Tag: gau mutra

Cow Urine Unfit for Humans, Contains Harmful Bacteria, Says Veterinary Research Body

A peer-reviewed research study by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute has found at least 14 types of harmful bacteria in urine samples taken from cows and bulls.

New Delhi: The latest study by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), a premier institute in the country, has concluded that fresh cow urine contains harmful bacteria, making it unfit for human consumption.

The peer-reviewed research carried out on urine samples of cows and bulls has found at least 14 types of harmful bacteria, including the presence of Escherichia coli bacterium, which is commonly associated with stomach infections in humans.

“Statistical analysis of 73 urine samples of cows, buffaloes, and humans suggest that antibacterial activity in buffalo urine was far more superior than cows. The urine of buffalo was significantly more effective on bacteria like S Epidermidis and E Rhapontici,” Bhoj Raj Singh, who led the study, told the Times of India.

Singh, who heads the epidemiology department at the institute, carried out the research along with three of his PhD students between June 2022 and November 2022 on three types of cows, namely Sahiwal, Tharparkar and Vindavani (cross breed), from local dairy farms. Even samples from humans and buffaloes were considered for the study. He noted that a “sizeable proportion of urine samples from apparently healthy individuals carry potentially pathogenic bacteria”.

While highlighting that there is a widespread belief that ‘distilled’ cow urine, as opposed to fresh cow urine, does not have infectious bacteria, he said the research on the same is still on. However, he noted that it is cannot be generalised that cow urine has anti-bacterial properties.

Meanwhile, a former director of IVRI, R.S. Chauhan, questioned the research. “I have been researching cow urine for 25 years and we have found that distilled cow urine improves the immunity of humans and helps against cancer and Covid. This particular research was not done on distilled urine samples which we recommend people to actually consume,” Chauhan told TOI.

The research and its findings assume significance given that cow urine (gau mutra) is sold in the country widely as a cure for several ailments without any requirement for the trademark of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The sale and consumption are not only unregulated but gain legitimacy as cows and their products are accorded religious sanctity in the Hindu culture.

Under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, the claims of those promoting cow urine and dung as the cure for several diseases have received a fillip, with several Union and state ministers, top BJP leaders, and Hindutva organisations throwing their weight behind such claims. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, BJP leaders even went to the extent to say that cow urine keeps coronavirus at bay. Some Hindutva outfits even held cow urine-drinking events during the pandemic, apparently to stave off the coronavirus.

Watch: Without Any Proof, Hindu Mahasabha Claims Drinking Cow Urine Prevents COVID-19

The Wire spoke to people on the streets to find out if they believe that cow urine can actually prevent coronavirus.

On March 14, a Hindu group called the Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha organised a ‘party’ and collectively drank cow urine to ‘neutralise’ the effects of coronavirus in India.

Members at the party included Swami Chakrapani Maharaj, who is the president of the Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha and also one of the litigants of the Ram Janmbhoomi matter. So far, there has been no scientific proof that drinking cow urine or ‘gaumutra‘ will cure or prevent COVID-19.

The Wire spoke to people on the streets to find out if they believe that cow urine can actually prevent coronavirus.

The Problem With India’s National Science Day

Of all the special days on the calendar, Science Day is peculiar because it memorialises one accomplishment by one male scientist.

On February 28, India celebrates National Science Day. The date was chosen to commemorate C.V. Raman’s discovery of Raman scattering (with help from K.S. Krishnan), the optical effect named for him and which earned him the Nobel Prize for physics in 1930. India has been celebrating National Science Day for 33 years, after the government designated the first such day on the request of the National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC).

India also celebrates a National Science Week, which is the week that ends on February 28. However, National Science Day has become much more popular.

On this day, research and communication institutions – including universities, libraries, planetaria, zoos, museums, etc. – undertake large-scale public outreach programmes as well as organise pedagogical and entertainment events. Their activities are often guided by a theme affixed to each science day. In 2020, for example, the theme is ‘Women in Science’.

Of all the special days on the calendar, Science Day is peculiar because it memorialises one accomplishment by one male scientist, chosen presumably because it secured its discoverer the Nobel Prize for physics. As a result, the NCSTC and the government have calcified a single event of scientific ‘genius’ picked almost arbitrarily from a sea of millions of events, valorising a single prize together with all the opportunity bias, discrimination and inequality winning the prize requires.

