AYUSH and Yoga are strong pillars of ‘Fit India’ movement: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said government has set a target of setting up 12,500 AYUSH centres across India. He said government is trying to set up 4000 such centres this year itself. Giving away Yoga Awards to the winners for Outstanding Contribution for Promotion and Development of Yoga in New Delhi, Mr Modi said 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres are being opened across the country. 

The Prime Minister said AYUSH and Yoga are strong pillars of ‘Fit India’ movement. He attributed his health to Yoga, Pranayama and Ayurveda. He expressed happiness that ‘Sowa – Rigpa’ has become the sixth member of the AYUSH family after Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy. 

Mr Modi said that Mahatma Gandhi used to believe that Naturopathy is a way of living. He said that attending a program related to Ayush and Yoga on the very next day of launch of Fit India is a strange coincidence. 

During the ceremony, Mr Modi released 12 commemorative postal stamps to honour eminent scholars, practitioners and Great Master Healers of AYUSH Systems. These commemorative postal stamps highlight the great work and acknowledge the achievements of the Great Master Healers of AYUSH Systems. 

He also launched ten AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres located in Haryana. This is in line with Ministry of AYUSH’s commitment to make 12 thousand 500 AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres functional in next three years. The main focus of these centres will be empowering the community for self care by imbibing AYUSH based healthy food and lifestyle, social behaviour and use of medicinal plants for primary health care.

Talking to AIR News, awardee, Antonietta Rozzi of Italy expressed happiness that her work in the field of traditional Indian yoga was recognised. Another awardee, Kazuo Keishin Kimura of Japan said, yoga is helpful in preventing many diseases. Awardee, Swami Shivadhyanam Saraswati, of Bihar School of Yoga said, his institue is working to promote yoga for over 50 years. 

The Hindu