Nirmukta » Narendra Nayak

Organizing The Rationalist Movement In Uttar Pradesh

Narendra Nayak — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:00:09 +0000

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is the most populous state in India and is known to be one of the most backward too. In National politics it is always said that the party that comes to power in UP will eventually rule the center (a bellwether state, as they say in the Uniter States). It is hence necessary that a strong rationalism movement is built up in UP if a national level impact is to be effected.

We have been trying this for a long time and have developed contacts with a good number of affiliated organisations and committed individuals from this state. But what is needed is a presence in all the districts and an effective network of dedicated workers. Through organisations like Arjak Samaj, which has thousands of members, and the Social Development Foundation which also has many dedicated workers, we have been trying to create a network in this state. Premanand had conducted training programs here two decades ago and a few volunteers who could explain miracles were thrown up. There are some activists who have learnt the tricks and have been performing and explaining them on their own. But to develop a rationalist movement we need much more. We have been struggling to develop a network which would be broad based as well as active, but we have not succeeded so far.

After Premanand’s first workshop in the 1990s in Lucknow, a few of the trainees developed their skills, and have now started training others too. But there have been a lot of limitations for them. I too have conducted a number of training programs in various places, but the impact had been very, very minimal. In terms of social development, this state ranks somewhere near the underdeveloped countries of sub Saharan Africa. Although it has contributed more than half of the Prime Ministers of the nation and great national leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Ram Manohar Lohia etc., the situation has not improved. The people of this state are very superstitious.

So, last year when Dr.S.K.Singh, the director of the Voluntary Institute for Community Applied Science (VICAS) told me that he had applied for a grant from the NCSTC for conducting four training programs to cover all the 60 plus districts of this state, I was very happy and thought that we could use this opportunity to build up a good network here. After eighteen months of work, I am glad to announce that we have made a start that appears to be quite promising.

The first training program, catalysed by the NCSTC and conducted by VICAS, was in Allahabad in the month of January, 2009. We had a training program for thirty activists who had come from around 15 districts. It was for five days and it went on quite well.

At that time we had a fire walk on the banks of the Yamuna river which was filmed by a number of TV channels and we got some of the best footage we ever had of this event. Impressed by this, one of the channels called Sahara Samay invited me to their studio for a live phone-in program. Although we had some publicity, it did not make a great impact.

Some of the trainees for that program have been active in the field but even there the program is projected like a magic show or an entertainment program and not as a means to develop scientific temper. Then, after about a year, the same organisation contacted me for a series of training programs in the same state. This time they were organised in Lucknow, Allahabad and Baghpat. To each of these, around thirty activists from various organisations had been invited. The training programs were to start from the 1st of June and end of the 17th. After these four programs we would have covered all the districts of the state in terms of training activists from each of them.

First of the series was held at the Youth Hostel, Lucknow from the 1st of June. The number of participants was around 25. But we made an impact on the media persons who had come to cover the event. There were a number of reports in newspapers and the training program went on reasonably well.

One of the reporters who had come to cover the event was the Bureau Chief of the India TV channel of Lucknow. She was very impressed by our work and invited me to their studio for a live program on the 5th of June . That program started at 7 pm and went on to 9.30 pm. There were other participants who were at the Delhi studio. A considerable amount of time was devoted for our exposure of the so called miracles and that program made a huge impact via the media.

On the next day I went to Allahabad for the next training program and by that time the media was ready. We had about thirty participants here though the number went up to forty in the next few days. Many were those who had read about it in the newspapers and wanted to learn things. We had to tell them that they could be only observers and were not eligible to use any of the other facilities like lunch. However some of them expressed great interest and took part.

Click to play all 5 parts of Prof Nayak’s appearance on News 24 India

It was at Allahabad that the media really started taking interest in us! I was invited to the studio of the Sahara group and went on air at 4 pm on a channel called as Sahara UP - Uttarakhand. On the same evening, at 6pm, I was invited live on another channel that was part of the same group, called as Sahara Samay. After the hectic activity of the day, when I was relaxing, there was a phone from a channel called Live India TV. The live program was supposed to be for 30 minutes but went on for an hour. As soon as the program was over I was invited to come on the very next day to Delhi to their studio for a live program there. I had to refuse as I had my training program to look after.

The next day i was to go to Baghpat for another 5 day training program and there was a free day in between the two. But, the channel was so insistent and they sent someone to meet me at the railway station at Meerut where my journey from Allahabad to Baghpa was supposed to end by train, and I was taken to Delhi for a live 2 hour program. During this presentation, I was helped to a great extent by Mr.Pramod of VICAS, Allahabad, who was helping me with the training too.

I think that that live program was the real turning point. We started getting calls from dozens of TV channels asking for where our next program would be and what it would be. Many of them came to the place, Aryabhatt College of Engineering and Management, where our training program was going on, and one of them wanted a live program in their studio.

That channel was India TV and we went live on a Sunday at the prime time-9pm. In two days we were to perform some of the very sensational ‘miracles’ like getting buried underground, removing fried things from hot oil with bare hands, preparing tea with fire on the head etc. It was a great surprise to us that this program done on the 15th June was covered by 17 TV channels including 2 live!

Those who were covering it live had brought their OB vans and were waiting for the events to happen. The print media gave us wide coverage with some of them making features and half page write ups. It also helped that two girls who had come for the training, Sanju and Anju, were bold enough to get buried for 2 hours and then come out and walk on embers!

The UP programs were the most successful to date as for as the media coverage was concerned. The organisers of the Training program VICAS and the department of the central govt, the NCSTC were immensely pleased with the results and we are sure of their co-operation in the next training programs. In fact we have lined up a lot of programs for this state. We propose to have district level training programs first and train activists from all over the district and send them to the field to convey our message of scientific temper to the people. I plan to go with the team for a few of these training programs and then let them continue the process. During these programs, those who have been already trained by us will also take part and help in the process. After about a year of developing activists, we plan on building a state-level organisation whose task shall be exclusively devoted to the spreading of our movement and educating the people about the need for scientific temper.

In this part of India it is very necessary to create a spirit of enquiry and scientific temper among the people. We hear of so many atrocities and dangerous superstitious practices that it would need a whole life time to just make a list of them. The large population, lack of medical facilities and superstitions put into the minds of people from a very young age make the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh the most backward in India. Unless we build up strong movements there to go to the people and develop their critical faculties, the nation is not going to progress.

That is one of main reasons why the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations has decided to focus on these states for the coming years. We have already managed to start one such in Bihar called as the Bihar Rationalist Forum. We hope to start one in Uttar Pradesh too within a year. That would mean that we have managed to cover the two most populated states of our country and probably the most superstitious too.

How the movement develops in these states shall be a pointer to how it is going to fare in the rest of the Hindi belt. While we have a presence in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh we are yet do develop in Chattisgarh and Rajasthan. We have to bring these states too into our ambit as soon as possible.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA). He regularly tours the country, giving demonstrations and holding workshops to develop scientific temper.

Introducing The Bihar Rationalist Forum

Narendra Nayak — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:45:34 +0000

Bihar is one of the largest and most populous states in India. It also happens to be the most backward. However, the state has had a relatively glorious past. Bihar is well known for its intellectual achievements right from the time of Buddha. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi started his freedom struggle from Motihari in this state. One of the most well known movements of the post independent India against the authoritarianism of Indira Gandhi was started by Jayaprakash Narayan who was a Bihari.

In spite of such a progressive history, Bihar has become a state riddled with superstitions and obscurantism. For the past five years we have been associated with running a campaign in Bihar to inculcate scientific temper among people. It all started when a Minister of State for Science and Technology of the Government of India and the Member of Parliament from Navada, Sanjay Paswan, honoured tantriks at a public ceremony.

His claim was that these people have extraordinary powers and they can do things like walking on embers, catching snakes with bare hands etc., and hence needed to be honored for those achievements. The director of the Patna planetarium had invited Premanand to his institution to conduct a training program to debunk these claims.

