New Delhi: The government has set up a 19-member panel, including three members linked to the RSS and the VHP, to carry out what it says will be scientifically-validated research on cow derivatives including its urine and their benefits, according to an inter-departmental circular and members of the panel.
Headed by science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan, the committee will select projects that can help scientifically validate the benefits of panchgavya — the concoction of cow dung, cow urine, milk, curd and ghee — in various spheres such as nutrition, health and agriculture, says the circular.
Named the National Steering Committee, the panel includes secretaries of the departments of science and technology, biotechnology, ministry of new and renewable energy, and scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. It also has three members of Vigyan Bharti and ‘Go-Vigyan Anusandhan Kendra’, outfits affiliated to the RSS and the VHP.
The government circular says former CSIR director R.A. Mashelkar, known for vigorously campaigning against US patents on turmeric and basmati rice, is also a member of the panel. The others include IIT-Delhi director Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao and Prof. V.K. Vijay of IIT’s Centre for Rural Development and Technology.
The government has given the project the acronym SVAROP, which stands for Scientific Validation and Research on Panchagavya, and says it is a “national programme” that’s being conducted by the department of science and technology, department of biotechnology, and CSIR of the ministry of science and technology in collaboration with IIT-Delhi. The document also says “this multi-disciplinary programme” will involve participation of other related ministries.
It will cover “scientific validation of Panchagavya for medicines and health, scientific validation of Panchagavya and its products for agriculture applications, scientific validation of Panchagavya for food and nutrition and scientific validation of Panchagavya based utility product”, the circular says. It says the panel will have a tenure of three years.
