Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev is supposed to have heaved a sigh of relief with the Harish Rawat Government having reportedly decided not to act on its own in the form of lodging FIR against him and company run by him — Divya Pharmacy — based on the report of the probe conducted into the efficacy of Putrajeevak Beej, allegedly publicised as a Ayurvedic medicine that ensures a male child to the expecting mothers. The State Government has instead decided to send the fact-finding report to the BJP-led NDA Government immediately for action in an apparent pass the buck game, sources said. Notably, the State Government was asked by the Centre to submit the report by October 15.
The Centre asked the state government to probe the efficacy of the miracle Ayurvedic medicine in May 2015. Sources said the State Government had decided to invoke
Drug & Cosmetic Act and PNDT Act against the company and those running it. “But backtracking , they have now decided to lob the ball in the Centre’s courtyard as far as action is concerned,” an observer said.
Akhand, S/o Banmali Mishra, resident of Khurda, Bhuwaneshwar, had lodged the complaint before National Human Right Commission (NHRC) in January 2015. Acting on it, the commission had issued a notice to the Union Ministry for Ayush in March 2015. Union Ministry on its part wrote to Uttarakhand Ayush department’s director in April 2015 to conduct inquiry and send action- taken report against the manufacturer. The latter in turn wrote to the state in May 2015, asking it to do the same.
Subsequently, Uttarakhand government constituted a three-member committee to examine the controversial Putrajeevak Beej. It was led by drug controller Ayush PD Chamoli with two other members being Drug licensing Authority and Assistant Drug licensing Authority.
After receiving the report submitted by it, the state government referred the matter to Director General Medical and Health for further investigation during which the health department is supposed to have found that the claim was bereft of any medical foundation. later, the matter was referred to the legal department. Finally, the matter being presented before the Chief Minister Harish Rawat, the CM had given the nod to the Ayush department to lodge FIR against the accused as per the law.
As per the drug and magic cosmetics Act-1954, the state government may initiate legal action against the violators in any manner of false claim or false perception.
However, the matter spawning bitter controversy, Baba Ramdev rejected the allegation outright, saying that the medicine under question merely helps better fertility in the women instead of helping them beget male children.
Observers are convinced that the state government’s action to push the ball into the Centre’s court is politically correct, given the animosity existing between the Baba and the state’s ruling party-Congress. “The Chief Minister can hardly be pro-active as such a posture would be cried foul of by the Opposition as vindictive. It is thus wiser for him to toss the emotive issue into the Centre’s backyard. However, the nub of the matter is that the issue is likely to be given a silent burial, given the warmth that exists between BJP and the Baba,” said one of the observers.