support of the Indian and German governments. Sustainable Yogic Agriculture Sustainable Yogic Agriculture (SYA) is a program started in Northern India in 2009. The program has been a collaboration between Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University in Gujarat India and the Brahma Kumaris Rural Development wing. The program has now been publicly backed by the Indian Government. A key member of Narendra Modi's Cabinet, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh announced the governments support for the program. With the governments support the program has been redesigned into Akhil Bharatiya Krushak Sashakatikaran Abhijan (ABKSA), and was launched in December 2015. ABKSA extends the initial scope of the SYA program to include teaching meditation and self empowerment to the farmers themselves. This is possibly a response to the problem of farmer suicides in India. ABKSA now comprises three main elements: 1. A self empowerment program for Indian farmers; 2. Ongoing research on whether the use of meditation can improve crop yields; 3. Education on a blend of traditional and organic farming techniques. One basic premise of the Brahma Kumaris environmental initiative is that thoughts and consciousness can affect the natural environment. In 2012, experiments were being conducted in partnership with leading agricultural universities in India to establish if the practice of Brahma Kumaris meditation in conjunction with implementing more traditional organic farming methods could be shown to have a measurable and positive effect on crop development. An article published in the Journal of Asian Agri-History reviews two separate studies on SYA. One study was conducted by G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, Uttarakhand and the other by Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDUAT) of Gujarat. The review reports that the Brahma Kumaris meditation techniques used enhanced seed growth, seed germination rates and increased the level of microbes present in the soil. Healthcare In 1991, the Brahma Kumaris, Ashok Mehta, and the brothers Gulab and Khubchand Watumull opened the J Watumull Global Hospital in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan, offering medical facilities to the local population. UN consultative status In 1998 the Brahma Kumaris gained consultative status with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Criticism Adherents have been criticised by nonmembers for hiding or downplaying their prophesied physical destruction of the world particularly as they still believe that such an event will happen "soon". However, they maintain that their primary purpose is to teach meditation and peace of mind, not to