There are two others who are worth mentioning Sri Sri Ravishankar, who rampaged the Yamuna for his gala event. He was also associated with Anna Hazare’s RSS supported movement. He is in the news generally for subtly supporting Hindu nationalist politics. And then there is Baba Ramdev. He began his career as a Yoga Guru with great success and then made transition to business World with the brand of Patanjali. This firm, producing and marketing Ayurveda products has brought Baba in the line of front ranking business tycoons, with huge assets. He and his close associate Acharya Balkishan have built up a massive empire, un-challenged till lately. All his Ayurveda products were publicized with great fanfare and a large section of media went gaga for his achievements.

The academic qualifications of Acharya and Baba duo are not much known. Currently there are many Ayurveda Medical Colleges, but it is doubtful if they have any degree from these. On the pretext that they are posing an indigenous challenge to the multinational corporations, many of their methods probably went unchallenged.

Matters came to head during Covid 19. On one hand the ruling government made hefty donations for the Pune based Bharat Biotech, Covaccine. On the other hand, within a month of the outbreak of Pandemic; Baba came up with the claim that they have developed a medicine for treatment and prevention of the disease, ‘Coronil’. The claim was that it has the approval of WHO. When challenged by the Ayush ministry, they corrected themselves to say that it has been developed on the guidelines of WHO. Ayush ministry distanced itself from the claims of Baba. The Combo pack of Coronil was introduced with great fanfare in presence of two Cabinet ministers, Dr. Harshvardhan and Nitin Gadkari. Dr. Harshvardhan himself is a trained medical doctor. There is currently a blind praise of ancient systems.

Baba claimed that the medicine has been tested on 100 patients of mild to moderate severity and the Corona test became negative in a few days. He had tied up with a few doctors for the testing of medicine. The protocol of introducing the medicines in modern medicine is preceded by biochemical analysis, animal testing and clinical double blind trial of adequate size samples. This was not followed.

Overawed with his commercial success, he not only accepted the praise from most of the Godi media, he took a step further to call Allopathic as a stupid science. Irked by this the Indian Medical Association (IMA) filed a case against him, which was heard recently. First he apologized to IMA for insulting the modern medicine. Just to recall when he sat on a hunger strike against corruption, he claimed that he has a ‘Yoga body’ and he can withstand the fast for a long time. Within a few days his condition worsened and was admitted to an allopathic hospital. Similarly a year ago Acharya Balkishan was seriously ill and had to be admitted to the ICU of an allopathic hospital.

After Court’ warning, his firm continued misleading advertisements. Court summoned him. He apologized profusely. Court refused to accept his apology and has asked him to mend his ways and come back again.

The details of the whole episode apart, how come such faith based knowledge and use of medications based on that have been rising for so long, what an arrogance to downgrade the modern system of Medicine? One concedes there is lots of empirical wisdom in some traditional medicines and even in Grandma’s medicines. The point however that is the modern system of medicine is based on evidence and peer review. The knowledge is ruthlessly subjected to review and criticism. And this is what leads to improvement leading to something close to what is useful.

The faith based knowledge, and thereby treatment systems are above criticism. Many Babas have their own system of treatment. The protocol of medical systems is evolved by adapting to better systems. The likes of Ramdev take the advantage of Holiness, to be above criticism and make many statements as they like. He had proclaimed that he has treatment for Cancer, Aids and what have you. He even claimed that Homosexuality is a disease and he can cure it!

So far he has the protection of ‘system’ and that gave him the arrogance to downgrade the allopath and make irrational claims about ‘his’ system. And why are such Babas having gala time with their faith based claims?

Last few decades have seen the rise of politics in the name of religion. This also harps on the ancient Indian knowledge systems. Taking these in a critical way is what science and rationalists will demand. This is what was demanded by the likes of Dr. Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh. They were done away for raising rational understanding. This is a period when rational thinking and methods are being undermined in the glare of ‘faith based knowledge’. Even in our educational curriculum in the name of ‘Indian Knowledge systems’ the faith based things will form part of curriculum.

