Flaws in Baba Ramdev’s approach
Recently Baba Ramdev made statements against Allopathy and it has been in news and people have been taking sides. Few years back also, he had spoken against Foreign companies like Colgate, Hindustan Lever etc.
Let me analyze the concerns I have with the approach he has.
Lets come to his criticism of allopathy. For e.g., some one says that “Physics” or “Maths” or “Geography” as sciences are bad. Will that not appear childish? Similarly, Allopathy is a science. Yes, the science originated first in Europe and has spread world wide. And that science has also made India the Pharma capital/Pharmacy of the world. Allopathy Medicine one area where India is plugged very neatly with the global economy. Not to mention, the huge amount of research done inside India in allopathy, the medicines it exports and the jobs it creates.
In a similar manner, Ayurveda is a science, Homeopathy is a science, Naturopathy is a science and so on. Criticizing a science(Allopathy) is criticizing knowledge/science and if that happens from such a respected person in society it sends a wrong message. Every science will have its flaws, the approach should be to improve and correct the flaws. If one science has a strength, the other science should borrow from it. The people working on the different domains slandering each other will harm the scientific spirit and inhibit the growth of science. It is also a fact, people working in the field of allopathy have done extensive research and brought many innovations. Diseases like Small Pox, Polio, Cholera are things of past. Why? Because the Allopathy scientists innovated. In today’s world maximum research is done by Allopathy people and hence they are able to produce new and new drugs. And that has helped humanity.
And this is the exact problem with Ayurveda. The research done in Ayurveda is very little. Instead of criticizing Allopathy, Baba Ramdev should do his bit in promoting research in Ayurveda. He should target to produce a Nobel Laurate in Ayurveda. There is a not a single Nobel Prize given to any Ayurveda scientist. It seems, after Charkha and Susruta very little research has been done in field of Ayurveda. There should be healthy competition among the domains, not slandering. Same is the case with Yoga. After Patanjali and Gorakhnath, very little research has been done for further improving Yoga as a science. IT is better, if people working in Ayurveda invest in R&D just as other Allopathy is doing.
Lets come to Baba Ramdev’s criticism of MNCs.
After, the Gandhis were booted out of power in 1991, all govts. whether BJP or Congress, have focused on improving the FDI inflows. After Narsimha Rao, the largest FDI regime liberalization has been done by Vajpayeeji. Why are they doing so? Because, foreign investment brings in new technology, gives Indians exposure to foreign markets and builds new expertise among the youth. And we see a lot of change in India after 1991 reforms.
Few years back, Baba Ramdev wanted to “shut the gates of Colgate” and break the “Lever of Hindustan Lever”. It was good that the Govt. ignored him. But such mentality is dangerous. Why? This will dissuade foreign companies in investing in India. The Indian companies will become complacent due to lack of competition and product quality will suffer. Due to competition from foreign companies, Indian companies have improved their quality and have gone global, and thereby benefiting in long term.
Hence, the impression I am getting is that: Baba Ramdev is afraid of competition and wants to be a monopoly. Patanjali cannot compete with HLL or Colgate, that’s why criticized them. As on today, Allopathy is more successful than Ayurveda (mainly Indians did not invest in research/innovation in the field of Ayurveda for long), he is criticizing Allopathy.
This is a wrong mentality and he must shun this mentality.
This criticism should be taken in right perspective. Baba Ramdev being a Hindu icon, he having such mentality harms the cause of Hindutva.
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The fight is not ‘Baba Ramdev vs MNCs’, it’s actually ‘Ayurveda vs Medical Science(allopathy)’ – that is the real war and thanks to Baba Ramdev for rightly exposing the medical mafia.
Recently Baba Ramdev said that ‘allopathy is a hollow practice and that many people have lost their lives due to allopathic medicines’. To support his statement that seem to ridicule allopathy and also MNCs who get mutual backing (note: together they are billion $$ industry globally), he made a huge list of questions and posted to allopathy world for answers.
Now that the medical fraternity – which has always rejected & ridiculed (or even ignorant of) Ayurdeva – has no clue or answers to these questions.
These are not questions but health issues mankind is suffering from and it is high time allopathy instead of playing victim card acknowledge the defeat and stop ridiculing Ayurveda if not respecting it. Personally i’ve seen doctors how they make fun of ayurveda as some fraud, also refusing to see ailments like hypertension, diabetes having no cure in allopathy is totally cured via ayurvedic practices.
Here are some questions fired for which allopathy has no answers:
https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/baba-ramdev-fires-25-questions-at-ima-ayurveda-allopathy-health-ministry-coronil/
Coming to the success of Allopathy, the West never gave and obviously will not give importance to Ayurveda or any alternative for obvious reasons of the pharma business getting affected in the long run. Most importantly, those who have benefitted from alternative practices have seldom took allopathy help except in case of emergency.
Regarding R&D on Ayurveda, it is already in place as far as solution to a health problem is concerned. The only R&D that will be required would be study the chemical composition of the herbs/ingredients of the Ayurvedic medicines and how it helps in healing.
Medical science (read allopathy world) will obviously not be happy doing such a research; and Ayurveda doesn’t need to as it is based on the principles of the five elements of nature and working towards having a balance.
So the flaw is in us as a society to not having tried Ayurveda as a lifestyle for balancing inner prakriti (nature) for any imbalance in our day to day healthy lives.
That’s what should not happen. Allopathy and Ayurveda re sciences and there should be no fight between them. If we are trying to pose a fight between Allopathy and Ayurveda it is similar to drawing a battle line between Maths and physics. Science is knowledge and is above geography, religion and race. The question of medical mafia and the profiteering (if it were happening) is a different thing and should be stopped. It is also a fact that Allopathy has cured dangerous epidemics like Small pox, Cholera etc. Hence, as instead of Baba slandering the Allopathy, Baba and others should invest on research of Ayurveda.
India is the pharmacy of the world, lot of research on allopathy happens in India, lot of jobs created. India is a major hub of medical tourism and that generates huge revenues for India. By exporting huge amount of allopathy medicines we get a lot of foreign reserves. I think such mentality will harm India. Yes, Baba has done good job in promoting Yoga – no doubts about it. But slandering Allopathy and MNCs in the manner he is doing is not professionally correct.