People across globe now showing greater interest in ayurveda: Naik in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: People across the globe are now showing greater interest in ayurveda which has its origin in India, Union minister Shripad Yesso Naik said in Lok Sabha on Thursday after moving for passage a bill which seeks to accord the institution of national importance status to a cluster of ayurveda institutions in Gujarat.

Moving the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill for passage, the Minister of State for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) said agreements have been signed with 14 nations on ayurveda and in 58 countries, 28 information centres are working for promotion of ayurveda.

The Bill seeks to confer the status of Institution of National Importance to the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Jamnagar by conglomerating the cluster of Ayurveda institutes at Gujarat Ayurveda University campus in Jamnagar. The three institutes which would be clubbed are Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gulabkunwerba Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya and Institute of Ayurveda Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Participating in the discussion on the Bill, Shashi Tharoor of the Congress said that the proposed legislation was both "welcome" and disappointing. Stating that a chunk of Indian households use ayurveda products, he said in Kerala it was the engine of growth.

Stressing that ayurveda was much more instinctive, he said it was the preferred source of treatment for people around the world. Legal security, Tharoor said, is not provided to ayurveda and added that 65-70 per cent of rural India was dependent on ayurveda but nothing was done to protect the practitioners of ayurveda. Stating that ayurvedic tourism was a significant money earner of the national exchequer, Tharoor said that "National Ayurvedic University has failed to fructify."

The Bill, he said, fails to achieve the larger objective of ayurveda and added that "I request that what is being done for Gujarat should be done for Kerala". K Veeraswamy of the DMK said ayurveda is the oldest medical practice and there is a need to establish a council which can monitor practitioners of ayurveda. Adequate funds should be granted to promote this ancient system of medicine, he said.

Pratima Mondal of the TMC wanted the minister to clarify the reason behind granting this tag to these institutions from Gujarat, which is governed by the BJP. She said the government should take steps to check fake medicines. Others who participated in debate include Vinayak Raut of the Shiv Sena, Ramesh C Manjhi of the BJD and KRK Raju of the YSRCP.

(PTI)