Baba Ramdev is a symptom of the society gripped by faith-blind faith combo. The Supreme Court has done well to put a small stop to this ascending ‘Baba’ trend in the field of medicine.

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Mumbai: Barely 72 hours after his comments on women sparked a furore, a chastened Yoga guru, Swami Ramdev has expressed regrets and apologised for his remarks.

Ramdev has sent an email to the effect to the Maharashtra State Commission for Women Chairperson Rupali Chakankar, in response to her missive of Friday demanding an explanation for his utterances within 72 hours.

Confirming the developments, the MSCW head informed that Ramdev has sent the response to her, expressing both regrets and tendering an apology, but also claiming that his remarks were allegedly twisted out of context.

“We have received his reply to our notice…However, if there are any more objections or complaints, we shall conduct a full-fledged probe and get the full video recording of the programme held last week,” warned Chakankar, while speaking with IANS.

Addressing a free Yoga training programme for women in Thane, Ramdev Baba blurted out without batting an eyelid before the gathering, largely comprising women: “Women look good in saris, they look great in salwar suits, and in my view, they look good even if they don’t wear anything.”

At that time Ramdev was flanked by Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena Thane MP Shrikant Shinde, the son of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and singer Amruta Fadnavis – wife of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and other prominent personalities.

The blatant statements spurred calls to “slap, kick and tonsure” Ramdev from various quarters in Maharashtra and other parts of India.

Agitated top leaders of various parties including Sanjay Raut, Dr. Manisha Kayande, Kishore Tiwari, Mahesh Tapase, women activists like Aparna Malikar, Trupti Desai, and others pounced on Ramdev, seeking an unconditional apology, booking him for degrading womenfolk and other demands, even as the MSCW slapped a notice.

Courtesy: The Daily Siasat

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The Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Uttarakhand branch has slapped a defamation notice of Rs 1,000 crore upon Patanjali boss Ramdev, stated media reports. Ramdev has been in the news recently after a video circulated on social media, where he reportedly claimed that allopathy was a “stupid science” and medicines being used to treat Covid-19 patients, including Remdesivir, Faviflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), had have failed to do so.

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The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has issued a strongly worded press Release expressing its utter disbelief that a blatant lie was peddled by Patanjali about ‘Coronil’ being certified medicine, in the presence of Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

Baba Ramdev, founder of Patanjali launched ‘Coronil’ which he claims is the first evidence-based medicine for Covid-19 and that it can be used for prevention, treatment of Covid-19 and in the post-phase treatment as well. As per IMA, he also claimed at the press conference in the presence of Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan that ‘Coronil’ has gotten approval from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) as well as been certified by the World Health organization (WHO).

The WHO on the other hand clarified that it has not reviewed or certified “any traditional medicine” for treatment of Covid-19.

.@WHO has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment #COVID19.

— WHO South-East Asia (@WHOSEARO) February 19, 2021

“The said false and fabricated projection of an unscientific medicine by the Health Minister to the entire country and being rejected by WHO is a slap and insult to the people of the country. This is a blatant deceiving of the people of the country,” the statement reads.

The statement released by Patanjali reads, “Coronil has received the certificate of pharmaceutical product (COPP) from the AYUSH section of Central Drugs Standard Control Organization as per the WHO certification scheme”. The launch event was also attended by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari along side Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

The statement cites the code of conduct under Medical Council of India Act which states that no doctor can promote any drug with his name, photograph or any manner of advertising. The IMA states that it is surprised that the Minister himself who is a modern medicine doctor by qualification is promoting a drug.

The IMA questions if Coronil is effective for prevention then why is the government spending 35,000 crores for vaccination? The IMA has questioned the false projections, release of falsely fabricated and unscientific product and promotion of the same in an unethical manner by the Health Minister. It also asks about details of the clinical trials conducted to determine the efficacy of this medicine.

The country needs an explanation from the Hon’ble Minister, IMA said. It said that it respects Ayurveda and it should not be adulterated on pretext of market gain for some monopoly corporate.

