In October 2020, the Chairperson of the National Commission on Cows, the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog (RKA), made
headlines with bizarre claims about a cow dung chip that could supposedly block "harmful radiation" from mobile phones. They went a step further, saying the claims were backed by 'scientific proof'. A group of scientists wrote an open letter to RKA at that time, asking to see proof of their claims. The letter has now received a response from the Chairperson of RKA, Dr Vallabhbhai Kathiria. The reply is so comical, it could be dissected in an oped of its own.
But let's draw our attention to another attachment that came with the RKA Chief's letter – a letter from the head of the Physics Department at Saurashtra University, Prof Mihir Joshi, who has apparently certified the so-called "scientific analysis" of the so-called cow dung chip. The results of this study were retrieved by