Montek stirs up a storm in a teacup

Apr 22, 2012 - Syed Akbar |

Hyderabad

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Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday raked up a a controversy when he announced at Jorhat in Assam that tea would be declared as National Drink by April next year. Coffee lovers, naturopaths and nutritionists strongly opposed the proposal wondering how a beverage that causes damage to health deserves the status of a national drink.

A national drink should do good for the health of all and its excess consumption should not cause any problem, they said, adding that tea, if consumed in large quantities, is bad for health. The city-based National Institute of Nutrition, the premier research body that helps meet the nutrition and health needs of people, in its “dietary guidelines” warns, “Excess tea consumption is deleterious to health.” In fact, it has suggested intake of “decaffeinated tea to obviate the adverse effects of the caffeine content present in tea”. Unmindful of the national ‘dietary’ guidelines, Mr Ahluwalia said, “The drink would be accorded national drink status by April 17 next year to coincide with the 212th birth anniversary of the first Assamese tea planter and Sepoy Mutiny leader Maniram Dewan.”

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