Last year in July, Patanjali had claimed that Coronil could provide strong protection against COVID-19 but the AYUSH Ministry had issued a clarification that it can only be used as an immunity booster.

The statement may be read here:

IMA HQs Press Release on Health Minister – February 22, 2021 pic.twitter.com/72DWWs90KG

— Indian Medical Association (@IMAIndiaOrg) February 22, 2021

Related:

Bihar Covid data fudged: Opposition demands inquiry

Professor G N Saibaba tests Covid-19 positive in Nagpur jail

Communalisation of COVID-19: A Bebaak Collective report

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On October 23, Wednesday, the Delhi High Court (HC) directed social media giants Facebook, Twitter, Google and its subsidiary YouTube to forthwith” remove, block or disable on a global basis links to a video containing defamatory allegations against yoga guru Ramdev, The Indian Express reported.

The social media platforms had earlier sought to remove the content locally, within India, by a technique known as ‘geo-blocking’, where content is blocked for viewing from a particular jurisdiction.

The court’s direction came on a suit filed by Ramdev against a video uploaded by an unknown person containing “defamatory, disparaging and threatening” statements against him and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd.

The Court said that the petitioner, Ramdev, is a living human being and thus entitled to be treated with dignity and has a right of social reputation as an ordinary citizen even if he’s a public figure.

What the Defamation Law in India Says
According to section 499 of IPC, whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.

Section 500, which is on punishment for defamation, reads: “Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.”
In India, defamation is both civil and criminal offence.

What the Video Says
The video with alleged defamatory allegations against Ramdev contained excerpts from the book ‘Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev’.

In the book, the author PriyankaPathak-Narain had implicitly stated that Ramdev was involved or complicit in the disappearance of his Guru ShankerDevJi and that he had used his influence to scuttle the investigation regarding the same.

It also insinuated that Ramdev had something to do with the murder of Swami Yogananda on account of a falling out between them.

The Judgment
In the judgment given by Justice Pratibha M. Singh, she noted  that viewing the video or reading its transcript give an impression that Ramdev “has been involved in various murders, financial irregularities, misuse of animal parts, etc”.

“Thus, the content of the video to the extent it contains paraphrasing of content which was directed to be removed from the book is held to be defamatory. A perusal of the video transcript and the offending portion of the book show the clear similarity and prima facie, establish that the video is derived from the book and hence is defamatory.”

“In any event, this issue is moot inasmuch as the video begins by stating that it is based on the book. Thus, the defamatory nature of the video cannot be disputed,” the court said.

The Court had on September 29, 2018, restrained the publisher Juggernaut Books from publishing it till the offending portions were deleted as it were these portions that were being communicated to the public through the video that was uploaded on the social media platforms.

Why the Global Restrictions
The court issued these directions to the concerned social media platforms after they unanimously agreed to disable the links for India, but opposed blocking of URLs on a global basis.

Stating that merely geo-blocking would not be sufficient, the court observed, “When disabling is done by the platforms on their own, in terms of their policies, the same is global. So, there is no reason as to why court orders ought to not be global. All offending material which has therefore, been uploaded from within India on to the defendant’s computer resource or computer network would have to disabled and blocked on a global basis.”

This, according to the court, would prevent all access to the video by other means.

Meanwhile the defendants raised the issues of the judgment interfering with the right to freedom of speech, especially that it cannot be enforced beyond Indian borders. Disseminating views on the internet is a fundamental ingredient of freedom of speech and expression. Has this freedom ruffled the feathers of a yogi?

Related:
The Billionaire Beneficiaries of BJP’s Schemes
Censorship, Intimidation, Murder Threats to Free Expression in India: PEN International
 
 

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In a democratic country there is nothing wrong with starting a legitimate business. A security firm is a perfectly legitimate business. Baba Ramdev is not just a Yoga guru with millions of followers including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the president of the ruling party, BJP’s Amit Shah but also a shrewd businessman.  He has been seen performing his yoga tricks on several government functions including the Yoga Day.

