Taking a cue from Kunnamthanam village in Kerala where at least one member of every family is yoga practitioner, the Modi Government is mulling to launch a similar initiative to turn at least 500 villages in the country into “Sampoorna Yoga Grams” (complete yoga village) with at least a member of each
household following the discipline diligently.
The AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy) Ministry will announce the launch of the “Sampoorna Yoga Grams” plan as a part of the Government’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat Scheme with much fan-fare at the three-day International Yoga Festival, being held from Wednesday at Talkatora Stadium here.
Ayush Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha told The Pioneer that “We are very much inspired by the initiative taken by the village panchayat of Kunnamthanam village in Kerala. They have shown that how by simple initiatives, yoga can become an integral part of lifestyle and lead a healthy lifestyle without much efforts.
“We want to replicate the Kunnamthanam model across India. But we will start with the pilot project and later spread across the country, particularly in the aspirational districts where health facilities are least available.”
As a part of the Sampoorna Yoga Grams’ initiative, every village will have a research extension unit so that health parametres can be periodically measured.
The initiative will be the part of the Government’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat Scheme wherein Health and Wellness Centres which are being proposed to be set up across the country. These will have AYUSH component besides allopathy to ensure basic preventive and curative health facilities to the common man.
Dr Ishwar V Basavaraddi, Director of the Delhi-based Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), an autonomous body of the Ayush Ministry said that “Yoga is the most suited system for self health and regular practice of yoga can substantially help in reducing the incidence of diseases and impact macro health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate among others.”
Giving details of the three-day IYF, he said a plethora of events like yoga sessions, presentation of research works among others have been planned as a curtain raiser to the International Yoga Day on June 21.
Around 30,000 participants besides eminent yoga masters from across the country as well as 30 nations will participate in the IYF to be inaugurated by Minister of State for PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh and presided by AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik.