'Women as aphrodisiac': RGUHS essay topic faces flak

In a fresh controversy from Karnataka’s academia, a question paper given to final year Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) students has gone viral for "objectifying" women as “aphrodisiac”.

The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) has kept itself away from the row by saying the content is from the prescribed syllabus.

Apparently, the question paper was given to students during their exam on Wednesday for the Kayachikitsa-2 (internal medicine) subject.

Students were asked to write short essays on 12 topics. One of the topics was 'Stree as a Vajikarana Dravya' (women as an aphrodisiac).

Also read: Karnataka govt uploads all revised textbooks

Twitter user TheLiverDoc (@theliverdr) shared a screenshot of the question paper.

The user went on to post screenshots from a “government approved” textbook - A Text Book of Kayacikitsa - prepared “according to syllabus” by the Central Council of Indian Medicine.

The screenshots contain paragraphs that have, among other things, a line that reads: “Female is considered as best among aphrodisiac drugs…”

Netizens, including TheLiverDoc, slammed the question paper and the "prescribed" textbook. “Are we teaching our young students the way of 'rape culture' by objectifying women? …this is the answer that students are studying in their Bachelor's degree, instead of progressive, scientific facts that are to be useful for community and humanity,” the user said.

RGUHS Registrar (evaluation) Dr Ramakrishna Reddy said the question paper was set as per syllabus. “The university has no authority to add or remove contents of the textbook as it was set by Central Council for Indian Medicine,” he said.

This controversy comes after the state witnessed a churning over the revision of school textbooks.