As much as we might like to reject the notion, privilege played and continues to play its part in securing recognition in Indian science. If nothing else, those with fewer privileges have to work harder to become visible, so to speak, on multiple levels. For example, how much Raman had going his way becomes clear when we compare his life to that of Meghnad Saha, who laid the foundations of modern stellar astrophysics. To quote historian of science Abha Sur,

Saha was the antithesis of Raman in terms of social station, political involvement and cultural upbringing. Raman came from a privileged South Indian family; Saha was from rural Bengal. His family was lower in the caste hierarchy and of modest means. Saha’s scientific writing was not flamboyant like Raman’s, nor did he receive any big scientific honour. Applied science held no appeal for Raman but Saha believed in using science to alleviate hunger and poverty.

Saha’s modest means and inability to secure money at a time of need cost him dearly. To quote from The Wire,

In 1917, he was financially strained and was faced with a disappointing prospect: that the paper he had sent to the Astrophysical Journal detailing [his] theory couldn’t be printed unless he bore some of the printing costs, which was out of the question. So he had the paper published in the Journal of the Department of Science at Calcutta University instead, “which had no circulation worth mentioning”.

Raman achieved enough recognition and fame in his lifetime, and is remembered today through numerous public places and institutions named for him as well as in classrooms, storybooks and the popular culture. On the other hand, the work of a lot of people still remains in the shadows.

Then again, the theme of this National Science Day – ‘Women in Science’ – doesn’t sit well with Raman given his well-known sexism. Sur’s book Dispersed Radiance (2011) records, among other things, the difficult experiences of three female students in his lab. Before he had any female students of his own, Raman had refused to accept any into the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, when he was its director. In the 1930s, he refused to admit Kamala Bhagvat because of her gender. Bhagvat had to struggle to get what she wanted, which she eventually did.

She reportedly later told the Indian Women Scientists Association, “Though Raman was a great scientist, he was very narrow-minded. I can never forget the way he treated me just because I was a woman. This was a great insult to me. The bias against women was so bad at that time. What can one expect if even a Nobel laureate behaves in such a manner?”

To redress these persistent imbalances, India must consider observing other special days (see list below) of the calendar year that prompt a more well-rounded appreciation of science or – better yet – retire the special day altogether.

(There is already a ‘World Science Day for Peace and Development’ that the global community marks on November 10. According to the UN, it “highlights the significant role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.”)

A panoply of Indian scientists have made numerous contributions to both pre-modern and modern science, so a celebration of Indian science can easily expand its horizons beyond Raman’s achievement, even beyond the remit of the annual theme, which is given only one day in the limelight.

Over the course of multiple science days, we have incrementally imparted knowledge of science and the scientists who build it to young students in India’s cities, so these days may have served some useful purpose. At the same time, their very existence seems to have consigned the engagement activities and scientific attitude on display on February 28 to February 28 alone.

Our excitement towards science doesn’t seem to be on display on any other day. Science is a fluid framework of thinking and reasoning about information, designed to admit wisdom and eliminate fallacies. However, it is often reduced to a few textbooks, the subject of contemplation of how we can be a ‘science superpower’, to a stamp of approval on unlikely factoids and, on National Science Day, perhaps a visit to the local university’s open day.

Acknowledging science as a way of knowing that permeates our daily lives could help transform the way we look at it, and access its methods. For example, to adopt Madhusudhan Raman’s idea: research institutions could have “grassroots-level engagement” with school students in their neighbourhood, such as through “weekend programmes where students can spend a few hours every week interacting with volunteer academic staff in an informal setting.”

For its part, the government could increase funding for science communication; improve access to the scientific literature; translate books; re-record songs and subtitle films to other languages; promote museums and libraries; support smaller-scale efforts to understand and reinterpret science through art, music, drama, dance, games, etc.; pay scientific workers properly and on time; and make it easier for people of all genders to enter and stay in the research workforce.

However, we have a government that, though it checks some of these boxes, also funds studies on cow urine; handicaps virus research centres while the world is on the cusp of a pandemic; destroys forests, grasslands and wetlands; has a fondness for opaque governance; supports unscrupulous godmen; is suspicious of its own scientists; and undermines support for non-applied research. And while previous governments have been guilty of similar acts, the incumbent is also so eager to champion alternate histories that it constantly denies any way of knowing, science or otherwise, that leads to different conclusions.

For the government, of course, a National Science Day is a godsend: it provides another excuse for posturing. Instead, let us redistribute our attention and interest towards events and issues that better reflect the best things about modern science, ensure we sustain it through the year, and ensure others do too.