During this program Premanand met Prof. S.P.Verma of Science for Society, Bihar, who invited him to conduct this program for his organisation. This was for the Year of Science Awareness program. Next June, Premanand wanted me to go along with him for the training program in which people from each of the districts of Bihar had participated.

Prof. Verma wanted to follow that up with a tour of Bihar to visit each of the districts and conduct programs there. But at that time, Premanand was not well and he wanted me to go on tour by myself, which was the beginning of the relationship with this organisation. They have a presence in each of the districts of this state, and a well knit network of workers, sympathisers and good organisers.

They are also members of the NCSTC Network and conduct the Children’s Science Congress each year at the state and district levels. This organisation, the Network for Science and Technology Communication, a section of the Department of Science and Technology under the Ministry of Human Resource Development has been a major catalyst for the development of our movement in the country. They have sponsored a number of miracle exposure training workshops which have been conducted by Premanand and now by me during which we have had the opportunity of meeting and training hundreds of activists many of who have later on joined the movement.

Though the Year of Scientific Awareness was over, the relationship continued and the movement grew. We had a number of programs going on with funding from various sources and sometimes even from personal funds. That led to the identification of a number of activists, organisers and those interested in the movement. We all felt the need for an organisation which can and should take up issues related to scientific temper without fear or favour.

The existing organisational set up had a few problems with projecting vehement stands on many issues, as it conducts a variety of activities of various types involving a large number of people. Taking radical stands on issues would alienate some of them and result in affecting these activities. The proposal to start such an organization was a discussion point between us for quite some time. This April we had a round of training programs covering almost all the districts of Bihar, and we have identified some of the activists who could be involved in building up this movement. In order to bring them together we decided to hold a meeting on the 20^th of June, 2010.

The meeting:

The meeting was held at the department of Chemistry at the Patna University. There were about 35 members from about 12 districts. Although the distribution was not uniform, the fact that this number attended was quite encouraging. The meeting was initiated by a discussion on the need for such an association and the ways to go about it. There was good participation from the members present who presented their view points and ideas. In the morning session it was decided that the formation of such an organisation was necessary.

The post-lunch session started with the discussions about the type of organisation to be started. It was decided to defer this decision of the type of legal entity to be formed until a larger and more representative body could be formed. So, it was decided to form an ad hoc committee and it was named Bihar Rationalist Forum. This organisation would work to strengthen the rationalist movement in Bihar by its various activities.

The following were the resolutions discussed and passed:

1. To affiliate the organisation to FIRA.

2. To constitute committees for the following:

a. A panel of those who would demonstrate so called miracles and explain superstitions.

b. A panel of experts who would investigate and explain paranormal phenomena.

c. An academic panel of experts in various fields who could answer queries of the members about the paranormal.

3. We also decided to conduct seminars, workshops, and discussions to expand the horizons of knowledge of the members and also those interested.

4. To bring more interested, committed and dedicated people into the movement and also to create a state wide network with members in all the districts.

A managing committee was elected from among the members present. The ad hoc office bearers were also elected. The following is the list:

Ms. Seema Singh- President.

Mr. B.Suman- General Secretary

Mr. Umesh and Mr. Munindra Jha Raushan - Secretaries.

Ms. Kirti- Vice President.

Ms.Poonam- Treasurer

Prof.S.P.Verma was requested to be the mentor and he readily agreed. The President of FIRA was invited to be the patron and that too was agreed upon.

The number of young people, women and activists gives us the hope that the movement will go forward in the right direction and address the target membership.

It was also decided that the next meeting of the ad hoc committee would be held at Hajipur in September and hosted by the president Ms. Seema Singh. The members present also contributed to the funds of this forum and the president also handed over the contribution on behalf of FIRA.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA). He regularly tours the country, giving demonstrations and holding workshops to develop scientific temper.

Pseudoscience In The Stars: An Indian Rationalist’s Experiences with Astrology

Narendra Nayak — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:02:35 +0000

My first contact with astrology must have been soon after my birth, because a horoscope is a must-have for every child born in my parents’ community. This horoscope must have also been drawn up by my maternal uncle, himself an astrologer of no mean repute, though in the last decades of his life he used to tell me, “it is not for unbelievers like you!”. My first conscious contact with this ’science’ occurred when I was a schoolboy. A cousin of mine, S.S. Kamath, was interested in investigating astrological claims. He told me of an incident where he had copied Jawaharlal Nehru’s (the then Prime Minister of India) horoscope from a magazine and showed it to an astrologer telling him that it was the horoscope of a salesman in a cloth shop. The astrologer made his calculations and told him that it was that of an ordinary man who would be leading a routine humdrum existence. On being told that the horoscope was actually that of the Prime minister of India, the astrologer wiggled out of the situation making up some excuse.

Another incident involved two of my cousins. They went to another astrologer and posed him a challenge - tell us which one of us is the Doctor and which one is the engineer. The astrologer said that the questioner was the Doctor (it was correct) and the other one was an engineer (not true). When the one who was told that he was an engineer protested and said that he was a chartered accountant- the astrologer said, ”Yes it is the same - both professions deal with calculations!”

The rich use astrology to explain away the misdeeds of their children. We would always hear that so and so was doing all those bad things because of the wrong planetary configurations in his/her horoscope. There would be rituals to counteract these ‘ill-effects’. All these rituals are performed by specialist priests who would naturally extract steep charges for their services! Many a time the one who does the calculations and the one who does the pujas would be one and the same individual! Even when it is not so, we can rest assured that the spoils would have been shared among the various participants. While it is still a matter of conjecture whether the planetary configurations were changed by these rituals, it is beyond a doubt, certain that it improved the economic status of the concerned individuals who were involved in the “diagnosis” and “treatment” of the rich.

My father was a great believer in astrology. When he got into financial problems, he would get up early in the morning and take his horoscope to his favourite astrologer for consultation. I do not know what actually used to transpire between them but in the end he lost everything and we became paupers. One of the reasons my father took so many wrong decisions was because of the sheer confidence with which the astrologer would pronounce decisions. This personal experience of utter set-back was one of the reasons I questioned the veracity of this so-called science.

As a child I used suffer from severe attacks of bronchial asthma. As usual the astrologer was consulted and no surprise this too was due to an evil planetary configuration. The treatment suggested was that I had to feed a dalit woman for the next three new moon days and I’d be cured. I followed it religiously. Needless to say, nothing came out of it. The bronchial attacks continued unabated. Anyway, many years later my father’s favourite astrologer died. The old crook managed to kick the bucket in his sleep when his family members were away on a pilgrimage. The neighbours came to know of it only when the body started stinking after a few days! When I thought out aloud in front of my venerable ancestor as to how some one who could not predict his own death could have predicted things for others accurately as was claimed, my father’s reply was that it works only for others, one can not do that for self! Well, coming to the subject of predicting things for oneself, my eldest maternal uncle was no mean astrologer either. In family circles as well as outside he was quite well known for his ‘accurate’ predictions. As he lay on his death bed his main problem was with his horoscope. He was more than 90 and his worry was that his horoscope stopped at that point. Of course he did not survive for long.

When my mother was on her death bed suffering from cancer, this uncle was consulted and he told my father that it was a passing phase of an evil planetary configuration and would pass away soon. It was my mother who passed away and not the evil configuration. Though she did not want any religious mumbo jumbo with her mortal remains, my father insisted on them. We protested. Finally some one managed to bring a priest who consulted his almanac and came to the conclusion that it was not one but the effect of five evil planets together on the day that she passed away. He also threatened us with calamities if the appropriate rituals were not done to propitiate the planets. When I asked to wait and watch for what would happen if the rituals were not done, my suggestion was not well-received. The prediction that five other members of the family would pass away if the propitiatory rituals were not done has come true! My mother passed away in 1995 and my father too, though a good ten years later! Of course, all other children of my mother are also going to die sooner or later confirming the accuracy of this astrological forecast! Later on I came to know that no one to date has passed away when the planetary configurations were good! So, the priests could always have some appropriate rituals to offset them and naturally could extract more from their gullible clients.

