Congress, that we have discussed ancient science.

Why did it take 100 years for us to realise that this is a very important issue of science?” Stressing on the need to adopt Sanskrit for solving computational problems involving mathematics and algorithms, Mr Bhatkar said that computer scientists should study Sanskrit as the language has many solutions.

He added that ancient Indian sciences should have be-en an integral part of the previous ISC’s and not be restricted to one edition.