§

1. International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11

2. International Rare Disease Day, February 29

3. World Meteorological Day, March 23

4. International Transgender Day of Visibility (in STEM), March 31

5. Human Spaceflight Day, April 12

6. International Day of Biodiversity, May 22

7. World Mental Health Day, October 10

8. World Statistics Day, October 20

9. National Immunisation Day, November 10

10. National Pollution Prevention Day, December 2

Aashima Dogra is a science journalist and cofounder of The Life of Science. Vasudevan Mukunth is the science editor of The Wire.

Vrihad Indrajaal: Searching for the Vedas in the Sciences

“The strict discipline imposed by my father put me on the trail of western science. But now I know, I realise that my life has been a lie. I want to return to Gau Mata.”

As soon as I was about seven or eight years old and could read Hindi well, I started looking for books that I could read. This way, I found a book entitled Vrihad Indrajaal in our neighbour’s collection. It was such a delightful book! I read it with extreme pleasure and tried several of the procedures described there.

I still remember some. There was this simple and sure method to produce plenty of scorpions from cow dung. I wanted to try it and release them in the house of a class bully. “Collect cow-dung from a black cow on a Saturday. Mix curd to it and cover it with a bowl of bell metal. Open it after 15 days.”

So I dutifully took a bath on a Saturday, collected some cow dung from our black cow, lovingly called Kali. Kali looked at me with amusement, as normally the man looking after our animals used to perform such duties. I got some curd and mixed the two, and covered it with a bell-metal bowl in a corner of our garden. I heaped some dry leaves over it for cover. For two weeks, my mother looked everywhere for the bowl. I helpfully tried to suggest that she must have misplaced it but my wise grandmother concluded that it had been stolen by someone, and asked my mother to be very vigilant.

After fifteen days passed, I took a cloth bag and went to the hidden place, gleefully imagining the spectacle of the bully being stung by multiple scorpions. I covered the bowl with the bag and lifted it gingerly. Out shot a stink that reached the seventh heaven, where Indra, the supposed author of the book, was enjoying a dance of the apsaras! But there were no scorpions, only some worms. They wallowed in a muck of fungus and some organic chemical of very unknown composition.

I must have made some mistake. Perhaps the proportion of the curd and the cow dung was not correct. Perhaps it was because our beloved cow Kali was not perfectly black; she had a white patch between her eyes!

I took the bowl to our pond and used a lot of ash to rub it clean and hid it back where I had taken it from. My mother assumed that she had perhaps kept it under some other utensils. My wise grandmother declared that the thief must have been scared as she had let it be known that she would ask the village Ojha to curse him or her!

Then there was this powerful method of making a master key. We had a relative with a visibly large steel box with a large lock, which he had brought with him from Rangoon, decades before they started calling it Yangon. He was often taking interesting things out from there and putting the lock back. Once he had given us a 100-rupee note issued by the Japanese Government of Burma. We were excited although none of the shop-owners showed any inclination to accept it. We always wanted to see the other treasures but the key was always tied to his sacred thread and he was a light sleeper.

Indrajaal suggested I was to collect some dry twigs from a mango tree, go to a pond at midnight on Diwali and throw the twigs in the pond. Then I was to strip naked and recite some mantra to Goddess Kali. After that I was to return to the pond. The twigs were to swim back to me as snakes. I was not to be afraid as they were to turn to twigs upon touch. Those special twigs could open any lock just by touching them.

I memorised the mantra, full of strange mono- and bi-syllables, with difficulty and waited for Diwali. I sneaked out after the feast and went through the procedure, and waited for the twigs to return. They ignored me completely; even in the dark of the Diwali night, I could see them floating in the pond and refusing to move. By then my uncle, who had been sent to find me, arrived and I hurriedly put on my clothes. All my entreaties to him to not tell anyone were ignored. My screams reached the seventh heaven, to disturb the dance performance Indra was enjoying.

Not deterred by two failures, I wanted to give it a third try. This one involved Goddess Lakshmi. I was to take a coin (or some object of gold or silver) that I wanted to have doubled, and on a Thursday, I was to bury it under a kaner tree (Cascabela thevetia). I was to offer freshly drawn water from a well while reciting the mantra, given in the book, every day. It was promised that the wealth would double on the seventh day.

When I dug the place up on the seventh day, my coin was gone! Apparently, some curious kid had seen me watering a spot there and, not finding any sign of any of the gods around, he had investigated and taken the coin offered to him by the goddess of wealth, ruining my well-planned experiment.

