Is Uttarakhand Government prejudiced about Baba Ramdev?

RUBY KUMARI

New Delhi. If the report of a national news channel is believed, the Uttarakhand Government has completed its inquiry into the “Putrajeevak Beej” of the Divya Pharmacy and found that it is not compliant with the PC-PNDT Act. Media reports also say that the state government is tightening its noose around yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his Divya Pharmacy. Here, the big question is that whether the committee set-up by the state government, made its inquiry free of any ‘prejudice’ or not?

Dynamite News has reasons to report on this line given the sequence of events. The matter rocked Parliament in the month of April after JD(U) leader K C Tyagi raised the issue in Rajya Sabha. The Modi government assured the House that the charge would be thoroughly probed into. Later, the Centre asked Uttarakhand govt to conduct an inquiry. The State govt constituted a three-membered committee to examine the matter. 

The committee earlier submitted its report giving clean chit to “Putrajeevak Beej” on medicinal ground but referred the matter to the legal department. And now, the legal department has come out with findings that this particular medicine is not following the norms of the PC-PNDT Act. The point here to be raised is…it was clarified earlier that the name had been picked from the classical Ayurvedic drug book. In Latin, it is listed as ‘Putranjiva Roxburghii’. So, there was nothing wrong with the name either, then why did the Uttarakhand government’s committee refer the matter to the legal department?

When Dynamite News asked to Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s spokesperson S K Tijarewala, he said, “the state government is working with prejudice. The name of the medicine is used in classical literature of the Ayurveda, according to which ‘putra’ means offspring.” S K Tijarewala said the medicine is prescribed for women only for helping in conceiving and not to men, then how come it can determine gender.

However, the Uttarakhand government would consult Centre, before taking any further step. S K Tijarewala said Divya Pharmacy would wait and watch that how things develop but the name of the medicine would not be changed.