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http://feedcabal.com/view/200766/be...north-east----was-a-weapon-for-crowd-control/
The BJP-led NDA government’s reported decision to consider using PAVA shells as an alternative to pellet guns for tackling violent mob protests like the ones seen inKashmir in the last few months, could be good news for chilli growers in the North East.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters last week, that a Home Ministry committee had suggested that the chilli-based PAVA shells could be used for crowd control measures in the Valley. PAVA shells (Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide also called Nonivamide) are non-lethal weapons which contain an organic compound found in chillis.
Using chilli based shells is not a new idea. The world’s hottest chili –bhut jolokiya or noga jolokiya in Assam, u-morok in Manipur and raja mirchi in Nagaland – had been tested for use in weapons as far back as in 2000.Grown in certain pockets in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the bhut jolokiya or u-morok was first picked up by the Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) in Tezpur in 2000, who said the chill could come in handy to help control mobs.
In September 2006, the bhut jolokiya was declared the hottest chilli on earth by the Guinness Book of World Records. A year later it got the same recognition, this time at the New Mexico Chili Conference organised by the New Mexico State University.
The hotness of a chilli is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHUs), which is the amount of capsaicin (a chemical compound that stimulates nerve endings in the skin) present. According to the DRL at Tezpur, the North-eastern chili’s pungency measured 850,000 SHUs. Later experiments also put this chilli’s strength at a million SHUs.
The chili, meanwhile, traveled from DRL Tezpur to the DRDO laboratory in Gwalior where experiments were carried out to measure its impact on the human body. The next move was to Pune in 2009 where the chili grenade, a non-lethal weapon took shape. Thanks to DRDO, pepper spray containing the powder of this particular chilli has also been recognized as a good weapon for women to use in self-defense.
In 2009, RB Srivastava, then director of the Life Sciences in DRDO was quoted as having said that trials for chilli hand grenades had already been carried out, and that it would come in handy to tackle the changing pattern of low-intensity conflicts. It would also help control and disperse mobs better than by using tear-gas, he had then said.
Traditional tear-gas is known to irritate the eyes and cause tears; the chilli dust causes a burning sensation in the eyes and chokes the respiratory tract. Villagers in Assam use this chilli smoke to ward off wild elephants who come out in herds, especially as the paddy begins to ripen.
The story of bhut jolokiya does not end there. It has also a lot of medicinal value. Sangeeta Barua and a team of researchers at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dibrugarh University have said that capsaicin found in this particular species of chilli not only works as a pain-killer and reduces incidence of cardio-vascular problems, but also represses the growth of malignant cells in the human body.
Though no official statistics are available about how many farmers across the North East grow this particular chilli, or the size of its annual yield, bhut jolokiya or u-morok has already started making farmers rich at least in Assam and Manipur. While the Assam government has introduced special incentives for farmers who grow bhut jolokiya, at least a dozen units have come up across the state which process and package this chili in various forms, from just the plain dry chili to pickle, paste and powder.
The BJP-led NDA government’s reported decision to consider using PAVA shells as an alternative to pellet guns for tackling violent mob protests like the ones seen inKashmir in the last few months, could be good news for chilli growers in the North East.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh told reporters last week, that a Home Ministry committee had suggested that the chilli-based PAVA shells could be used for crowd control measures in the Valley. PAVA shells (Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide also called Nonivamide) are non-lethal weapons which contain an organic compound found in chillis.
Using chilli based shells is not a new idea. The world’s hottest chili –bhut jolokiya or noga jolokiya in Assam, u-morok in Manipur and raja mirchi in Nagaland – had been tested for use in weapons as far back as in 2000.Grown in certain pockets in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, the bhut jolokiya or u-morok was first picked up by the Defence Research Laboratory (DRL) in Tezpur in 2000, who said the chill could come in handy to help control mobs.
In September 2006, the bhut jolokiya was declared the hottest chilli on earth by the Guinness Book of World Records. A year later it got the same recognition, this time at the New Mexico Chili Conference organised by the New Mexico State University.
The hotness of a chilli is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHUs), which is the amount of capsaicin (a chemical compound that stimulates nerve endings in the skin) present. According to the DRL at Tezpur, the North-eastern chili’s pungency measured 850,000 SHUs. Later experiments also put this chilli’s strength at a million SHUs.
The chili, meanwhile, traveled from DRL Tezpur to the DRDO laboratory in Gwalior where experiments were carried out to measure its impact on the human body. The next move was to Pune in 2009 where the chili grenade, a non-lethal weapon took shape. Thanks to DRDO, pepper spray containing the powder of this particular chilli has also been recognized as a good weapon for women to use in self-defense.
In 2009, RB Srivastava, then director of the Life Sciences in DRDO was quoted as having said that trials for chilli hand grenades had already been carried out, and that it would come in handy to tackle the changing pattern of low-intensity conflicts. It would also help control and disperse mobs better than by using tear-gas, he had then said.
Traditional tear-gas is known to irritate the eyes and cause tears; the chilli dust causes a burning sensation in the eyes and chokes the respiratory tract. Villagers in Assam use this chilli smoke to ward off wild elephants who come out in herds, especially as the paddy begins to ripen.
The story of bhut jolokiya does not end there. It has also a lot of medicinal value. Sangeeta Barua and a team of researchers at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dibrugarh University have said that capsaicin found in this particular species of chilli not only works as a pain-killer and reduces incidence of cardio-vascular problems, but also represses the growth of malignant cells in the human body.
Though no official statistics are available about how many farmers across the North East grow this particular chilli, or the size of its annual yield, bhut jolokiya or u-morok has already started making farmers rich at least in Assam and Manipur. While the Assam government has introduced special incentives for farmers who grow bhut jolokiya, at least a dozen units have come up across the state which process and package this chili in various forms, from just the plain dry chili to pickle, paste and powder.