I was crestfallen and started reading some more, and neglected my studies. Now, my father had this nasty habit of taking surprise tests. Naturally I did poorly. My brother, who did exceedingly well, gleefully told our father about Vrihad Indrajaal, the book I was reading.

On this occasion, as well, my screams travelled to the seventh heaven. But Lord Indra paid no heed and concentrated on the dance performance. Fortunately, the screams reached my grandmother too. She arrived and extricated me from my predicament with some difficulty and a lot of grumbling from my father, that she was spoiling me.

Also read: Poor Albert Einstein, His Wrong Theories and Post-Truths

My brother was ordered to return the book to the neighbour immediately. I tried to plead with him with gestures and copious silent tears but he did not let go of this great opportunity to ruin my happiness. Later, when my father met the neighbour, the poor fellow received a severe tongue-lashing. He still remembers it after more than 50 years and never fails to mention it when I meet him.

You see, the famous first short story of Hindi, ‘Usne kaha tha‘ (‘He had said so’), says the old village priest had told the soldiers that the Germans had learnt the art of making aircrafts by reading the Vedas. Do you think the priest was speaking a lie? Sir, the Vedas are so full of sciences.

I want to put on record once again for all the world to know (and cite me for this) that when Meghnad Saha discovered his ionisation equation to lay the foundation of stellar astrophysics, he was told that it was “all in the Vedas”. You only had to find it! I am sure to find it in my research.

In a famous temple of a famous university in a famous town that is not on this Earth, there is a stone plaque describing the conversion of mercury into gold. If mercury – which is not at all golden in colour – can be converted to gold, why can’t the liquid effluent of the cow, which is so golden in colour? We are letting all the wealth of India go down the drain. What an unfortunate country. Cry my beloved country, cry.

The strict discipline imposed by my father put me on the trail of western science. But now I know, I realise that my life has been a lie. I want to return to Gau Mata.

You see, life always gives another chance to bravehearts. I have just come to know that our “mai baap log” in New Delhi (Why is it not yet called Indraprastha?) have decided to provide ample funds to make toothpaste, beauty lotions, soaps, etc., from cow-dung and its liquid counterpart. I promise that if you want a fair complexion, use the cream from the solid effluent of a white cow, which I will provide. The lovely dusky damsels of our country will find the ones to be prepared from the droppings of the black ones very valuable to give them a shining skin.

I am going to submit a research proposal to investigate all the procedures described in the Vrihad Indrajaal, especially those that involve cows.

I know that many of you want to tell me that Indrajaal is just delusional. There was this gentleman from Kerala who lived in the seventh century and who tried to tell the world that there is no difference between ignorance and delusion, that these lead to human bondage. But any policeman in the north will look at you with suspicion if you were to tell him that you were from Kerala. They know the truth. And what they know is the truth; all else is false.

I have just found that one can buy the Vrihad Indrajaal from several websites. I will be selecting several research students for my research. During the selection interview, only questions from Vrihad Indrajaal will be asked.

I know that people will laugh at me, but what are a few laughs and smirks compared to the glory that awaits me. Remember Giordano Bruno? They burnt him on a pyre after tying his tongue, but now everyone knows how great he was! Greatness beckons me and those who choose to follow me.

Dinesh Srivastava is a scientist. This article was originally published as a Facebook note and has been republished here with permission, with light edits for clarity and style.

Govt Invites Applications for Research on ‘Indigenous’ Cows

The concept note on the Department of Science and Technology’s website said that “Cowpathy is a treatment based on products obtained from indigenous cow as used in Ayurveda.”

New Delhi: The Centre will establish a programme, funded by several scientific ministries, to undertake research on ‘indigenous’ cows. The initiative, called Scientific Utilisation Through Research Augmentation-Prime Products from Indigenous Cows, acronymised as SUTRA PIC, will be led by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), according to The Hindu.

SUTRA PIC will also count the Department of Biotechnology, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Ministry for AYUSH and the Indian Council of Medical Research among its partners.

The initiative has five themes: uniqueness of indigenous cows, prime-products from indigenous cows for medicine and health, for agricultural applications, for food and nutrition, and for utility items.

The call for research and development proposals invites applications for funding from academic researchers, R&D institutions and “capable voluntary organisations (NGOs) active in India with proven record of accomplishment in executing S&T-based R&D projects”.

“The proposals under this theme should aim to perform scientific research on complete characterisation of milk and milk products derived from Indian indigenous cows; scientific research on nutritional and therapeutic properties of curd and ghee prepared from indigenous breeds of cows by traditional methods; development of standards for traditionally processed dairy products of Indian-origin cow,” the programme’s document reads.

