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Indian expedition team reaches Israel
A ten-member 'Gondwanaland expedition team' from India spreads goodwill message, while scientists explore areas of cooperation.
A ten-member 'Gondwanaland Expedition Team' from India, currently touring Israel to explore avenues of scientific co-operation, also intends to spread Mahatma Gandhi's message of peace and non-violence as it passes through the strife-torn region.
"We are carrying Mahatma Gandhi's message of peace and non-violence, which he brought from South Africa to India back to South Africa through regions filled with rift and tension", expedition leader Akhil Bakshi said.
The team members are also carrying a goodwill message from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the Israeli President, Moshe Katsav.
The team has met with several Israeli scientists and identified possible areas of cooperation.
Bakshi, who is the chairman of the Science and Exploration Committee of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, said, "Our scientists are studying movement of the tectonic plates that are causing devastating earthquakes in West Asia and South Asia and we see possibilities of cooperation."
Though Gondwanaland, comprising Africa, peninsular India, Australia, South America, Antarctica and Eurasian regions now fall under two separate continents Asia and Africa, we still remain united by geography and history, shared culture and tradition of thousands of years, Bakshi said.
Bakshi said that the Chairman of the Geological Survey of Israel, Benjamin Begin, has proposed cooperation between the scientific communities of the two countries.
The expedition was flagged off from Shimla last month and aims to cover 35,000 km by road crossing 17 countries before reaching it's final destination of Cape Agulhas - the southernmost tip of South Africa.
