Teaching science the way no textbook can, toymaker Arvind Gupta gets Padma Shri Science is about challenging authority and asking questions, says 64-year-old Arvind Gupta, who has been awarded the Padma Shri this year. Known for turning trash into toys that children can make themselves while learning the basic principles of science, Gupta dismisses Union minister Satyapal Singh’s statement that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of man was not scientific as “silly”. “These statements do not encourage science,” Gupta, who has translated 380 award-winning books on science and math in Hindi, told The Indian Express. “The scientific community has criticised such statements that do not encourage science,” says Gupta, who has dedicated over 35 years to popularising science and making it a fun-learning experience for children. With 1,500 science experiments documented in photos and 8,600 short video clips on YouTube in 18 languages that has reached out to 63 million people across the wo