Also read: India’s Premier Science Bodies Moot National Programme to Study Concoctions of Cow Excreta

The concept note on the Department of Science and Technology’s website also said that “Cowpathy is a treatment based on products obtained from indigenous cow as used in Ayurveda.”

However, two senior officials of some of the ministries involved in the initiative told The Hindu that they were not aware of the budgetary allocations for the programme. “I haven’t seen the file on this programme because only research programmes, say over Rs 1 crore, need to be formally cleared by me,” said DST Secretary Ashutosh Sharma.

The director-general of CSIR Shekhar Mande told the newspaper that he was not aware of the programme while the secretary of the Department of Biotechnology Renu Swarup said that the nature of the department’s involvement was not yet “defined”.

“If and when specific biotechnology related projects or research proposals come by, we will look at funding but as of now there is not yet any financial commitment by the department,” Swarup said.

Earlier, a national steering committee for ‘Scientific Validation and Research on Panchgavya’ – SVAROP – had been constituted by the Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development (SEED) division of the Department of Science and Technology in 2017.

The committee was chaired by Harsh Vardhan, the Union minister for science, technology and Earth sciences, and co-chaired by Vijay P. Bhatkar, the chancellor of Nalanda University.

Panchagavya is a mixture of five products derived from a cow: milk, curd, ghee, dung and urine. The concoction’s proponents believe it can cure a variety of diseases, although they have not undertaken any clinical trials to ascertain their claims.

Also read: Cow Urine Must Leave Our Health Discourse and Its Proponents, Our Politics

V.K. Vijay, head of IIT Delhi’s Centre for Rural Development and Technology, said he would be submitting research proposals to SUTRA PIC.

In 2019, the government had announced a collaboration between the University of California, Davis, and Ganpat University in Gujarat to promote ‘cow-based entrepreneurship’ and research on India’s indigenous cows. Vallabh Kathiriahad, chairman of the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog, had said at the time that startups focusing on “commercialising” bovine by-products like dung and urine, apart from dairy, would be eligible to receive funding from the government for up to 60% of their initial investment.

In July last year, the same aayog had picked the governments of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa to promote cow-based tourism and carve a route for students, researchers and tourists from foreign countries “to promote our indigenous breeds” and promote the cow-based economy, and added that products made of cow-based ingredients, including ghee, urine and dung, would be sold at tourist places.

‘Set up Cow Hostels in Urban Areas,’ Cow Commission Tells Urban Development Ministry

According to the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog, this would not just facilitate access to milk for city dwellers but also generate revenue from it.

New Delhi: The Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog (national cow commission), set up for the “conservation, protection and development of cows and their progeny” earlier this year, has proposed that the Centre and states allot 10-15 specifically earmarked areas for ‘cow hostels’ in every city or urban area.

This would not just facilitate access to milk for city dwellers and also generate revenue from it, Times of India has reported.

“I have already written to the urban development ministry requesting it to make a guideline for ‘cow hostels’, which can be incorporated in urban planning framework across the country,” Aayog chairman and former BJP MP from Gujarat Vallabhbhai Kathiria told TOI.

This is in addition to the commission’s recent suggestion for setting up cow shelters in the peripheries of urban areas or nearby villages to tackle the menace of stray cattle.

Also read: Universities in California, Gujarat to Jointly Promote Research on Cow By-Products

Kathiria says that the lack of space prevents people from raising cows in urban spaces and the cow hostels will allow 20-25 people to come together, pay maintenance and use the milk of their own cattle. He also claims that such cow hostels have already been successfully experimented with in some areas of rural Gujarat, though no further details have been provided.

“It can easily be replicated in urban areas across the country. Such hostels can be set up on land which can be given by municipal corporations on rent or lease to private players. Interested people can keep cows of their choice. They can even sell milk if the quantity is beyond their consumption. Cow dung and urine can also be used for making organic manure and running gobar gas plants to generate money for maintaining such hostels,” Kathiria told TOI.

Kathiria had also recently told the Print that “merely “shraddha“ (reverence) and “aastha” (faith) for cows is not enough for farmers to keep them and that they should be made aware about their economic benefits also to address the problem of stray cattle and overcrowded gaushalas (cow sheds)”.

After West Bengal BJP Chief’s Remarks, Farmer Tries to Obtain Gold Loan Using Cow

Susanta Mandal, a dairy farmer and milkman, allegedly took his cow and its calf to the local gold loan office.

