Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide
The Union home minister Rajnath Singh has recently approved the use of chilli-based PAVA shells for crowd controlling as an alternative to pellet guns, which would still be used in rarest of rare cases. The PAVA stands for Pelargonic Acid Vanillyl Amide, also called Nonivamide, and are an organic compound found characteristically in natural chilli pepper. The PAVA shells are non-lethal munition which temporarily incapacitates the targets and renders them immobile for several minutes. The T V S N Prasad expert committee, which has recently submitted its report to Home Secretary, has recommended the use of PAVA as an alternative to pellet guns.