Journalism of Courage
For 58-year-old labour court lawyer Balkrishna Midge,yoga is as much of a passion as labour law.
So much so that he was recently awarded a Doctor of Science (D.Sc) degree for his research on yoga by the Open International University of Complementary Medicine (OIUCM) that has its adminis-trative headquarters in Sri Lanka.
I have been practicing yoga… meditation,pranayam and physical aasanas for the past 30 years. I thought of conducting a research on the benefits of yoga and finalised the topic Researcher and yoga two years ago, Midge said. It took him nearly two-and-a-half-years to complete his research under the guidance of Dr RN Shukla,who was formerly with the National Chemical Laboratory.
It was Shukla who helped me register with OIUCM for the research, Midge added.
The research has been published in three volumes,totalling 1,250 pages. “I did case studies of 102 researchers – including those who practice yoga and those who did not.
While 48 researchers responded to Midges queries,the rest did not.
Thus,I also added a module on the remaining 54 and illustrated the reasons for being non-responsive, Midge said.
However,this was not his first attempt. He already has a PhD in Development of leadership through yoga from the same university,which he was awarded in 2005.
It was a difficult task for Midge,with two college-going children,to complete the research.
Midge is a full-time lawyer at the Pune district labour court.
Many times I had to adjust my timings with the time of the respondents. My colleagues helped me a lot during the two-and-a-half year period, he said. His passion for research remains undimmed.
Midge is planning to take up a research project on Legal protection of the HIV-affected soon.