New Delhi: After the Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said that milk produced by Indian cows contains gold, a farmer in the Hooghly district of the state of West Bengal allegedly took his cow and its calf to the local Manappuram Gold Loan office hoping to receive a loan by pledging the cow, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Susanta Mandal, a dairy farmer and milkman, stood outside the Manappuram Gold Loan office, to pledge his cow with its milk as collateral, for more than an hour after he was not allowed inside, according to eyewitnesses.

In response to this incident, West Bengal BJP chief Ghosh, who has called the controversy surrounding his remarks a “misinterpretation”, told The Telegraph, “Does this farmer follow social media trolls? All of this is created by Trinamool [Congress], whose members are busy consuming beef and not cow milk.” Some of Ghosh’s supporters have cited a 2004 “study” to buttress his claims.

Also read: If Cow Urine Contains Gold, Nobody Knows

However, Mandal, a school dropout, does not use a smartphone. His wife said that Mandal was confused about what was true after hearing Ghosh’s widely circulated comments. “We are uneducated people, so what do we know? People had been ridiculing him at the market…. So, at some point, he became confused about what was true and what wasn’t,” she said.

A neighbour of Mandal said, “I joked with Susanta about this [Ghosh’s comments] a few days ago too, and he had said he would try his luck with Ghosh’s logic at the local gold office. I cannot believe he was being serious!”

The Garalgachha gram panchayat pradhan Manoj Singha also said, “These are simple people. This poor man actually believed all the nonsensical comments and stood here, telling me that he had brought two healthy and beautiful cows to exchange them for gold”. Singha added that Mandal came to him as he believed that if the gold loan officials didn’t listen to him, at least an elected representative would.

Singha also said that Mandal was surprised to learn that a cow could not be an alternative to gold and couldn’t believe that people would joke about something like gold.

Also read: Cow Urine Must Leave Our Health Discourse and Its Proponents, Our Politics

In 2016, researchers at the Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU), Gujarat, claimed to have found gold particles in the urine of some cows from the Gir region of the state. K. Shankar Rao, director of the National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur also told The Wire that several ayurvedic texts referred to the treatment of ailments using different types of urine, of which, cow urine was considered to be the best.

Dr Virendra Kumar Jain, owner of a cow urine therapy clinic in Indore, said that he held a patent on creating a herbal medicine, using cow urine, which listed ‘gold ashes’ as one of its constituents. Kumar also said that ancient texts referred to the presence of gold in cow products and that the pale yellow colour in the urine and milk of cows was as a result of the presence of gold particles. The yellow colour is in fact due to a pigment called Beta-carotene.

Universities in California, Gujarat to Jointly Promote Research on Cow By-Products

Chairman of the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog Vallabh Kathiria said that he would urge the Indian diaspora in the US to invest in cow-based startups.

New Delhi: Hours before the highly anticipated ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston, Texas, a collaboration to promote cow-based entrepreneurship and research on India’s indigenous cows was announced, according to a report in Times of India.

The University of California, Davis, and the Ganpat University of Mehsana are to sign a pact and seek ways to encourage startups that focus on cow-based products like milk, dung and urine. The development of cow breeds will be an area of focus as well.

“A new chapter will be added to the annals of economic progress by venturing into cow-based entrepreneurship,” the chairman of the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog Vallabh Kathiria, who was in Houston to attend the ‘Howdy Modi’ event, told TOI. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi will add a new chapter to the history of Indo-US political ties.”

Speaking to TOI, Kathiria also stressed that the tie-up between the two universities to improve India’s indigenous cow breeds, with the principal focus on Gir cows, was a first.

Kathiria said that he would also urge the Indian diaspora in the US to invest in cow-based startups.

He added that he and his team had recently met faculty members and students from UC Davis and had discovered that cow-rearing practices in California and Gujarat were similar.

Also read: Cow Urine Must Leave Our Health Discourse and Its Proponents, Our Politics

Kathiria, who was a minister of state in the Vajpayee government, has previously held the post of the former chief of the Gujarat Gau Sewa (Gujarat Cow Service) and Gauchar Vikas Board (Pasture Land Board).

In February this year, stressing that “the current government would not hesitate to support gau mata“, then Union finance minister Piyush Goyal allocated Rs 500 crore in the interim budget for the setting up of the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog. The purported aim of the body was to facilitate the effective implementation of laws and welfare schemes for cows, ensure that cows remain productive for farmers and encourage them not to abandon their cows after their economic use is over.

