{"id":52863,"date":"2017-05-10T02:12:09","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T06:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=52863"},"modified":"2017-05-10T02:16:17","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T06:16:17","slug":"indias-rss-inspired-arogya-bharati-launches-project-to-produce-customized-babies-who-are-fairersmartertaller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=52863","title":{"rendered":"India’s RSS Inspired “Arogya Bharati” Launches Project to Produce “Customized” Babies who are “Fairer,Smarter&Taller”."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Annie Gowen <\/strong><\/p>\n

Members of a Hindu far-right organization called Arogya Bharati say they are working with expectant couples in the country to produce \u201ccustomized\u201d babies, who, they hope, will be taller, fairer and smarter than other babies, according to a report in the Indian Express newspaper.<\/p>\n

The group’s health officials claimed that their program \u2014 a combination of diet, ayurvedic medicine and other practices \u2014 has led to 450 of these babies, and they hope to have \u201cthousands\u201d more by 2020, the report said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parents may have lower IQ, with a poor educational background, but their baby can be extremely bright. If the proper procedure is followed, babies of dark-skinned parents with lesser height can have fair complexion and grow taller,\u201d Hitesh Jani, the group’s national convener, told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

Jani explained that the program consists of a \u201cpurification of energy channels\u201d and body before a pregnancy, and mantra-chanting and \u201cproper food,\u201d such as meals rich in calcium and vitamin A, after the baby is born.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The newspaper identified the group as the \u201chealth wing\u201d of the conservative Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, but Ramesh Gautam, Arogya Bharati’s national general secretary, said the group was merely \u201cinspired\u201d by the conservative ideology of the RSS rather than being officially supported by it. Arogya Bharati’s website says it is a “voluntary organization of service minded people who have an interest in the health of society.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the chairwoman for a state child rights commission tried to attend one of the workshops where couples are counseled on how to produce these \u201cgenius\u201d babies \u2014 as the Economic Times termed it \u2014 but was barred by organizers, that newspaper said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unscientific thing that\u2019s happening here. It cannot continue,\u201d Ananya Chatterjee, the chair of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said. The group countered that her charges were \u201cpolitically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to a petition from the commission, the West Bengal state high court later mandated that organizers present an affidavit and video of the proceedings, which went off as scheduled.<\/p>\n

The program launched over a decade ago and has spread to several Indian states. Organizers said it was inspired by a RSS leader who met a woman in Germany more than 40 years ago. An official said the woman led a post World War II re-population effort in Germany for \u201csignature children\u201d based on the same principles, according to the Indian Express report.<\/p>\n

This comment \u2014 and its evocation of the legacy of Third Reich era eugenics \u2014 prompted immediate backlash on social media, with one critic writing on the Daily O opinion website that this \u201cdystopia in the womb\u201d was \u201cstraight out of the Nazi playbook.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RSS was founded in 1925 as a volunteer organization to advance the rights of Hindus. Over the years, it has given rise to many of the country\u2019s more successful conservative politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A few of its founders praised in essays and books the totalitarian movements of Nazism and fascism sweeping Europe at the time, scholars have noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original RSS stalwarts found a political validity in racial resurrection championed by Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich,\u201d Angshukanta Chakraborty, an opinion writer on the Daily O website, wrote, adding, \u201cAnd even now, a racially pure search for homeland or creation of one along racially\/communally pure lines appeals to the RSS and is the heart of its ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy: The Washington Post<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Annie Gowen Members of a Hindu far-right organization called Arogya Bharati say they are working with expectant couples in the country to produce \u201ccustomized\u201d babies, who, they hope, will be taller, fairer and smarter than other babies, according to a report in the Indian Express newspaper. The group’s health officials claimed that their program …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘India’s RSS Inspired “Arogya Bharati” Launches Project to Produce “Customized” Babies who are “Fairer,Smarter&Taller”.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52863"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52864,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52863\/revisions\/52864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}