Baba Ramdev’s “Patanjali Ayurved Ltd” which started its operations in 2008-09 was a marginal player until Narendra Modi came to power. Since then his business has boomed. In 2016-17 it doubled its revenue from Rs 5000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore and has become the fastest growing FMCG company in India.  There are many who see the political patronage of the current political dispensation as the reason behind the phenomenal rise of the Patanjali empire.

So why should one be cynical about a well established businessman starting another lucrative business?

In April 2016, during a conference for harmony of the Rashtrya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Rohtak (Haryana). The media quoted Baba Ramdev as saying that he would have “beheaded” those who refuse to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” were it not for the law of the land. Baba Ramdev said, “We respect this country’s law and Constitution, otherwise if anybody disrespects Bharat Mata, we have the capability of beheading not one but thousands and lakhs.”. This statement was directed at the Muslim community. This should send a chill down the spine of every peace loving citizen of the world.

When a person who has publicly stated that he is ready to behead hundreds of thousands of Muslims just for not ‘chanting’ patriotic slogans starts a private security company with an aim to “develop military instinct in each and every citizen of the country so as to awaken the spirit and determination for individual and national security” we should be worried.

Private security is a fast growing business in India. It’s the sought after business for the unskilled laborers and the former farmers who migrate to the cities and towns. They are in their millions in India. They can be spotted every nook and corner of India. If Baba Ramdev is going to instill ‘military instinct’  in them we should be worried.  At a time when every ‘other’ in India is termed an ‘anti-national’ by the Sangh Parivar, Baba Ramdev instilling the spirit of ‘national security’ in his ‘private army’ is worrying.  What is the purpose of hiring “retired Army and police personnel to train young interested recruits’’ if not for raising a para-military private army?

Given the business acumen of Baba Ramdev and the patronage he gets from the ruling dispensation and the Sangh Parivar, it would not be surprising, if he puts most of the currently operating security agencies out of business.  Would you like to see nationalistic, ‘patriotic’, militarily trained Parakram Surakshak’s guarding your businesses and housing complexes? I would be worried.

To conclude, let me put a speculative question. How would these trained Parakram Surakshak’s behave in a communal riot, which is not infrequent in India?

Binu Mathew is the Editor of www.countercurrents.org. He can be reached at editor@countercurrents.org

Courtesy: countercurrents.org
 

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The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Goyal issued the NBW against Ramdev and fixed August 3 as the next date of hearing in the case.

“The order follows Ramdev’s failure to appear before the court yet again today. He also failed to appear despite summons and a bailable warrant,” counsel for the complainant in the case O P Chugh said.

Ramdev had made the remarks at a Sadbhawana Sammelan here in April last year, which was called to promote peace in the city that witnessed violence during the Jat quota stir. He had said that but for the rule of law he would have “beheaded” lakhs of people for refusing to chant ‘Bharat mata ki jai’.

On March 2, Goyal had issued summons to Ramdev after a complaint was filed by Congress leader and former Haryana minister Subhash Batra seeking registration of an FIR against the yoga guru.

The ACJM had then directed Ramdev to furnish Rs 1 lakh personal surety during the execution of warrant and also to appear in court on June 14.

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

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The first such ‘shop’ was inaugurated on Wednesday at a Border Security Force (BSF) camp in the national capital.

The BSF Wives Welfare Association (BWWA) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with “Patanjali Ayurved Limited, Haridwar for sale of items of Patanjali through BWWA Patanjali shops spread across various BSF locations all over India.”

A BSF statement said the MoU also has a provision for discounts on sale to the country’s largest border guarding force personnel and their families.

“It is a kind gesture of Pantanjali Ayurved Limited, Haridwar to sell various Patanjali products at discounted prices varying from 15 per cent-28 per cent,” it said.

More such stores, under the aegis of BWWA, will be opened at BSF’s campuses in Agartala, Tekanpur (Gwalior), Guwahati, Jodhpur, Siliguri, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Jammu, Bangalore, Silchar, Ahmedabad, Hazaribagh and Indore.
BWWA president and wife of BSF Director General K K Sharma, Renu Sharma, inaugurated the first store in Delhi.