Previously, Kathiria had said that startups focusing on “commercialising” cow by-products like dung and urine, apart from dairy, would be eligible to receive funding from the government for up to 60% of their initial investment.

He had also proposed that the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog provide retired military and paramilitary personnel with cows to help them earn a post-retirement livelihood. “We will give cows to former defence and paramilitary personnel and will provide a subsidy if they want to set up gaushalas,” Kathiria told TOI.

Kathiria has also advocated for increased research on panchgavya (cow milk, ghee, urine, dung and curd) and has held that ‘gau raksha activities’ (cow protection or vigilantism) be incentivised on a national scale.

According to a TOI report, in October 2017, Kathiria had written to Modi demanding the creation of a ‘Gau Mantralaya’ or a ministry for cow protection. He also demanded that cows be allotted to defence personnel and that ex-armymen be assigned to operate on new military farms set up on the PPP model.

Also read: India’s Premier Science Bodies Moot National Programme to Study Concoctions of Cow Excreta

Katharia reasoned that instead of assigning seven acres of land to former defence and paramilitary personnel, which the government presently does, retired military personnel could be given a cow which would help them earn a living.

Elaborating further on avenues of entrepreneurship available in the cow-based business, Kathiria told TOI,  “We will make a provision that former defence and paramilitary personnel get a subsidy if they want to set up a gaushala. I will also propose research on panchgavya, which will help in the socio-economic development of the country and in the conservation of cows.”

In July, the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog had identified states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa to promote cow-based tourism and carve out a route for students, researchers and tourists from foreign countries “to promote our indigenous breeds” and promote the cow-based economy while products made from cow including ghee, urine and dung would be sold at tourist places.

Despite Getting a Mastectomy, Pragya Thakur Advocates Cow Urine as a Cure for Cancer

While the BJP candidate from Bhopal claims cow urine cured her cancer, a doctor has come on record about her three surgeries.

New Delhi: Pragya Singh Thakur, the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Bhopal and an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, has been widely claiming that cow urine cured her cancer.

“I was a patient of cancer and I cured myself by consuming gau mutra and panchgavya mixed Ayurvedic herbs,” she told India Today TV. 

While the BJP candidate, who is currently out on bail, often makes claims of how cow urine cured her, she doesn’t talk about her bilateral mastectomy (removal of both breasts).

A report in The Hindu today had the doctor who did her surgeries come on record with details of the three surgeries, and ultimately the mastectomy, that she underwent. He has spoken to the media before as well.

Additionally, over the last few years, there has been dispute over whether or not Thakur had cancer. In 2014, the Bombay high court observed that her case was that of a simple tumour and not of cancer. They refused to grant her bail on her claimed medical grounds. In 2015, her bail was again rejected even though she had claimed she had health issues.

Also read: Pragya’s Direct Line to Amit Shah, and God, Confounds Her BJP Handlers

Another somewhat conflicting report in Mumbai Mirror this week says that that the ex-dean of JJ Hospital in Mumbai, where she had also apparently had one surgery, says that in 2010, her tests had not shown any signs of cancer. But in 2010, she had claimed to have cancer while the Anti Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra was examining her role in the blasts.

One unnamed doctor from JJ Hospital told the Mumbai Mirror: “The CA 125 breast marker test to determine cancer was negative. Her MRI scan report was absolutely normal, and so was the ECG.”

Pragya Singh’s three cancer surgeries

While she claims cow urine cured her cancer, the doctor who has operated on her thrice – Dr S.S. Rajput – said that she was diagnosed early on, with stage 1 of an aggressive cancer.

Rajput is a surgeon at the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow. “I operated on her first in 2008 at the Mumbai’s JJ Hospital when she had developed a tumour in the right breast. At that time, the report of the tumour was inconclusive. In 2012, the tumour recurred,” he said.

Also read: Pragya Thakur and BJP’s Mockery of the Legal System

The second surgery was at a private hospital in Bhopal and it removed one third of her right breast with the tumour.

The third surgery and the bilateral mastectomy was carried out at his hospital in Lucknow. In 2017, Rajput spoke to the media after the surgery saying: “The tissues in both her breasts have been removed with consent so that there are negligible chances of cancer relapse.”

Many of these medical documents have been submitted in court, said Rajput.

Her cancer by 2017

According to the order in which Pragya Thakur was given bail – a copy of which The Wire has examined – the court noted in April 2017 that medical documents showed that she is still “suffering from breast cancer”. They granted her bail. By July 2017, she had the successful bilateral mastectomy.