I was born to the community of the Gowd Saraswath brahmins. For this community the belief in astrology is an absolute must. For each and every thing an astrologer is consulted, whether it be a birth, death or marriage.There are many who specialise in ‘matching’ horoscopes for the purpose of marriage. One of my friends who is now no more, was very much concerned about my lack of belief in what he called as the ‘ancient science of astrology’. He told me that he would convince me once and for all about the greatness of this science if I could get my horoscope. I promised to do that and on the appointed day he brought his astrologer friend who was also working in the same bank as my friend. I handed over my horoscope and the astrologer (part time - his full time job was a clerk in a bank) peered at it, wrote a number of things, made a number of calculations and told me a number of things that were well-known. I pretended to be surprised and asked him how he came to these conclusions. He pointed out the various planetary configurations that were the cause for these. He also suggested solutions for the imaginary problems about which I told him and explained them on the basis of his ‘rational scientific’ terms. When all this was over I told him that while what he had said about me was very correct, the horoscope was not mine! It was that of a friend of mine who had left school at the age of eleven. He (the astrologer) had told me that the horoscope was that of a highly educated person with a post graduate degree and on his way to acquiring higher qualifications. The legitimate owner of the horoscope was a primary school drop out! When I pointed this out the astrologer and my friend who wanted to convince me of the efficacy of this ’science’ were both flabbergasted. They tried the lame excuse that the astrologer was a specialist only in matching horoscopes for the purpose of marital alliances! I had to ask them what had prevented them from making that clear in the beginning itself. They had no answer! To me, the purpose of the whole exercise had been clear from the very beginning. In his enthusiasm to convince me about the efficacy of astrology my friend had told the amateur astrologer all about me before bringing him over to read my horoscope! As for the matching of horoscopes for marriage purposes, though I married Asha who was also born in the same community into which I was born, there was neither any religious ritual nor any hor(ror)oscope matching when we got married. More about that some other time.

There was a lecturer in the department of Kannada at the college where I studied. He was an expert in matching horoscopes for marriage purposes and used to be a consultant for many families. His consultations were always at his residence. If any one expressed doubts about the efficacy of his astrological predictions, he would call for his daughters. They would come out and ask him why they were called. Then he would point out to the visitors that all of his daughters who were widowed had been married after he had diligently matched their horoscopes - they had returned home after their husbands had expired and he was looking after them! He used to tell those who had asked about the efficacy of his predictions that his daughters were living proof! Despite such examples, the community into which I was born are obsessed with matching horoscopes for marriage purposes, and many otherwise suitable alliances are called off due to the non-matching of horoscopes!

There are many social service organisations which arrange marriages, and to enlist one has to give one’s biodata along with a copy of the horoscope. I can recall one such incident that happened about thirty four years ago. I was seated in a friend’s office when a gentleman belonging to this community of the Gowd Saraswath Brahmins dropped in and remarked that he was in search of a suitable bridegroom for his daughter who was working in a bank. At that time another gentleman who was seated there said that he had a son who was also employed in a bank. They were quite happy that the match was suitable after they compared the details of the two. But, the final barrier of the matching of horoscopes had to be crossed. So, as per the usual practice, the horoscopes were exchanged for consultation with their respective astrologers, and the two men promised to meet each other after a couple of days. On the appointed day they met and had conflicting accounts of the suitability of the matching of horoscopes. The boy’s father announced that his astrologer had given quite low marks for the match; he said that the marks were only 20%. But, the girls father had exactly the opposite report. He said that his astrologer had pronounced that it was a very good match - the marks were 80%! When the names of the respective astrologers were asked, it turned out that it was the same individual who had pronounced 20% for one and 80% for the other for the same pair of horoscopes. So, my friend who was the owner of the office promised to sort out the matter. He took the same pair of horoscopes and went to the very same person. This time after various calculations, the same astrologer pronounced that the matching was 50% and if everything else was alright they could go ahead with the marriage! This is astrological matrimonial consultation for you.

One could, of course, tell me that I have not studied astrology. I don’t need to. I don’t know how to cook either. That does not prevent me from appreciating or criticising someone else’s cooking or evaluating the quality of food available, particularly when one pays for it at a restaurant. So, when one pays an astrologer it is expected that the services which are paid for should be of a certain quality and that is basically a demand from any sensible consumer. More on my brushes with this ’science’ in my next article.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA). He regularly tours the country, giving demonstrations and holding workshops to develop scientific temper.

Exposing The “Miracle” Of Blindfolded Sight- The Story of Ranjana Agarwal

Narendra Nayak — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 08:30:34 +0000

This is the story of a little girl of fourteen and the ambitions of her mother whom we met at the studios of Live India TV channel on the evening of 18th June. The story begins on this date, when I received a call from the channel asking if I could visit their studios if I was in Delhi. When the call arrived, Shubrum, Rakshi and I were on our way over to their house, after a very important and successful meeting with the present director of Vigyana Prasar Network, Dr.Anuj Sinha. Since Shubrum had a meeting, Rakshi and I decided to go for the live broadcast to investigate the case of this girl, Ranjana. It was the claim of her family and some others that she had the unique power to see blindfolded. Some of these folks also accompanied her to the studio. It was claimed that she had been given a certificate by the Ministry of Human Resource Development that she had the power of seeing with a cloth tied over her eyes! That was supposed to be in recognition of her ‘unique talents’. It was quite clear that this girl who was from a village near Varanasi wanted to go places!

Ranjana Agarwal with her mother who was manipulating her

On the panel which went on air at 9 pm there was an astrologer, an ophthalmologist, Rakshi and myself. The discussions started with the so called “unique talents” of this girl, with some prerecorded footage of her showing her so called remarkable talents! Then the whole drama started. The opinions of the panel were asked.The ophthalmologist said that the phenomenon needed testing. The astrologer, as to be expected, said that it was a case of supernatural powers. Rakshi said that there was nothing supernatural and I promised that by the end of the program I would prove that she had no supernatural powers.

The tests started with a blindfold being tied round the girl’s eyes and a newspaper shown to her. She brought it down at such a low angle that she could read it through the gap between the blindfold and her nose! When I said this was something that anyone could do, the blind fold was tied around my eyes and I was asked to read something held higher. Obviously I could not do that. That was said to be my defeat in round no.1! The discussions continued and when it was Rakshi’s turn she said it was to be seen as to how this girl was doing it. The anchor kept on harping about the unique talents of this girl and how these were recognised by the govt of India, throughout the program!

Then we took a break and there was an argument between the anchor and Rakshi! When the show was off the air, heated discussions were going on. Though I tended to agree with Rakshi, I am a veteran of many such shows and decided to hold my peace in the larger interests of the movement. This was followed by more heated arguments and Rakshi went off the air. But the panel continued without her and so did the nonsense!

Two pieces of cotton were kept on the girl’s eyes and the blindfold put back on. Again she managed to ’see’ a paper held before her eyes, through the same gap. When I suggested that I would put the blindfold properly on her the anchor declined and said that I would get my chance later! That was never to come! In the meantime there were many other superfluous things going on, They were showing footage from Mahabharath, the part where Kunti put her unique powers into Duryodhan etc. The astrologer was harping on about the powers of Sanjay in the Mahabharath who could read written words from miles away! So, I pulled out a currency note from my pocket and challenged the girl to read its serial number from ten feet away. The astrologer backed out saying that the events he mentioned had happened in Threthayuga and it was Kaliyuga now!

