Mother of all advice

AYUSH's unscientific advisory betrays a social agenda

In India, five women die every hour during childbirth, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and childbirth-related deaths account for 17 per cent of such deaths globally. These deaths are principally on account of the poor health of mothers, anaemia-related post-partum haemorrhages and deficient medical facilities. Such inconvenient socio-economic truths co-exist uneasily with the increasingly muscular nationalism that sees India as an emerging global power. Yet, if an AYUSH ministry advisory issued last week is to be believed, the remedy to the high rate of maternal mortality is embedded in abstaining from non-vegetarian food, sex, lustful thoughts and bad