Centre plans to open 100 yoga parks in country

The central government plans to open 100 Yoga parks all over the country besides setting up at least one dedicated Yoga centre in each state with central assistance.

The Yoga parks are nothing but neighbourhood parks, maintained by the municipal bodies. The central government would be providing funds to the municipal authorities to hire Yoga instructors to teach the commoners about the ancient exercise.

“We are formalising the plans for 100 such Yoga parks as a part of our existing National AYUSH (Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) mission and yet to receive the cabinet approval,” an official from the Ayush ministry told DH.

In addition, at least one Yoga centre would be set up in each state with central funding as another component of the mission. These could be existing organisations, which would receive resources from the government to spread awareness on Yoga.

The new components of the mission were announced by the Union AYUSH minister Shripad Yasso Naik ahead of the International Yoga Day in Lucknow on June 21, which will be attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The mission was notified by the Modi government within four months of coming to the power at the centre.

Naik said from the next academic year, there would be a common entrance test for admission in the Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) courses. This would be in the line of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, which has been made mandatory for the MBBS course.

The AYUSH Ministry intimated the states about the common test from the next year after it was decided to standardise the admission procedure, said union health secretary C K Mishra, who is holding the additional charge of the AYUSH department at the moment. There are close to 3,900 BAMS seats in India.

Naik said participation of 51,000 people is expected in the main Yoga Day event in Lucknow. The day would be celebrated in all states as well as by the Indian Embassies and High Commissions. Singapore, for instance, would have a 9-day celebration with the involvement of locals.

Asked about the attendance of popular Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Naik said Ramdev would be in Gujarat with BJP president Amit Shah and would not be in Lucknow.