Then came the denouncement! The next chance to prove the so called miraculous powers of the girl was another test. She was to have dough applied to her eyes and be asked to read the words. I said that I wanted to participate in this and went near her with two pieces of sticking plaster in my hands. I had observed where the gaps were between the blindfold and her cheeks and wanted to apply the dough to that area. When the ophthalmologist got ready with the dough, the girl complained that her eyes were hurting and that she was having problems seeing! I had anticipated this, as I could see the girls mother signaling to her, apparently out of the sight of all the others, that she should say no! The very sympathetic anchor said that she was a small girl and hence should not be subjected to more trauma! He who was keen up to that stage saying that we would conduct more and more tests to demonstrate these unique powers of the child, suddenly turned very sympathetic when the going got really tough.

I had got ready with the plaster, but there was no question of applying it now as the girl was shedding copious quantities of tears. The whole drama had been planned and carried out in such a way that the girl would be let off when it came to the crunch. She was to be ready to cheat when the criteria were not rigorous, and when really tough tests were to be applied such a drama would be enacted to get her off the hook! But, I was not willing to be a party to this. I was very vehement that the whole thing was a drama and asked why the rigorous criteria of applying dough to her eyes was not done in the first trial. I also wanted to know why I was not allowed to access the girl the first time! There was no need to go on for an hour when the so called miraculous powers could have been exposed in a few minutes.

The whole thing is about TRPs. They wanted to sacrifice a child at the altar just to improve their viewership. It was obvious that the driving force behind the whole farce was her mother who wanted to bask in the glory of her daughter’s unique “talents”. The whole exercise was fueled by the ambitions of the TV channels to improve their ratings. In fact before it went on air I was requested to wait for some time before I expose this girl, as the whole show was to go on for an hour or so.

Those in on this plan wanted the so called special powers of this girl to be certified by us, which is why I had been invited. This invitation led to their exposure and downfall. In the process, the child was hurt and had to undergo humiliation in public. But the very relevant issue here is that the child was put up to this sort of exploitation. The anchor had been talking all that time about a ‘testimonial’ awarded by the Ministry of HRD, govt. of India. I was wondering, on what grounds did the government issue this “testimonial”? How could have this department verified that this girl had the ability to ’see’ with her eyes blindfolded, before issuing the testimonial? The anchor was also bragging about the ‘certificates’ issued by some local govt. medical officers. Who had given them the authority to certify this so called miraculous power?

Edit: On further checking this certification has been verified to be genuine. The target now includes the ministry of HRD, the government of India, which has so carelessly declared that this girl has the ability to see blindfolded.

While the child’s alleged miraculous powers were exposed on the show, what was the gullibility level of those who certified her? Did none of them have any sense as to see how she was reading blindfolded? My conclusion was that Rakshi had been right from the beginning. It was not about the exposure of so called ‘miraculous’ power, but about a greater exposure of how a publicity-hungry parent, TRP-crazy media and gullible public joined to make a celebrity out of an ordinary myopic girl who was peeking at things held under her nose through the gap between the blindfold and her cheeks. The case needs a more thorough investigation by some agency looking out for children’s welfare, because Ranjana Agarwal is only fourteen years old and legally still a child.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA). He regularly tours the country, giving demonstrations and holding workshops to develop scientific temper.

A Rationalist Exposing Fraudulent Paranormal Claims - The Ones That Ran Away

Narendra Nayak — Wed, 26 May 2010 10:08:09 +0000

This is about those brave ’souls’ who were very keen to teach us a lesson and then learnt the lesson that they had much more to learn than to teach, and hence chose the easy way out - run away! There are quite a number of people who have taken that path, however I am going to write only about those few that I can recall off hand. There is a lot of publicity being accorded to the one who was threatened by a Tantrik in 2008 on a TV channel. Two years later, it is still being talked about. It brings to my mind an incident that happened about a decade ago in a place called Charvathur, 75 kms south of Mangalore.

A state level road show was organised by the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham. B. Premanand was to inaugurate that and I was to debunk so-called miracles. As per routine, during my presentation, I put forth our challenges to those who have supernatural powers and one of them was for those who can do black magic. Our test for the power of black magic is for that Tantrik to kill me by these special powers. And the reward for this would be my entire property. On that day there was no response from anyone. But, the next day the local drummer announced that a person called Amir Raja would be showing his powers of black magic on the public maidan (field) at 5pm. There were about 500 people gathered at the appointed time. One person got on the dais and started a long lecture of the magical powers of the great wizard Amir Raja. When people asked who this man was, he pointed at himself! The people bored by his long talk asked where I was, and told him to kill me and be over with it as they were getting tired of the whole affair! I was not there because I was not aware that someone had taken my challenge! But, there were two persons in the audience who had been trained by me at Trichur. They went on the stage and told Amir Raja that though I was not there to take challenge, they were there and he could show his powers of black magic by killing one of them. They also assured Amir Raja, that he would not have to bother about the disposal of the body. The other person who was left alive would do that! He stared at them and they stared back!

‘Miracle’ exposed by the Kerala Yuktivadi Sangam

Click here to view the embedded video.

As expected, nothing happened, except for an irate audience throwing stones at Amir Raja. He beat a hasty retreat and hid in a mosque, nearby. This incident was reported in many newspapers of Kerala and I came to know about it from the ‘The Week’. I thought this was the end of it. But that was not to be. A few months later, I had gone to Payyanur to address the district meet of the Kerala Yukhtivadi Sangham. During my talk I mentioned the incident of Amir Raja. The audience quickly pointed out that he was present amongst them. So, I called Mr. Raja to the stage and asked him to kill me with his powers. He came on the stage and stared at me. I too stared back… Nothing happened.

He then, spewed a string of colourful expletives in Malayalam. I could not follow his language, but the audience did! Two of them came up to the stage rolling up their sleeves to take Mr Raja to task. Just in time, three people came running from outside, looking for Amir Raja. I was given to understand that he was a psychiatric patient who was obsessed with me. He had disappeared from his house and his parents had requested his friends to bring him back. When they heard that I would be speaking at this place, they had come there, expecting to see him in the crowd. They were right. They caught him and pulled him away. And that’s the story of Amir Raja who wanted to kill me by black magic!

About 7 years back, some of the saffron-tinted newspapers in Karnataka had carried front- page write-ups about eternal lamps at a placecalled Chigalli, about 250 kms from Mangalore. The write-up was about three lamps, actually lanterns, burning without any oil or any other fuel for the past 25 years! They were kept alit supposedly by the miraculous power of prayer of an old lady called Lakshmi Raikar. A sage had preached that to attain salvation, one needed to feed the hungry. Since she was poor and had hardly had any food for herself, let alone feed others, she was very worried about attaining this promised salvation. She prayed to god and the answer apparently came in the form of a flash of lightning that lit up a lamp that had been lying around since years without any oil. So Lakshmi decided to worship god, in lieu of feeding the poor and the hungry. Soon another lantern kept nearby started burning and the number went up to three. As she grew older, the lamps came to be tended by her niece though we don’t know what that means! The only care that lamps need is to be re-filled when the oil burns up. But since, oil was apparently not required for these blessed lamps, one fails to understand the need for care! After a few years, Lakshmi Raikar died and the niece, Nagaratna took over the job full time.

To cut this long story short when we went to investigate this, there was a huge crowd of villagers baying for our blood and a good number of policemen to maintain law and order. The end result was that the local authorities refused to give us permission and asked us to go away. That is a good way to escape from any sort of investigation.

A similar bone immersion tank, Ramkund, in Nasik, where the bones of several famous leaders such as Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have been dissolved.

There are many things that the escape artists have in common with each other. Their preferred tactic for instance, is to ask us to come to their place, where they would have gathered the local people beforehand under the pretext of outsiders coming to attack their sacred miracles. When we go to investigate any such ‘miracle’ we have to inform local authorities. This turns into a law and order issue. Last September I was called up by a state level channel about a so-called miracle at a place called Gokarna. There they claimed that there was a tank into which if the bones of cremated persons were immersed they would dissolve rapidly! My contention was that cremation would destroy the proteins and other components of the bone matrix and convert the calcium salts to its carbonate or oxide, which would dissolve at a rate dependent on the acidity of the water. This is a verifiable hypothesis. At 8 pm that night I got a call from the same channel and I was told that the call was on air live. The priest of the temple who owned the tank represented the other side. He announced that the souls whose bones were immersed in that tank would attain moksha or salvation. I asked him whether any one had come back and told him that his/her soul had attained moksha. He was furious with my question and berated me saying that we atheists are always like that. I asked him to send me at least 5 litres of water in a can so that I could investigate whether the bones were dissolving faster in that! His only reply was that I should come over there to investigate. I understood the reason behind this demand was to create the usual law and order problem with the locals, and then declare that we, the rationalists, had verified the claim and declared the phenomenon as genuine!

