India, Sept. 18 -- Over 900 mathematicians, researchers and academics from India and abroad have petitioned the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withdraw its proposed curriculum for undergraduate mathematics.

The draft, published in August by UGC for BA and BSc mathematics in alignment with the National Education Policy 2020, adds concepts like Vedic mathematics, Bharatiya Bijaganit, the Puranas and ideas of ancient Indian astronomy. Students should be taught the Narada Purana's citations of geometry, muhurtas in rituals calculated using the panchanga, and ancient Indian time units compared with the contemporary systems such as Greenwich Mean Time. The draft also proposes that students be taught the history and evolution of Indian a...