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Hyderabad, Nov. 9: The popular fish medicine of Bathini Goud has the properties of hing (asafoetida), haldi (turmeric) and jaggery that are used in ayurvedic treatment of asthma. There is no sign of steroids in the medicine. Some trace elements found in the medicine are under permissible limits, scientific analyses by three premier institutes have found.

Based on these analyses, the ayurvedic doctors in the State government�s department of AYUSH (ayurveda, unani, siddha and homeopathy) reported �....it is concluded that the medicine in question is useful to asthma patients.�

The Bathini Goud family has for 160 years been distributing the medicine, a ball of yellow paste-like substance stuffed in the mouth of live murrel fish (and in jaggery for vegetarians). The ingredients remain a secret. The Gouds administer-ed the medicine free on Mriga-shira Karthe day which generally falls in June and attracts about two lakh people from around the country and some from abroad.

In 2004, Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV), an association of rationalists, moved the court and submitted a report from the city-based Vimta Labs stating that the fish medicine contained steroids. Dr C.L. Venkat Rao of the Indian Medical Association also moved the court. They demanded that the Goud family reveal the ingredients in the medicine, as per the Drug Control Act.

On directions of the court, the State director of health (DoH) sent samples of the medicine to the Hyderabad-based Indian Institute of Chemical Technology and the State Drugs Control Administration. Following further petitions this year the court ordered testing again, and the DoH sent samples to the Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in Kolkata.

While the Kolkata institute said it could not analyze the sample, the three other institutes and the Drug Control Administration said that the fish medicine did not contain steroids, contrary to the claim of Vimta Labs.

The State department of AYUSH (ayurveda, unani, siddha and homeopathy), whose doctors studied the analyses, reported on October 22, 2005, said that hing and haldi have therapeutic reference in ayurveda literature for treatment of asthma. Since other ingredients used by the Goud brothers were not identified and since it does not fall under shastric (classical) preparation or described in authoritative books of ayurveda, it cannot be described ayurvedic medicine.

Nine doctors of AYUSH who studied the analyses and considered whether or not the contents in the fish medicine have medicinal values, stated that the analysis of the CDRI had not clearly identified the ingredients. �The report merely indicated the presence of two substances which appear in properties similar to hing and haldi. In classical text of Ayurveda there are frequent references for the therapeutic use of these two substances for treatment of asthma,� the AYUSH committee said.

Is the medicine useful for asthma patients? �As the ingredients of the medicine have not been conclusively identified in the analysis report of CDRI, no firm opinion can be given on this point. These ingredients have therapeutic reference in ayurveda literature for the treatment of asthma and as such it is concluded that the medicine in question is useful to the asthma patients,� the ayurveda doctors said.

In conclusion, the AYUSH department, said, �...The fish medicine administered to asthma patients can at best be regarded as a folklore medicine practiced by a traditional healer who is not institutionally qualified.� (Source: Deccan Chronicle)

Congress lawyers knock at Annan door
By Masood Haider

NEW YORK NOV 8. While the Indian authorities continue investigations into the former foreign minister Natwar Singh's kickbacks as documented by the Independent Inquiry Commission setup to investigate Iraq oil for food program, the Congress party lawyers have sent a letter to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

They are seeking information on basis of which former Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh's name was included in the list of "non-contractual" beneficiaries in the scandal ridden Iraqi oil for food program.

"The letter which was received Monday was forwarded to the Independent Inquiry Commission's office" the UN spokesperson, Marie Okabe, told reporters at a briefing Tuesday afternoon.

The Indian Ambassador and other mission officials have been in touch with the Inquiry Commission officials, the spokesperson said.

Asked whether the Inquiry Commission led by Paul Volcker would continue to function if any lawsuits were filed against it by the persons named by the commission, the Ms Okabe said "such questions can only be answered by the IIC."

As to whether IIC, which is expected to wind up its work at the end of November will stay in session, no UN official was able to answer the question definitively.

Mr. Singh was cited, among more than 133 Indian entities, in the IIC report which investigated accusations of abuse of the oil-for-food program. The program had allowed Iraq to sell some of its oil to meet civilian needs, despite United Nations sanctions imposed in 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait which barred Iraq from selling oil to other countries.

The IIC report found that the former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein had abused the program. In an appendix, the report charged that Mr. Singh and the Congress Party had received as "non contractual" beneficiaries eight million barrels of oil, that equals $480 million worth of crude oil at the present rate of approximately $60 a barrel.

Meanwhile the Indian express reported Tuesday that Foreign Minister Natwar Singh�s son, Jagat Singh, visited Amman in Jordan twice in 2001. On both occasions, his visit came within weeks of his friend Andaleeb �Andy� Sehgal depositing what the Paul Volcker report on the oil-for-food scandal calls illegal �surcharge payments� in the Jordan National Bank. On one occasion, Jagat flew from Delhi to Amman just a day after Sehgal flew to neighboring Dubai.

Jagat Siingh (Photo: Indian Express)

Sehgal and his firm Hamdan Export deposited a total of $748,540 (approx Rs 3.22 crore) in the Jordan bank that, the Volcker report says, reached the Saddam Hussein regime.

These payments were made on behalf of Masefield, the Swiss firm that lifted 1.9 million barrels of Iraqi oil of the 4 million barrels to which rights were obtained by Natwar Singh as per the Volcker report.

Natwar Singh said today that he would make a statement in Parliament on his being indicted by the Volcker report in the UN oil-for-food scandal. The latest revelation about his son�s Jordan trips means Singh will have a lot of explaining to do.

On Saturday, Sehgal had told The Indian Express that he had never traveled with Jagat Singh but consider their travel records and the schedule of �illegal surcharge payments� allegedly made by Sehgal on behalf of Masefield:

� Jagat Singh flew Royal Jordanian Airlines to Amman in January 2001.

� In February 2001, Sehgal flew there as well.

� According to Volcker Report�s Table 5, Sehgal deposited $60,000 in Jordan National Bank on March 13, 2001

In February 2001, Sehgal flew there as well.

� According to Volcker Report�s Table 5, Sehgal deposited $60,000 in Jordan National Bank on March 13, 2001.

� On July 5, Jagat Singh flew to Amman again.

� Just a day earlier, on July 4, Sehgal flew Emirates to Dubai.

� By that time, his Hamdan had already deposited $438,518 into the same bank on May 27, 2001 and $59,808 on June 11.

� Last payment by Hamdan: $190,214 on December 19, 2001 in Amman.

Incidentally, Masefield did not respond to the Volcker Committee�s notice even when it was told that it would be named in the final report, along with �non-contractual beneficiaries� including Natwar Singh and the Congress party.

A Masefield official in London, when contacted by The Indian Express today, said that �it was company policy not to speak to the media.�

Neither Natwar Singh nor Jagat Singh responded to several calls and messages.
However, in an interview to NDTV 24 X 7 tonight, Jagat Singh claimed he had no knowledge of Sehgal�s involvement. He made no mention of his Jordan trips and said he had gone to Iraq with his father as part of a Congress delegation and then for a function of the youth wing of Saddam�s Baathist party.

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