Then, there is the curious case of Ashwini of the Dhyan foundation. This has also been reported on Nirmukta. This person claimed to be able to diagnose the disease and whether the person was dead or alive, just by looking at their photos. He challenged us for a demonstration, and told us that any one from his foundation could face us. When we took up the challenge he sent a few of his ‘followers’ who wanted to argue and backed out from the demonstration of ‘powers’. We are yet to see his miraculous powers of diagnosis by seeing photographs.

We know the case of Bhaskar Shetty, which is an ongoing issue. We are waiting for Bhaskar Shetty to come and tell us about ten people by casting their horoscopes and using the ’science’ of as(s)trology! Well why do the likes of Shetty and Ashwini do that?

Ashwini

They are used to adulation and worship from gullible people. They also have strategies like cold reading - which essentially means observing the dressing style, accessories used for a general categorization of class, caste and religion. These charlatans usually function by word-of-mouth networking and ‘good faith’. Their followers bring in their friends and they in turn bring in their friends. This is how the web spreads. It also ensures that these charlatans always have a fair amount of background information about these people. Typically, in the first interaction, they rattle off a few personal details and the victim falls into the trap. When people like us confront them, they first bluff and bluster, thinking that we can be easily cowed down. When it comes to the crunch they run away offering lame excuses. As for Bhaskar Shetty he might have initially thought that it is easy to guess the gender and living state of individuals thinking that the odds are fifty-fifty. But, when he realised that the odds are stacked very much against just guessing, he developed cold feet. We are yet to hear from him. The crux of the matter is we are still waiting to be convinced about a zillion things under the sun and moon.

Recently, someone invited me for a public debate on the existence of god. Well, instead of a public debate we could have a demonstration for some manifestation of this existence, but under foolproof conditions. Or at least a demonstration of the claims of the supernatural powers which these people keep making in the media and in the presence of their gullible devotees who are eagerly waiting to swallow every word! My humble prayer to them: prove your powers and make me a pauper please!

Professor Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. He tours India performing demonstrations and organizing training workshops on miracle exposure and scientific temper for rationalists.

An Atheist In Periyar’s Land

Narendra Nayak — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:19:15 +0000

Tamilnadu, formerly known as Madras State, is where the Self-Respect Movement was first started by E.V.Ramaswamy in the early years of the twentieth century. It was for the first time that the so-called ‘lower castes’ rebelled against the hegemony of the Brahmins, and started a movement that rejected all superstitions, religious rituals and the highest superstition of them all- god! In this state whichever party comes to power has to conform to the ideology of EVR Thanthai Periyar as he came to be known. So, in this state one can expect the ideology of the rationalist movement to be accepted without any significant opposition.

My first programs in Tamilnadu started by accident. Though my college education had been in Chennai and am quite fluent in Tamil, myfirst interaction in that language was by accident. In 2004, if my memory serves right, there was the second National Teachers Science Convention at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. I had interactions with the all the participants, as a sort of curtain raiser for the training session that was to follow. The usual controversy about the language communication came up- English or Hindi? The North Indians wanted it to be in Hindi while the others insisted on English. I finally settled on a compromise, saying that I would speak in both languages. One gentleman from the audience objected and said that it should be English only. I replied to him in Tamil saying that I could have that interaction in Tamil if he wanted but the others would not understand a word of it! There was deafening applause from his group of about ten people and the atmosphere turned cordial. I had my interaction in Hindi and English. When the talk was over this gentleman came to me and asked me whether I could have a program in Tamil at his place. This gentleman was Dr. Madhavan, the director of the planetarium at Tiruchirapally.

Thus started my tours of Tamilnadu! My first program was a two day interaction with students from a few girls colleges which went very well- in Tamil! Though I started my program with a declaimer that my Tamil is not very good, some of the girls came and told me that my Tamil was super! After the Trichy interaction, there was one more at the Chennai planetarium arranged by Dr. Iyamperumal, the VC and the Director. That was the beginning of a wonderful, fulfilling relationship with that organisation, a relationship that continues even today and hopefully for many years to come. Along with these programs other organisations such as trade unions and the Tamilandu Science Forum started having our programs in many places. Tamilnadu Rationalist Forum was a member of FIRA but had not arranged for any of my interactions as they had not known that I could communicate in Tamil. But once they came to know that I could, Dr.Veeramani and Kumaresan have arranged quite a few programs and training sessions. I would like to share some of these experiences with our readers.

In Erode, one of our interactions was at the first hall that was founded by Periyar. But before the program was to start, the local organiser told me that I should not say anything about god because it was a very controversial topic. I agreed, but when my talk started I told the audience that I was very proud to have the opportunity of speaking at the auditorium built by Periyar, but had been told by the organisers not to say anything about god as they felt it was a very controversial topic. I also told them that in that particular auditorium it would in fact be a controversial topic if one were to say that there is a god, and not the other way round! I told them that I was starting my talk by quoting Periyar-

“There is no god, there is no god, there is no god at all.”

E.V. Ramaswamy

The applause was thunderous. The members of the managing committee told me that the auditorium had been hired by the local organisers saying that it was for a science program, and that they were not aware of what it really was! They also said that due to the lack of this understanding they had even charged rent for it! They assured me that the next time I come over they would organise the program themselves, not charge any rent, and even arrange for all the other facilities at their expense! We had quite a few interactions at various schools and colleges. That series of programs went on very well.

We have close contacts with Aruchamy of Coimbatore from an organisation called Periyar Dravida Kazhagam. He has provided us with the

Periyar, Bertrand Russell and Robert Ingersoll were published together as contemporary rationalists

know-how and the manpower for quite a few programs shot by major channels like Discovery Channel, The BBC, Australian TV, etc. Their group arranged for our interactions at quite a few locations. At one of these events, the Puttaparthi prestidigitator had come to Chennai and had allegedly ‘materialised’ rings for a few of the DMK ministers. At that time we were holding a series of programs in which I ‘materialised’ the usual items such as rings and so on, and distributed them much to the delight of the audience who loved parodying the ministers! The publicity because of these attracted the attention of many other groups including the association of High Court lawyers of the state and some trade unions. In September of 2006, a series of programs were organised in Chennai. The first one was of the anniversary celebration of a magazine, held at one of the well known auditoriums of Chennai. After my lecture demonstration some people came backstage and started arguing with us. But, the editor of the magazine told me that I did not have to handle them myself, and he ticked them off. They went away threatening that they would see how my next programs would go on. The next few programs went on uneventfully but at one of the programs at a place called Porur a few people came with stones in their hand and told the organiser of the program that my talk would not be allowed. There were police around, but instead of assuring protection they told me that we better hold the program on some other day. The program that day was to celebrate Periyars birth day, and imagine it being called off in Tamilnadu! At that time I wrote a stinker of a letter to the Chief Minister and also the commissioner of Police of Chennai.

Later on when Aruchamy and his friends came to know of this incident, they arranged for a program at the very same place. This time they were ready for any eventuality! There were around a thousand people who had come and there was not a whimper of protest from any one! There have been dozens of such presentations including many training programs conducted by various organisations from Tamilnadu Science Forum, Tamilandu Rationalist Forum, Birla Planetarium etc. During these tours I had the occassion to meet many interesting people, including a so-called ‘Fire Swami’ at Tanjavur, many die-hard Hindutwavadis, hard-core Christian proselytizers and such. On one of these tours I investigated the famous Nadi Jotidam of Vaitheeswaran Kovil. This investigation has been posted as one of my earliest articles on Nirmukta.

