• 'Faith in God can relieve pain'
• London to offer yoga services at new super-surgeries
• Giant Buddha statue discovered in Bamiyan
• An Ayurvedic park for general awareness in Pune

• Declare Ganges a national heritage, demand people
• Gandhians worried over wrong interpretation
• Govt. denies report claiming toxic Ayurvedic medicine

"Religion is the opiate of the people" - Karl Marx had famously said. But can one's faith in God really ease pain? "Yes", say scientists. A team at Oxford University has based its findings on an experiment in which 12 Roman Catholics and 12 atheists were "tortured" with electric shocks as they studied two paintings - Virgin Mary and Leonardo da Vinci's Lady With An Ermine. The subjects spent half-an-hour inside an MRI scanner, receiving a series of 20 electric shocks in four sessions and each time they had to rate how much it hurt on a scale of 0 to 100 as they looked at the paintings. The researchers hoped that the face of the Virgin Mary would induce a religious state of mind in the believers, while da Vinci's painting was chosen because it did not look dissimilar and would be calming. The scientists found that the Catholics seemed to be able to block out much of the pain. And, using the latest brain-scanning techniques, they also discovered that the Catholics were able to activate part of the brain associated with conditioning experience of pain, the Daily Mail reported. However, there was no such brain activity among the atheists whose pain and anxiety levels stayed roughly the same. The Catholics said that looking at the painting of the Virgin Mary made them feel "safe", "taken care of" and "calmed down and peaceful". More significantly, they reported feeling 12% less pain after viewing the religious image than after looking at the Leonardo. The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Anglican Bishop of Durham, welcomed the research, saying: "The practice of faith should, and in many cases does, alter the person you are. It can affect the patterns of your brain and your emotions. So it comes as no surprise to me that this experiment has reached such conclusions."

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, September 29, 2008

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Calling for the formation of a high level committee to conserve the Ganges, more than 300 people held a rally here Thursday to demand that the river be declared a national heritage. 'Beyond the barriers of religion, caste, creed and other boundaries, the Ganges touches our lives. The river should be declared a national heritage,' Mamta Yadav, member of an NGO, Dream India, told IANS. Organised by the Ganga Raksha Manch, whose convenor is the known spiritual guru Swami Ramdev, the rallyists marched from the Jantar Mantar monument to the nearby Parliament street police station -- and back. The rallyists, including young school children, raised slogans demanding the conservation of the 2,510-km river which begins at the Gangotri glacier in Uttarakhand, in the central Himalayas, and flows into the Bay of Bengal through its vast delta in the Sunderbans. Sagar Tanwar, a 13-year-old boy, dressed in a plain kurta-pyjama, said he had informed all his friends about the rally. 'My father told me about the rally and said that if I was interested, I could join with him. I in turn told my friends about it. We are all here because we believe in the issue of environment conservation,' he said. The rallysist submitted a letter to President Pratibha Patil with a list of demands. 'We demand that a high level committee be set up to look after the conservation of Ganges. Also we want that any kind of construction on the river's embankments be stopped and all the states through which the Ganges flows should ensure that industries don't dump their waste into the river,' said Shivani Sharma, another rallyist. 'Dumping waste into the holy river should be made a punishable offence,' she added.

Courtesy: www.yahoo.com, September 18, 2008

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In a "sweeping change" aimed at improving primary health care in London, Yoga classes will be offered for free at the first five 'super-surgeries' due to open here in the next five years. As part of National Health Service (NHS) reforms, every primary care trust in London is expected to build a polyclinic and the first five will be built in Harrow, Hounslow, Lambeth, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. Some of these are expected to open by next March. The super surgeries or polyclinics will offer free yoga classes besides offering GP (General Practitioner-Doctor) appointments in the evenings and blood tests, ultrasound scans, physiotherapists and screening for HIV and diabetes on weekends. "Polyclinics are a London solution to a London problem. Patients find it difficult to get a GP appointment and turn up at the A&E (Accident and Emergency) when they should be seeing a family doctor," Ruth Carnall, chief executive of NHS, London, said.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, September 16, 2008

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Even as the publishing world is excited over the big Gandhi opportunity, Gandhians are in a wait-and-watch mood. In a no-copyright scenario, any individual or organisation can pick up the 'base matter' of Gandhiji's original writings or quotations, give it a format of their choice and publish it without paying any royalty fees. The only exceptions to the no-copyright rule will be in cases where an individual has compiled or edited a book, like RK Prabhu's compilation of Gandhiji's India Of My Dreams, where the editor holds the copyright. However, publishers point out that there is a thin line of differentiation as even these books can be reproduced without permission, as the style and presentation of the original could be altered and treated differently and sold as a completely different publication. "It's not the commercial aspects, but there are possibilities of the writings being abused," Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi told ET. Navajivan Trust, which exclusively holds the copyrights on Gandhi's writings till January 2009, claims to have already spotted a copyright violation. Navajivan Trust managing trustee Jitendra Desai said they are tracking an instance where a publisher in Delhi has brought out a book with Gandhiji's quotations by declaring the date of publication as 2009. Navajivan Trust is contemplating serving a legal notice on the publisher. Navajivan Trust has to its credit publications of more than 800 titles in English, Gujarati, Hindi and other languages. The fears are not without reason. Tushar Gandhi points at several cases where the image or the Mahatma's name has been used or abused for commercial purposes, even as the use of his name for commercial purposes is prohibited under the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950. In the last five years, Tushar remembers at least three instances when the image of the Mahatma has been used in an improper situation, the most infamous one being Maxim magazine's interpretation of the Mahatma. Then, in July 2007, much to the displeasure of the Indian Government, Gandhi's letters went under the auction hammer in London. While one of the letters was acquired by the Indian Government, several others were auctioned.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, September 11, 2008

