Uttarakhand asks Centre to act on Ramdev drug report

The Uttarakhand government has decided not to take action against yoga guru Ramdev after an inquiry reported against his controversial putrajeevak beej medicine, which allegedly promises a male child. An indication to this effect was given by Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who said the report, issued by Uttarakhand's director-general of health and the law department, against Ramdev was being sent to the Centre, which should decide any possible action against the yoga guru.

"This issue is between the Centre and Ramdev," Rawat said. When asked why he was taking no action, Rawat said his government was not against businessmen.

The chief minister's comments follow a demand made by the Congress on Wednesday asking the Centre to take action against Ramdev in light of the report. "The Centre had sought a report on the fertility drug from the state government. Now it is up to the Centre to initiate legal action against the manufacturer," Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee President Kishore Upadhyay said.

Uttarakhand's health and law departments had scrutinised the putrajeevak beej medicine issue, which had stirred a controversy last year after Janata Dal (United) MP KC Tyagi had in the Rajya Sabha sought action against Ramdev for allegedly promising a male child.

The Centre directed the Uttarakhand government to probe the issue. Initially, the state government had set up a three-member committee headed by Drug Controller Ayush PD Chamoli. The Chamoli committee had given a clean chit to Ramdev claiming his medicine's name was in accordance with ancient literature.

Ramdev also defended the medicine saying it had nothing to do with the birth of a son or a daughter. "The botanical name of the medicine is putrajeeva roxburghi. It is called putrajeevak in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and other languages," Ramdev had said in defence. of the medicine.

But after the Chamoli committee, the state government asked the health and law departments to report on the issue.

Their report went against the drug's claim.