My latest experience in Tamilnadu was on the 17^th of this month. I was invited by the director of the Planetarium, Dr. Iyamperumal, to deliver a lecture-demo on scientific temper. There was very good coverage by the press and other media. The next day I started receiving calls on my mobile, some of which were threatening me, daring me to repeat what I had said at that program in public. I had not realised what had happened, but came to know later that some vested interests of the Hindutwavadi groups had publicized the idea that our miracle exposure program was anti-Hindu! This point had been clarified over and over again, so there was no need for any further explanation. But, it is a very good sign that our program has had such an impact and the vested interests have felt threatened! I forwarded the numbers to some of our people who called them up and asked them for their addresses so that they could organize one such program in their very locality! The brave warriors of Hindutva did not have the courage to give up their addresses! Dr. Iyamperumal has informed me that he has received a number of enquiries for my phone number and that he has told all of them to kindly send their request by letter and he would give them the required information by post. He also expressed his regret at all the negative calls, but I told him that we thrive on adversity and that it was nothing new to us. The strangest part of the whole controversy is that none of those who called had actually attended the program. All their surmises were based on the newspaper reports! Dr. Iyamperumal gave me the very good news that all the children who attended the three-day camp had a very good opinion of our presentation and were praising it! The negative reactions were all from people who had based their opinion on the newspaper reports and the statement of the BJP office-bearer. This clearly shows their ideological bankruptcy!

A number of programs are being planned in Chennai by our supporters. In fact, Dr. Iyamperumal has promised to organize one full-day interaction, open to public. When we held such a program in the first week of February during a science festival at the same venue this year, the response had been overwhelming. It had to be wound up because of the large crowds which could not be controlled!

When the dates are finalized, professor Narendra Nayak’s upcoming Chennai program will be announced on Twitter and Facebook, and will also be posted on the Forums. For further enquiries or to volunteer, please call professor Nayak at 94482-16343.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations.

Beyond Bodily Needs: Prahlad Jani & The Solarian Scam

Narendra Nayak — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:01:41 +0000

With the many recent claims of people living without food and water, it has become very necessary to examine the issues that have been raised, particularly the methods used to verify the claims of these people. There is this man from Kerala who claims to have extracted energy from the sun by staring at it and converting it to the energy needed to keep his bodily processes going on. There is this man from Gujarat claiming to have been blessed by a goddess who pours something down his throat, and so he does not need any food or water. He also claims to have lived for seven decades without these!

These recent reports have provided much needed threads for the Hindutwavadi gang to cling to. Their illusions have recently been dashed by scandal after scandal and they had been in desperate search for new icons and they have been provided by these new idols proclaiming that they can live without food and water. It is not that these claims are new! We have been hearing of these since time immemorial like the stories of ancient sages living on air for thousands of years and such. But we have not seen one till this day! Those who are around today make desperate attempts to hide their age by dyeing their hirsute appendages and wearing wigs to hide their bald patches! We have sterling examples of the contortionist, the pilot turned Baba, the afro wigged Puttaparthi guy and innumerable such examples. The squeaky voiced patent holder for breathing has a few carefully preserved strands of gray in his mane and beard!

Let us take a look at why one cannot live without food or/and convert solar energy to meet the energy requirements of the body. There is no method by which solar energy can be converted into carbohydrate in animals and that is why we are dependent on the solar energy converted into carbohydrate by the plants and organisms which can do this. Those plants that do this must have a pigment that can trap solar energy- i.e., chlorophyl. None of the people who have these claims have any green color and obviously do not have chlorophyll! Even assuming that they have it, they would have to spend all day in the sunlight to convert enough of the energy for the dark hours! How does one store that? The most efficient form for storage of energy is fat which can given an energy of 9 kcals/gram. Assuming a minimum energy need of at least 50 kcals/hour, for the dark hours one needs 600 kilocalories of energy which would need the storage of at least 65 grams of fat between the sunlight and dark hours! There is no known metaboilc process which can convert sunlight into that in any animal!

Again, the process of converting sunlight into any form of energy containing compound is a very long process and requires lot of surface area and exposure to sunlight. None of these people can show any prolonged exposure to sunlight.

The body would also need to convert atmospheric nitrogen into protein for the build up and repair of the tissues which break down. Nitrogen fixation is a very energy dependent process. That is why all animals depend on nitrogen containing compounds derived from dietary sources. Again, minerals, vitamins and so many other compounds have to come from the diet and diet alone. To say that the human body can run without any of these is like saying a car can be run without any petrol, lubricants, coolant and engine oil. Anyone who has a modicum of common sense will understand that it is not possible to do this! If one claims that the stored energy in the body can serve as the source of energy, the stored energy will have to come from fat. For a person who claims to have lived for several decades without any food, it is impossible to have any stored fat that can meet their energy needs.

Two very different videos on the story

Click here to view the embedded video.

The original story

Click here to view the embedded video.

A pseudoscientific and irrational Hindu version of the same story

It is obvious that the people making these claims of living without food and water are charlatans, and the investigators are either hand-in-glove with them or are so gullible that they are not making the proper efforts to investigate. There are many reports of scietists investigating the claims of the breatharians. While we have the breatharians in the West, we have the solarians and the yogarians here.

While the Western charlatans present claims of surviving on air, our home-grown ones have the omnipresent sun-god to fall back upon. There is also the mysterious magical mental powers of the east- yoga! There are claims of yogis thousands of years old with mind over matter powers. But, the only thing is that they are not interested in seeking fame for them to come out of their mysterious abodes in the remote regions of the Himalayas! The few who do come out get corrupted by the materialistic world and pass away like normal people like ourselves!

Let us try to understand why the so called investigators are a gullible lot; firstly they are overawed by the claims of these so called yogis and look upon them with reverence. They dare not question them or watch them closely. About 6 years ago I was told about one such yogi who had lived for 60 days underground without food, water and air. When I proposed that we get him tested, the informant told me that he could arrange for an interview with him. When I told him, I who had spent 90 days without food, air and water did not need to interview such a person. Then he told me that I should prove it to him. I informed him that he could interview me! He was furious. Then I had to tell him that the same standards which applied to his guru should be applicable to me too. I asked him whether his guru’s heart was functioning. He said yes. Then I told him that I could stop mine at will. I told him to check my pulse and heart beat and he assured me that they were normal. Then I went into a ‘yogic trance‘ before which I asked him to check my heart beat and pulse after 30 secs. He did that and announced that they had stopped! After that I opened my eyes and asked him to check them again. He said they were restored. He asked me how I did it and I told him that my yoga was greater than his guru’s. He had no reply! A few years later I repeated the same trick for a show called as Medicine Men, filmed by BBC Channel 4. This time I had to take off my shirt and was examined by two doctors who were specialists in tropical medicine. They too were surprised.

Click here to view the embedded video.

James Randi’s take on the story

There was such a scam perpetuated in Karnataka many years ago. There was a teenager who was supposedly living without consuming any food. This was reported in the press and a cutting was sent by someone to the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who asked the govt. of Karnataka to investigate the same. Those were the days of food shortages and Nehru wanted this technique to be studied. The girl was admitted to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences at Bangalore and kept under close observation. For a fortnight she was observed and she was not eating anything! She was drinking water only. There was no fall in her weight and it looked like she could live without affecting her health without consuming any food! Her mother was staying with her and bringing a container of food. When queried she said that it was her food and her daughter was not eating anything and she was under close observation. Those were the days when there were no CC TV cameras and only humans could keep watch! She was under observation 24 hours of the day. The doctors were amazed. There was no apparent explanation and for that! But, it was observed later that the girls mother would hide food beind the ventilator in the toilet! The ‘fasting’ girl would go to the toilet and eat really fast. She had not gotten caught as no one expects someone to eat in the toilet of all places! So, the secret was out. The secrets of all these people who claim to survive without food will be out if properly investigated.