Last year, BSF, the about 2.5 lakh personnel-strong force that guards Indian borders along Pakistan and Bangladesh, had got trained over 2,000 of its jawans and officers at Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali institute in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar after these physical fitness drills were made mandatory for them.

Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali food park produces several fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and processed food items like chyawanprash, condiments, ghee and other items and the facility in Haridwar is guarded by an armed squad of another paramilitary, CISF.

Baba Ramdev himself enjoys a VIP security cover from the CRPF.
 

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बताया जा रहा है कि मामला पिछले साल का है जब इंदौर के आनंद बाजार स्थित पतंजलि चिकित्सालय से कुलदीप पवार ने बिस्कुट के कई पैकेट खरीदे थे। इनमें से दो पैकेट नारियल बिस्कुट के थे। 100-100 ग्राम के पैकेट में कुलदीप पवार को वजन कम लगा तो उसने उन बिस्कुट के पैकेट का वजन चेक कराया। कुलदीप ने इस बात की शिकायत नापतौल विभाग में की जिसके बाद जांच हुई तो पहले पैकेट का वजन 92.92 ग्राम का तो दूसरे पैकेट वजन महज 86.59 ग्राम निकला।
 
यह बात सामने आने के बाद नापतौल विभाग ने कंपनी को नोटिस जारी किए इस मामले में जवाब मांगा लेकिन कंपनी की तरफ से कोई जवाब न मिलने पर विक्रेता ने पतंजलि चिकित्सालय और निर्माता कंपनी पर केस दर्ज कर दिया था। जिसके बाद कंपनी के लोग खुद आए औऱ अपनी गलती स्वीकारी। विभाग ने कंपनी पर 50 हजार रु और उसके चार डायरेक्टर पर 50-50 हजार रुपए और विक्रेता पर 10 हजार रुपए जुर्माना किया गया। कुल मिलकर 2 लाख 60 हजार रुपए का जुर्माना पिछले दिनों सरकारी खाते में जमा कराया गया।
 
बता दें कि पतंजलि के लिए यह बिस्कुट हुगली की सोना बिस्कुट लिमिटेड बनाती है। पतंजलि इसे मार्केट करती है। कार्रवाई के दौरान सोना बिस्कुट ने पैकेज संबंधी अनियमितता की पूरी जिम्मेदारी अपने ऊपर ली। वहीं उपभोक्ता का कहना था कि बिस्कुट निर्माता कंपनी को देखकर नहीं बल्कि ब्रांड को देखकर खरीदे थे।

Courtesy: National Dastak
 

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सरकार के इस कदम पर हाईकोर्ट में एक याचिका दायर की गई थी। याचिका में मांग की गई कि जिस तरह सामान्य इंडस्ट्री वालों को जमीन दी जाती है उसी तरह बाबा रामदेव को भी दी जाए। याचिकाकर्ता ने इस मामले में मुख्यमंत्री को भी पक्षकार बनाया। याचिका में कहा गया कि सरकार ने रामदेव को नियम के विपरीत रियायती दरों पर करोड़ों की जमीन अलॉट कर दी है। अलॉट की गई इस 40 एकड़ जमीन में सरकार ने टैक्स में भी कई तरह की रियायत दी गई। चार सप्ताह में शासन को पॉलिसी के बारे में बताना है। इसके बाद अगली कार्रवाई होगी।
 
आपको बता दें कि बीते साल अक्टूबर में मध्य प्रदेश में हुए ग्लोबल इन्वेस्टर्स समिट में बाबा रामदेव भी आए थे। तब उन्होंने अपने एक भाषण में कहा था कि 40 एकड़ जमीन में तो मैं कबड्डी ही खेलता हूं। कम से कम 100 एकड़ जमीन चाहिए। पतंजलि की केवल एक इंडस्ट्री नहीं लगेगी। उसमें कई तरह के उत्पाद बनाए जाएंगे। कर्मचारी, अधिकारियों के आवास भी वहां रहेंगे। खेल मैदान, स्कूल सब परिसर में होगा।

Courtesy: National Dastak

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