Smriti Irani seems to believe that studying Sanskrit could help India produce better engineers.

The Minister of Human Resource Development informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that a panel, chaired by former bureaucrat N Gopalaswami has suggested that the Indian Institutes of Technology should encourage students to learn about aspects of science and technology that are mentioned in Sanskrit texts.

“Atharavaveda, Vaisheshika Darshana etc. are, it is acknowledged, the treasure house of scientific concepts which are hitherto studied from Science point of view,” the Gopalaswami panel report said. “There are hundreds of works like Siddhanta Shiromani, Vriksha Ayurveda, Upavana Vinoda, Mayamatam, etc. to name a few, which are of great relevance in the context of research and innovation.”

Said Irani: “Accordingly, IITs have been requested to teach Sanskrit language, especially with reference to study of works which contain scientific knowledge.”

Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia took to Twitter on Tuesday to mock Irani’s request.

Twitter users were both outraged and amused, sometimes both at the same time.