How can people fast for long periods without suffering from problems? When one does not consume any food the energy needs of the body are met by the ketone bodies formed in the liver from the free fatty acids mobilised from the adipose tissue. These are also excreted in the urine and one loses salt along with them. So, experienced fasters take measures to see that the depletion of salt does not take place. They take care to see that plenty of liquids and salt are consumed. The seasoned veteran of fasts, Gandhi, used to do just that. During his fasting he would drink plenty of water with salt and lemon juice added. That will take care of the most immediate problems that could arise during the first few days of fasting. Longer fasts could cause more complications and failing health would ensure early negotiations to stop the fast. So, what could be the reasons for such a claim? The obvious one would be name and fame for the claimant. What is more covert is the publicity for the alleged investigators and the secret agenda of the Hindutwa brigade- our ancients had wonderful knowledge with which they could do things that the decadent West can only dream of! The claims of the DRDO are aimed at that. We dont need these agencies to investigate these claims; just hand over the claimant to us and give us a free hand to investigate. The truth will be out in a week’s time. Care should be taken to search all belongings, access should be totally denied to all suspected of helping the claimants, and so on. If this proposal is put forward, we can expect excuses saying that the atheists’ negative energy affects the intervention of the gods etc. Any takers?

Professor Narendra Nayak is the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. He is a retired professor of Biochemistry.

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Cancer Cure Scam: Cytotron Therapy Ad Continues To Run In Newspapers

Narendra Nayak — Thu, 06 May 2010 11:41:00 +0000

The treatment know as Cytotron therapy has no scientific basis and is not noted in any approved text book on cancer therapy or prescribed by any oncologists. But for the past few months this “therapy” has been advertised as a cure for cancer. In its latest avatar, the ad carried the name of a doctor. After we had threatened to complain to the State Medical Council and get his name struck from the medical register for advertising unproved remedies, it disappeared.

But the ads continue to run today. Since the matter is an offense under the Drugs and Magic remedies (Objectionable Advertisements Act), we have brought this to the attention of the assistant drugs controller for Dakshina Kannada for necessary action under the act.

It is criminal to raise false hope in patients by promising cures for which there is no evidence. The entire ad is misleading. We could as well make up one as follows:

Ms. Meena Kumari (name changed), 53 years old, complained of dysentery and was diagnosed with cancer etc. etc. She went in for a quack treatment at ABCD clinic for XYZ therapy and passed away within 3 months. Which goes to prove that XYZ therapy is fake and can be fatal within a short time. It is not known whether the cancer was the cause of her mortality or the quack therapy that promised a very rapid cure.

I request oncologists and physicians to take up this issue with their respective bodies and announce to the public the facts about whether this therapy is approved for public use. In general treatments for diseases are not advertised in India, except by quacks, which should make us suspicious of the antecedents of the treatment and the administrators of the same.

Yogi In Politics: A Rationalist’s Thoughts On Baba Ramdev

Narendra Nayak — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:21:12 +0000

The political space in India seems to be as large as the country itself. We have parties advocating everything from communism to capitalism, Hindutva to Islam, though not publicly, since the constitution prohibits it. We have the Manuvadi parties, the Dalit parties, parties of the OBCs, parties proposing an atheistic government and so on. Into this cacophony a new entrant has arrived, throwing his hat into the ring! All beware, the incorruptible, the squeaky clean, unmarried, physically fit superhero is here- step aside all, here is the man for whom the country has been waiting since independence- the messiah has finally arrived on the scene. Ram Kishen Yadav, aka Baba Ramdev who keeps churning his abdominal muscles on the stage, thumbing his nose at people and collecting millions in the name of yoga. If one watches his TV program one can see him jumping about, performing contortions, panting for breath, and as soon as he gets it back, uttering platitudes about everything under the sun,moon and stars!

He has simplistic solutions for all problems. Want to solve the poverty problem? Bring the money stashed in Swiss banks. Homosexuality is a disease and the cure for it is yoga. Its not one or two things that he talks about but, as previously said, he has an encyclopedic knowledge about all matters. He is a text book on medicine, surgery, nutrition, physical exercise, psychiatry and whatever one may need. Do you have a problem? Perform kapalbathi and pranayam. He talks about the good old days, lecturing about the skeleton of a 12 feet tall person discovered at an undisclosed location, and how the good food and clean air back in those days made them grow that big. To hell with medical evidence indicating that a 7 feet tall person can find it difficult to live a normal life because the human body has its logical and mechanical limitations.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It has been a long climb to the top indeed for a contortionist to develop into a guru with solutions for all the problems facing us. He wants to start with India and make it the healthiest nation in the world. Then he wants to go out and do the same to the rest of the world! When he predicted several years ago that there would soon be a cure for AIDS, obtained from a combination of ayurveda and yoga, Ramdev got into trouble with a Health Minister from the central government who asked him to prove his claims or shut up because such talk could disrupt the campaign for the prevention of AIDS. Ramdev then gave a long-winded explanation for what he actually said, claiming he had been misquoted.

In his TV shows he has patients barging in with so-called ‘medical reports’ which he reads out in a halting manner, mispronouncing many of the medical terminologies. It runs like this: A middle aged lady goes to the stage with a report, which he reads out loud. Then he says- “Well, well what did the doctors say about this?” She answers- “Baba, they told me I would die in six months. Another dose of sarcasm- “Then you had to die”. She- “No Baba, I did not I started doing yoga and now I am fine”. He- “So, this is modern medicine for you, in the grip of the multinationals!” Then another round of contortions, heavy breathing, devotional songs etc. These are called as yog shibirs. On his stage are a few younger people doing the very same poses which he asks all people to do.

He has one more collaborator who goes to gardens, fields or anywhere that has greenery and brings back all sorts of leaves and plants. Ramdev holds lectures on these, listing their botanical names and dishing out advice on what they can heal and/or prevent. Of course, no sort of evidence or clinical trials are needed. You just have to take his word for it. The only proof that is offered is that our ancient texts say these things. When the swine flu epidemic hit the world he had a solution for it- boil a particular root in water and drink its extract to prevent the flu. The prices for that root went through the roof and no one was willing to listen to what we said- that it was like any other type of seasonal flu and would pass off. Now, the statistics has vindicated our stand. Of course, he can claim that it was his combination of yoga and ayurveda that saved India.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What about his “medicines”? People have to sign an undertaking saying that they knew the “medicines” were not approved, to absolve him of any liability for any possible ill-effects arising from their use! He manufacures them at facilities which employ sweat shop labor. When they went on strike demanding fair wages, he set his goons upon them. When the trade unions of the left parties supported laborers and exposed the formulae of some of Ramdev’s concoctions, he made his usual allegation that they were tools of the multinationals. He was adding human bones to some of the “medicines” after powdering them; he defended this by saying that it was permitted in ayurveda. There are many such controversies about his panaceas, which are very, very expensive. The same allegation of exploitation that he makes against the multinationals is equally applicable to him, if not more! At least their products are based on evidence and clinical trials while his concoctions are marketed on his word alone and the claim that it is a truth found in ancient texts.

Ramdev’s hypocrisy needs to be pointed out here. On stage with a captive audience, he launches into tirades against the ‘corrupt’ politicians. But nothing prevents him from hob-nobbing with them, traveling with them on state helicopters and utilizing millions of rupees given as ‘grants for research’. He conveniently forgets that this money comes from the pocket of the tax payers, 300 million of them being malnourished, poverty stricken and with naturally flat stomachs caused by the years of malnutrition, and hence not impressed by his contortions on stage.

Well, who exactly is Ramdev?