The medical report also said that she had “become infirm and cannot even walk without support” and that she was taking treatment in an Ayurvedic hospital.

Also read: In Fielding Terror-Tainted Pragya Thakur, What Message is the BJP Sending?

“In our opinion, Ayurvedic Hospital cannot give proper treatment to the Appellant, who is suffering from cancer,” noted the order. The judges then went on to grant her bail, saying “Taking, therefore, totality of the facts and circumstances of the case mentioned here-in-above, we are of the considered opinion that the Appellant has made out a case for bail.”

Too infirm to walk but not to campaign?

The bail order reasoned that her ill health was one of the grounds for their granting of bail. Now that she is campaigning publicly for the Lok Sabha elections, an article in The Wire today reports how the father of one of the six victims in the blast has tried to move court against her candidature and her bail. His application has been rejected, with the court telling him that the NIA court doesn’t have the jurisdiction to look into this issue.

“I had pointed at the false medical claims that Thakur has been making before the court and also the seriousness of the charges against her. She had claimed that she was ailing with (breast) cancer. But there she is moving around the city and talking to the press and making horrid comments on the slain police office (Hemant) Karkare. Yet, the court did not consider my application and it was rejected (on April 24),” said Nisar Ahmed, the father of one of the victim’s, to The Wire.

Five Reflections on National Science Day

C.V. Raman won a Nobel Prize for discovering the light-scattering effect named for him on February 28. But by designating this date as National Science Day, India has come to celebrate the Nobel Prize itself more than anything else.

Science Day isn’t a very meaningful occasion in and of itself. It is the day C.V. Raman discovered the light-scattering effect named for him. Raman won a Nobel Prize for his discovery, and – by commemorating February 28 as ‘Science Day’ – India has come to celebrate the Nobel Prize itself more than anything else. Indeed, if we had to save one day each for all the significant contributions to our knowledge of the natural universe that Indian scientists have made, a year would have to be thousands of days long. And every day would be Science Day (as it should). However, February 28 has been Science Day for over three decades, so even if not for Raman, it has become embellished in our history as a tradition. It ought to be dismantled, of course, but if it is not, it ought to be accorded an identity and purpose more suited to India’s aspirations in the 21st century. It appears the theme for Science Day 2019 is ‘Science for the people, people for the science’. So let’s repurpose the opportunity to reflect on some things the people are doing vis-à-vis science in India. 1. Since 2014, the Narendra Modi government has ridden on multiple waves of fake news, superstitions and pseudoscientific beliefs. An unexpected number of writers and journalists have countered it – with varying degrees of success – and, in the process, have engaged more with science and research themselves. There are certainly more science writers in 2019 than there were in 2014, as well as more publishers aware of the importance of science journalism. 2. Scientists were slow to rise to the mic and express their protest as a community against the government’s bigotry, majoritarianism and alchemies – but rise they did. There is still a long way to go in terms of their collectivisation but now there is precedent. There is also a conversation among scientists, science writers and journalists and some government officials about the responsibilities of science academies and the importance of communication: either speaking truth to power or having a conversation with the people. (AWSAR is a good, if awkward, step in this direction.) 3. The rule of the BJP-RSS combine, together with various satellite organisations, has helped disrupt the idea of authority in India. Consider: some bhakt somewhere forwards a dubious claim; another finds an obscure paper and an obscure expert to back their beliefs up; a third staves off scrutiny by taking jabs at commentators’ lack of expertise. But if we’re to beat back this deleterious tide of make-believe, we must all ask questions of everything. Authority longs for exclusivity and secrecy but it must not be allowed to get there, even if it means the ivory towers of the ‘well-meaning’ are torn down. 4. Many, if not most, scientists still cling to the modernist view of their enterprise: that it is the pursuit of objective truths, and that only science can uncover these truths. But in the last five years, it is the social scientists and humanities scholars who have helped us really understand the times we live in, forging connections between biology, psychology, class, caste, gender, politics, economics and cultures. Reality isn’t science’s sole preserve, so thanks to the non-scientist-experts for helping us situate science in these fraught times as well. 5. Scientific illiteracy can be less ignored now than it ever has been because of the way the BJP, and members of the upper-castes to which it panders, have sought to exploit it. From gau mutra to “braid cutting”, from attempting to rewrite textbooks to formalising Vedic education, from failing to condemn the murders of rationalists to spending Rs 3,000 crore on a statue instead of improving higher education, the government has run roughshod over too many aspirations. So kudos to the teachers in classrooms, and the parents who place a premium on education.