Origin of the Specious

If only our ministers would do what they are elected to do. But wait, that would be a dreamocracy, no? Everyone knows by now what Union minister Satyapal Singh said about purging educational texts of Charles Darwin's theory. The twitterati jeered, but he was telling the truth when he said he was a man of science. He has more than one degree in Chemistry and before he turned cop, he had wanted to be a scientist but then got himself an MBA from Oz and a PhD in Naxalism.

Encounter Specialist

But none of this is as disturbing as his critique of Darwin. He said: "...nobody has, either in a story or in writing, said he went somewhere into a jungle and saw an ape turning into a man." One wonders if Singh has unresolved monkey trauma from his days as Nagpur top cop. Whaat? You didn't know? Nagpur is known for its monkey menace. Hua hoga, encounter.

In Whose Likeness?

Singh's argument might be unique, but not his basic contention. Way before Darwin, when botanist Carolus Linnaeus bracketed man and monkey, there was outrage. After all, the Bible said man was created in God's likeness. It was the mid 18th century. As peace offering perhaps, Linnaeus classified man as Homo sapiens - Latin for "wise men". Comte de Buffon also suggested a relation between apes and man. But Singh just blamed Darwin.

Unnatural Selection

Darwin's grandfather Erasmus was phy-sician, atheist, poet - he wrote about erotic plant sex. In The Temple of Nature, he wrote: "... as successive generations bloom/New powers acquire, and larger limbs assume". Next came Lamarck's theory. Darwin Jr's theory of evolution through natural selection came after 20 years of study. It was for ALL species. No one walked in on an ape changing into man, but with alarming regularity some men are making apes of themselves.