If one looks at the audience at his sessions- for which one has to pay huge donations despite his talk of egalitarianism- the fat cats who pay heftier ‘donations’ are located close to the dais and are given more elbow room to carry out their maneuvering. The others have to lump it out far away from the stage, performing their contortions in cramped conditions. That is equality for you. As George Orwell said, all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. That is applicable to the disciples of Ramdev as well. But, for the over weight middle class with their sagging bellies, Ram Kishan Yadav is fitness personified. They want easy solutions to their problems; they would like to have toned bodies, full hair on their balding pates and, in short, quick and easy solutions for all their problems without having to work hard. His yoga classes look like the easy solution that these people seek. That is why we see the tension-ridden middle classes flocking there. Some exercise may work for some of them and these people shout it from the roof tops. Those for whom the exercises do not work, constituting the larger group, will be silent like they are expected to be - the silent majority! Again, he is very clever when offering advise to patients with serious problems; if they have diseases like cancer they will be told to continue with their therapy but also consume his concoctions and do things like pranayama etc. If they are cured he can take the credit- if not the money grabbing multinationals and the doctors can be blamed! In his much publicized ‘public’ debates with some of the branches of the Indian Medical Association, he cleverly wriggles out of tight situations by uttering cliches like you do your job and I will do mine. I recall a few similar instances, like when the Indian Medical Association branch of Goa ‘collaborated’ with him, having themselves photographed at his feet. When the national secretary of FIRA queried the office bearers as to why they were seen in such a position with a person who is opposed to them, the lame excuse was that they were just joining him for his anti tobacco campaign!

Why does this colorful personality wants to enter politics- or rather, why does he want to embrace the “dirty world of politics” as he says? It is the desire for power on one hand and for safe-guarding his empire on the other? Huge grants have been taken for establishing ‘research institutes’ but nothing useful has come out of them so far. Under the right to information act anyone can ask for the details of this funding and also ask for the results. Once these scandals come out there is going to be trouble. Not everyone in India is fat and middle-class- Ramdev’s constituency! He wants to get at other groups of people, for which he needs a larger net. Another factor is the large amount of black money that he must have amassed marketing his useless concoctions. Despite of all his claims to egalitarianism they are really expensive- more expensive than the concoctions of the multinationals whom he derides, but at least the latter are required to be scientifically tested to do what they claim to! Ramdev has forayed abroad and purchased his own island from where he hopes to market these concoctions without the need to satisfy regulatory bodies about their effectiveness.

Ramdev wants to be the ‘C team’ of the Hindutva gang. The A team- the right wing Bharathiya Janatha Party- has undergone a decline in growth, becoming stagnant. The rabid right wing groups like the Shiv Sena that form the B team are divided and losing their appeal. There is a need for one more team with more appeal to a different constituency, and that is what Ramdev is trying to create! While decrying all politicians as corrupt, he does not mind sharing the stage with the likes of Advani and co. While mocking the Congress party, he is not averse to taking grants from states run by that party. He feels that he has an appeal to his community- though he claims to be a ascetic with no caste, he is a Yadav, a dominant caste in many areas of the cow belt. Again, the saffron robes and the halo of being a renunciate may influence the electorate into voting for his candidates, and he hopes to win seats and worm his way into ruling combinations. No sir, he does not want power. He wants to reform the nation! He will not contest for elections but will put up honest, sincere, dedicated candidates who will do the task of nation building. In other words he wants to be a remote control and play the king maker!

Coming to the great personality himself one wonders why the cure-all yogic and the ayurvedic concoctions that he peddles are unable to cure his ever-present facial tic. What yogic quality makes him dye his hair and beard? The vanity of the renunciate?Is he the Hindu version of Benny Hinn? These questions will be answered soon when he enters electoral politics which has an audience that is not quite as captive and will need contortions of a different kind.

Professor Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations

Will Astrologer Bhaskar Shetty Keep His Word And Take Up The Rationalists’ Astrology Challenge?

Narendra Nayak — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 11:20:09 +0000

First a quick recap of the events: We had reported on one Mr. Bhaskar Shetty who hit the headlines of DNA’s Bangalore edition on the 23^rd of December, 2009. He had promised to teach me a lesson by demonstrating how scientific asstrology is! He had claimed that he could tell the gender and dead/alive status of 10 individuals within 80% accuracy, using just the date, place and time of birth of the individuals. However, he wanted the conditions to be fool-proof. He was also not interested in the money offered- one million rupees, but only wanted to prove how scientific his method was. I had agreed to an even more fool-proof method of giving him the date, time and place of birth of people who were very much alive and also in the age group 20-30. I just wanted him to tell us if the subjects were male/female, employed/unemployed, married/unmarried and what their educational qualifications were. All of these could have been easily verified from the subjects after the predictions were made, since their mobile numbers would have been placed in sealed and numbered envelopes. The reply from Bhaskar Shetty was that he was willing, but he was insistent that the challenge had to take place in Bangalore. Since, he did not want the prize money, I had waived off the security deposit and had fixed the date at Bangaluru on the 14^th of January,2010. After this Shetty got out of the challenge under the pretext that his son’s marriage was to take place in the first week of February. So, I had extended the date by 2 months and had fixed the challenge date for the 14^th of March, and had announced the venue and time.

Come, March and there was no response from hBhaskar Shetty. We were waiting for him on the 14^th of March from morning to evening at Akhila Karnataka Makkala Okkuta, Chamrajpet, Bangaluru and he did not turn up! So, we came to the conclusion that he must have developed cold feet! In the meantime we kept contacting Mr.Surendran Nair, the journalist who had given him publicity, and he has finally now provided Bhaskar Shetty’s telephone numbers. Here they are: +918022244483 (land line) and +919448044483 (mobile). I have not called him as I do not want to get into unnecessary arguments and pointless debate. However, I have informed our colleagues at Bangalore to get in touch with this man and ask him about his willingness to accept my challenge. Anyone is welcome to try and contact this person and inform him about this.

I will be in Bangalore on the 24 ^th and 25 t^h of April and also from the 29^th of April to 2^nd May. Subject to my other appointments and commitments Mr. Shetty is welcome to choose one of these dates for the challenge. However, he has to indicate his willingness in writing 15 days before the date of the challenge.

The specifics of the challenge will be as follows:

I shall bring with me 20 numbered sealed envelopes with the date, time and place of birth of young people between 20-30 years of age, and the corresponding numbered envelopes containing the solutions.

The first set of envelopes containing the details of these individuals shall be shuffled and ten selected from amongst them by Mr.Shetty himself. He shall have 60 minutes to cast the horoscopes of each of them and provide the answers in writing by filling up the data in the columns of the answer sheets provided by us. The answers will have to be very specific and may involve striking out what is wrong and/or ticking what is right or both. It shall be also clearly indicated as to which of them pertains to which one of the individuals and method of prediction.

After all the ten answer sheets are filled up in triplicate, the envelopes containing the solutions shall be opened and the evaluation done. If thirty two of the forty expected answers are right, then I shall accept that Shetty’s method of prediction is very scientific and shall undertake all steps to study under his guidance. If the number of correct answers is less than 32/40, he will have to agree that his methods of prediction are nonsense and he must begin working for our movement.

Additional conditions are as follows:

1. Bhaskar Shetty has to sign a declaration that there are no religious sentiments involved in this challenge and that it is only a scientific study of a topic that Shetty believes has a logical foundation. He has to also state that he is taking up this challenge in his individual capacity and not as a representative of any religious body or denomination.

2. If Shetty wants to take my prize money he has to deposit a sum of rupees five thousand as earnest money in cash or in the form of DD payable to Narendra Nayak at Mangalore. If he is proved right this money shall be refunded to him along with the prize money of one million rupees in the form of a DD.

The above are only indicative guide lines. An agreement in detail on a stamp paper of the required value shall be signed a week in advance before the date of the conducting of the challenge.

If Mr. Shetty does not take up this I shall have to come to the conclusion that he is a fraud, seeking publicity for his non existent powers of prediction and using the media to advertise his pseudoscience.

Narendra Nayak is the president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations. Email him at narenyen (at) gmail.com