Thataghat row won't stop search for young talent

bangalore: dismissing the controversy over child prodigy thataghat avatar tulsi of patna, the department of science and technology (dst) has declared that it will continue with the existing procedure for selection of talented young scientists. ``it is not a necessary controversy. we will continue with the existing procedure; we will continue with what we think right,'' dst secretary v.s.ramamurthy said. the department has been relying on two well-established practices for selection. ``for age, passport is considered as the document and the prodigy had passed the national entrance test (net), the only all-india examination existing for so many years. nobody doubts the authenticity of it.'' stressing that the boy's achievement is noteworthy, ramamurthy said: ``at his age i was still in school. the minimum qualification for net is m sc. somebody asks you a question, you don't know the answer. it need not lead to a controversy.'' the controversy arose after the boy went to germany for an interaction with nobel laureates in physics. after his return, there were complaints that he and his father had used the trip only for self-publicity, making a nuisance of themselves and bringing a bad name to the country in front of the nobel laureates. the wonderboy had claimed he had written electro gravity unification at the age of 10 and had passed b sc and m sc from patna university without going to the laboratory. on the proposal to establish a binocular telescope at hanle in ladakh __ the world's highest centre for astronomy __ ramamurthy said scientists were discussing the issue. countries like australia, america and japan have shown interest in the rs 350-crore project. it's still not clear whether they will give the equipment or invest in the project. ``the discussions haven't come to the government level.''