Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Oct 21: President of Federation of Indian Rationalists' Associations Prof Narendra Nayak on Saturday October 21 exposed the 'mid-brain activation' scam allegedly run by an entity called Smart Brain at Puttur in the name of 'whole brain development programme' (WBDP).

Addressing the media here, Prof Narendra Nayak said, "This is a franchisee of 'Efficient Brainy' which is allegedly a franchiser having hundreds of branches. This is supposed to work only on children between the ages of 6 to 16. It claims to increase children's memory power and intelligence and make them super geniuses. This fraud mid-brain activation, brain balancing, nada yoga or whatever it is called, claims to enable in children read blindfolded, that means, without light falling on the retina from the object to be visualised. One such shop had opened in Puttur where children are being bamboozled with such activities.

"They are charging Rs 10,000 for three months' course. We had complained about this fraud to the (then) deputy commissioner on September 2, and he had ordered the DDPI to investigate these claims. The DDPI has submitted a copy of the report to the deputy commissioner. We appeal to the department of public instruction of the state to take action in this matter and to close down the business. We are also going to have jatha to create awareness about these scams among students and public from Mangaluru to Belagavi where the head office of Efficient Brainy is situated," he said.

Keshav, a parent said, "It is a three-month course where children are asked to stop watching TV and having junk food. Children stop these activities. In the next step, they record the opinions of parents as a testimonial which is used to seek the attention of other parents. This is a waste of time, as after three months, the children will be back to normal and they will not benefit from this. If parents stand against them, they call and threaten them. This is an unregistered shop - there is no certificate, exam or any standard procedure."

Psychiatrist Dr Madhav Rao, forensic science expert Dr Varun Pai, Ganesh Prasad and others were present.