The Science and Technology Ministry may now have to critically evaluate the role of cow urine and dung in curing diseases.
On December 18 and 19, Union Science Minister Harsh Vardhan and a slew of senior officials from the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology and the National Environment and Engineering Research Institute participated in a workshop.
Titled ‘Scientific Validation and Research on Panchgavya’, it was held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
‘Panchgavya’, or the mixture of five products from the cow, is a concoction of dung, urine and milk along with curd and butter. “I call for everyone’s support & participation in this noble effort,” Dr. Vardhan — a medical doctor — tweeted, “MoS&T is firmly with cause of panchgavya.”
The Science and Technology Ministry sponsored the two-day conference which was organised by IIT-Delhi’s Centre for Rural Development and Technology (CRDT).
Dr. Vardhan is the latest Minister to attest to the bovine’s super-abilities.
His colleague Shripad Yesso Naik told the Lok Sabha last month that his AYUSH Ministry had undertaken several research and academic activities to promote the use of cow urine for its “anti-cancer and anti-infective properties in ayurvedic medicines.”
Scientific protocol needed
While ‘panchgavya’ is a part of ayurvedic pharmacopoeia, its proponents claim it can cure a range of ailments, including cancer.
“There are lots of claims but what we need is a scientific protocol to test these claims and the Minister has committed his support,” Professor Vijay Virendra Kumar, the workshop convener and a professor at IIT-Delhi, told The Hindu .
Prof. Kumar heads CRDT and — among other things — has successfully engineered a car to run on biogas. He also lists research into‘panchgavya’ as among his professional interests, on his web-page. He and Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST, told The Hindu that no money had yet been committed. “No money has been allotted. If we receive a proposal it has to pass strict scientific scrutiny,” said Mr. Sharma adding, “ we will follow the same approach as we did for SATYAM.”
SATYAM, or the Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation, is a DST initiative that has so far funded 16 projects to investigate whether yoga and meditation can alleviate recovery from a stroke, Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. The conference’s aim, said Mr. Kumar, was to provide a “network” to coordinate research being done at several institutions across the country into ‘panchagavya’.
Bhavna Prasher, who has an advanced degree in ayurveda and is a CSIR scientist, said she hadn’t come across research publications in well-regarded journals on the efficacy of ‘panchgavya’. “People have worked on it for a long time, some have taken patents on cow urine distillate, but I personally haven’t come across scientific publications on it.” She wasn’t connected to the workshop.
