Patanjali products fail quality test in U’khand
NEARLY 40% OF ALL AYURVEDA PRODUCTS TESTED IN HARIDWAR WERE FOUND TO BE OF SUBSTANDARD QUALITY
Nearly 40% of Ayurveda products, including items from Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali, were found to be of substandard quality by Haridwar’s Ayurveda and Unani Office, a Right to Information (RTI) reply revealed.
Out of the 82 samples collected between 2013 and 2016, 32 failed the quality test. Patanjali’s Divya Amla Juice and Shivlingi Beej were among the products that didn’t meet to meet the quality standards.
Last month, the armed forces’ Canteen Stores Department (CSD) suspended the sale of a batch of Patanjali’s amla juice after it “failed” a quality test carried out at West Bengal Public Health Laboratory.
According to Uttrakhand state government lab report, pH value, which measures the alkalinity of water soluble substances, was found to be less than the prescribed limit in the amla juice. Products with pH value less than seven could lead to acidity and other medical complications.
The RTI reply revealed that a high percentage — 31.68%— of foreign matter was found in the Shivlingi Beej.
Ramdev’s associate and Patanjali’s managing director, Acharya Balkrishna, denied the lab report. “Shivlingi Beej is a natural seed. How can we adulterate it?”, he said and claimed that the report was an attempt to malign Patanjali’s image.
Besides Patanjali products, 18 samples of Ayurveda drugs such as Avipattikara Churna, Talisadya Churna, Pushyanuga Churna, Lavan Bhaskar Churna, Yograj Guggulu were also found to be of substandard quality.
Over the years, Uttarakhand has emerged as a major hub of Ayurveda products. Haridwar and Rishikesh have more than 1,000 dealers, manufacturers and suppliers of Ayurveda medicines.
One of the manufacturers, Minor Forest Produce Processing And Research Centre (MFPPARC), said the drugs were supplied only after Uttrakhand Ayush wing’s approval.
Ayush minister Harak Singh Rawat said the department was in the process of carrying out more regular tests to ensure product quality.
“We have a lab in Haridwar to test the samples but it lacked the required staff. We have now appointed five new chemists and are in the process of recruiting more,” he said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approved the registration of three formal cases pertaining to the affairs of the civil aviation ministry under the previous Congressled government.
The First Information Reports (FIRs) relate to the purchase of 50 Boeing aircraft for the erstwhile Air India, the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, and handing over of lucrative international airline routes to private airlines, a source in the CBI told Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity.
The cases come on the heels of the CBI raiding former finance minister P Chidamabram’s son Karti. The FIRs do not mention any public official by name but are built around a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) submitted to Parliament in 2011 and a subsequent report by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC). Both reports pointed out glaring gaps in the acquisition process, which experts believe led to the national air carrier bleeding financially.
In January 2017, the Supreme Court had also asked the CBI to complete the probe on the same matter by June while hearing a public interest litigation filed by activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan on the Boeing purchase.
“The Supreme Court had asked the Attorney General to look into the allegations in a time-bound manner. We examined the evidence and decided to register three separate cases. We will finish the investigation soon,” said a senior CBI official privy to the development.
According to the CBI official who spoke to Hindustan Times,