AYUSH Yoga is in political vogue and India’s prime minister, a proponent of the Hindu discipline, is largely responsible. Almost every opportunity he gets, in speeches and conversations with other leaders, Narendra Modi drops in references to yoga, one of India’s most successful cultural exports. On Tuesday, before addressing Australia’s Parliament in Canberra, Mr. Modi told reporters “I know that yoga is immensely popular here. We need to connect our people more.” During a speech to the United Nations in September, Mr. Modi called for a World Yoga day, a proposal backed by the European Union at the G-20 summit this weekend in Australia, according to India’s foreign ministry. Over dinner at the White House this fall, Mr. Modi is reported to have discussed the benefits yoga with U.S. President Barack Obama, while sipping warm water during a religious fast. Then, in a cabinet expansion earlier this month, Mr. Modi appointed India’s first minister for yoga, Shripad Yesso Naik, a move that caught the attention of the media both in India and overseas. The links between yoga and politics are nothing new in India. In fact, for almost two decades India has had a government department dedicated to homeopathic medicine that for over 10 years has had a focus on yoga. The department of Indian systems of medicine and homeopathy was created in March 1995 and renamed the department of Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy, or Ayush for short, in November 2003. It falls under the Health Ministry and mostly concentrates on alternative therapies and research into herbal remedies. Until Mr. Naik’s appointment, though, it didn’t have an independent minister in charge. Ayurveda is a traditional system of Indian medicine dating back around 3,000 years that focuses on balancing the body and three bodily humors known as vata, pitta and kapha, through diet and exercise including, you guessed it, yoga. India has 478,750 registered Ayurvedic practitioners, according to the latest figures available from 2010. There were 852,195 medical doctors registered with the Indian Medical Register up to March end 2012. Spending in the department has risen sharply from about $3.7 million in 1995 to $144 million in 2015. Ayush, according to its website, aims to strengthen research and development, improve the availability of medicinal plant material and create awareness of India’s traditional systems of medicine at home and abroad. Since Mr. Modi came to power in May, the department that in its early years generated little attention has gained new prominence. India’s space-exploration agency has in recent weeks been asked to use its satellites to help Ayush identify areas of land suitable for the cultivation of medicinal plants, according to Vivek Singh, an official in the space department.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 06:36:29 +0000
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