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Archaeologists have discovered a 19-metre Buddha statue along with scores of other historical relics in central Afghanistan near ruins of giant statues destroyed by the Islamist Taliban seven years ago. The team was searching for a giant sleeping Buddha believed to have been seen by a Chinese pilgrim centuries ago when it came upon the relics in the central province of Bamiyan, an official said. "In total, 89 relics such as coins, ceramics and a 19 metres statue have been unearthed," Mohammad Zia Afshar, adviser in the information and culture ministry, said. He said the idol, in sleeping posture, was badly damaged. The other relics dated back to the Bacterian era and from Islamic and Buddhist civilisations. In 2001 the Taliban blew up two giant standing Buddha statues carved into a cliff face saying they were offensive to Islam.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, September 09, 2008

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Responding to the article, published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), pointing finger to the pernicious effect of the metallic substances present in Ayurvedic medicines, the Ministry of Health on Wednesday quashed the entire report terming "flawed and biased." Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) under the Health Ministry stated: "The reports regarding Heavy Metals in Ayurvedic herbal medicinal products containing potentially harmful levels of lead, mercury and/or arsenic are flawed and disclose a strong bias against Ayurvedic medicines. The ministry also said that after the report published on August 27, samples of 600 Indian medicinal plants accumulated from the wild as well as various medicinal plant gardens in India were tested in three top laboratories - Indian Institute of Toxicological Research, Lucknow, Sri Ram Institute of Industrial Toxicology, New Delhi, and Centre for Research in Indian Medicine, Shastra University, Thanjavur. The thorough testing revealed that Lead, Mercury and Arsenic present in these Indian medicinal plants did not have crossed the limits outlined by the World Health Organisation, the ministry said. Robert B. Saper of the Department of Family Medicine, Boston Medical Center and his associates, in their article "Lead, Mercury and Arsenic in US- and Indian-Manufactured Ayurvedic Medicines sold via the Internet" published in JAMA, Aug 27 had indicated excessive amount of metals in Ayurvedic products. The Health Ministry dubbed the fresh report is just a rehash of the earlier article written by the same author published in the JAMA journal on December 15, 2004. The Health Ministry asserted that issues raised by Dr. Saper, howsoever flawed, will be responded to by Indian Scientists on the basis of their research on Ayurveda herbal and herbo-metallic medicines through research publications in due course.

Courtesy: www.newstrackindia.com, September 04, 2008

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From time immemorial, people in India have relied upon Ayurveda, the science of life as the means of therapy. In Sanskrit language, "Ayur" means life and "Veda" is scientific scripture. Though Ayurvedic medicines are herbal-based, there are many other formulations that are organic in their composition. However, modern medicines and therapies from the West, Allopathy, in particular, have almost eclipsed the traditional concept of Ayurvedic medicines. The City Corporation of Pune, considering these facts, with an objective to create mass awareness on the relevance of Ayurveda and related medicinal plants, has earmarked a park exclusively to nurture Ayurvedic herbs. There are over 300 species of Ayurvedic plants grown exclusively in this garden and the authorities intend to bring in more of medicinal plants. Visitors to the park are also enlightened about identifying the plants so that if such herbs exist in their backyard garden or the neighbourhood, these will be taken care of as ready means of home remedies.

"This medicinal or Ayurvedic garden is been developed with the aim to make people aware of the various medicinal plants that can be used in our homes from day to day. We've planted many medicinal plants that can help cure ailments at our home like sore throat, upset stomach, gastritis problems and many more. People using these plants need not visit a doctor but cure the diseases at their homes. Here there are over 300 species of Ayurvedic herbs planted here," said Santosh, Assistant Garden Superintendent, Herbal Garden, Pune. Ayurvedic medicines have the capability to cure many diseases. One of such plants is "Guggal" which possesses a wide range of medicinal values including the potential to cure diabetes. The horticulture wing of Pune City Corporation has plans to plant around 500 Ayurvedic herbs in this garden. The project cost is estimated to be rupees 10 lakhs (a million rupees). Also, a spacious premise has been set up in this garden and plans are afoot to prepare Ayurvedic formulations from the grown herbs, under proper supervision.

"For future, we've constructed one hall at the garden. So that we can install a manufacturing plant here where we can use and process these plants to make medicines. Apart from this, to provide information among the masses we'll maintain a library with relevant and authentic reference books on medicinal plants and their benefits," said Santosh, Assistant Garden Superintendent. In cooperation with the Ayurvedic Vaids (doctors), the plants will be documented for ready cross-reference in the books at the library. The corporation authorities believe that this will be extremely beneficial for the people. While this Ayurvedic Park may be regarded as a feather in the cap of Pune's local administrative body, it is worthwhile to mention that the Corporation has also developed several other parks dedicated to varieties of flora and fauna. By Shivaji

Courtesy: www.newstrackindia.com, September 01, 2008

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