All India Institute of Ayurveda to be set up in Delhi

The Union Cabinet today approved establishment of the All India Institute of Ayurveda in New Delhi as an autonomous organization under the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).

The Cabinet also gave approval to appointment of a director with supporting staff to oversee the project implementation.The decision will facilitate scientific validation, quality control, standardization and safety evaluation of Ayurveda products; standardised Ayurveda-based tertiary health delivery; and to promote interdisciplinary research and education of Ayurveda at postgraduate and postdoctoral levels.

Sonia lays foundation stone for Santhigiri Ashram Research Center

Thiruvananthapuram: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday said the messages of universal love and total rejection of caste-ism were more relevant at a time now when religion was being used to divide people.

Speaking on the occasion of the foundation stone laying ceremony of the building of the Santhigiri Research Foundation at nearby Pothenkode, Gandhi said the founder of Santhigiri Ashram, Navajyothi Karunakara Guru’s messages on universal love and casteism were more applicable as religion was being used to trigger trouble.

The Santhigiri Research Foundation was at present operating as an umbrella body co-ordinating initiatives in research being conducted by its various wings including those of Ayurveda and Siddha systems.

We should protect the heritage our saints have developed and preserved for the good of human kind

In the past decade, a number of "specialists" have also mushroomed in ayurveda, siddha and unani systems who have made a fortune out of it.Little wonder then that the Indian government's move has pleased many."This is a very good move. We should protect the heritage our saints have developed and preserved for the good of human kind," said Nivedita Joshi, daughter of former cabinet minister Murli Manohar Joshi and a yoga instructor.Joshi, who was all praise for the decision, said: "It could have been done only by the government. No individual could have done it as it's a heavily expensive thing."

"No Indian would appreciate anybody patenting yoga postures as their own. Why should we let one particular person make money of some thing, which has been ours from time immemorial?" Joshi told IANS.K.M. Gopakumar, a lawyer who is researching patent laws, said: "Once documented and published, it will be in the public domain. The so-called lifestyle gurus cannot claim copyright and allege infringement by others who practise it," said"

The documentation is a mechanism of protecting it from misappropriation also."India learnt its lessons from past controversies - when a US company was granted a patent on the wound-healing properties of turmeric. Another US firm was granted a basmati patent. India challenged both successfully.(IANS)

the health and family welfare ministry would be preserving all possible details of yoga postures in a multi-media digital library

"Most of the documentation is done," Gupta said, adding that around 100 experts had been working on it for the last three years."We have referred to 54 ancient books to research on ayurveda, 35 for unani and 15 for siddha and have documented 50,000 formulae in ayurveda and 24,000 in unani," Gupta said.

He said the task force has created a database of 10 million pages.Under a Rs. 100-million project, the health and family welfare ministry would be preserving all possible details of yoga postures in a multi-media digital library - Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL).The data will be made available in five international languages, and 11 countries, including the US, Britain, Japan and China, would be able to access it.The task force has found that at least 150 yoga postures that were developed and practiced in India for ages - the system finds mention in Vedic scriptures - have been pirated in the US, Europe and in Japan.It says yoga is a $30 billion industry in the West.

The task force says the US Patents Office has so far issued 134 patents on yoga accessories, 150 yoga-related copyrights and 2,315 yoga trademarks while Britain has approved at least 10 trademarks relating to yoga training aids.Bikram Chowdhury, a Los Angelus-based multi-millionaire yoga guru, has popularized "hot yoga" - he reportedly developed 26 postures and two breathing exercises performed in a certain sequence in 105 degree heat - and claimed copyrights over it.

"Reflections" - Do

"Reflections" - Do: "The reason why Ayurveda is being critised is becasue of FEW (very few ) persons who give western medicine in the name of ayurveda and also because of the guys who come in the satellite television and advice all kinds of magical cures.
The situation has become to such an extent that the mention of Ayurveda or Siddha immediately brings the image of these fraudulent doctors to the people's mind and the general public thinks that Ayurveda is for treating 'ill effects of masturbation' only

Only when there is a rule regulating these lodge and TV doctors, Ayurveda can prosper.

A lady came to me with 'Setthu poon'. I adviced her to mix Turmeric powder in Gingelly oil and apply. She gave a scornful look and went away. She had complained to the Hospital Worker that my MBBS degree should be fake and she needs Immediate cure. This is the reality. Public are so misled by the media that they seek Ayurvedic cure for conditions thatdo not need medicine (example given above) or for diseases where there is NO cure in Ayurveda (Psoariasis, Diabetes) and then blame all the ayurvedic doctors. For all diseases where Ayurveda has BETTER medicines than Allopathy (common cold), they prefer Allopathy because it has 'instant Cure'

The same analogy is with Astrology. People run away from the astrologers only because they have been cheated in the past by 'a person who claimed to be an astrologer'"

Yoga, ayurveda being documented to stop patent misuse

Bitten by patent rows over basmati and turmeric, India doesn't want to be caught off guard again by the West, certainly not when it comes to its ancient healing systems of yoga, Ayurveda, unani and siddha.A task force appointed by the government for protecting traditional knowledge and intellectual property is fast completing the documentation of yoga postures and techniques as well as formulae in ayurveda, siddha and unani - all Indian traditional medicinal systems.

The aim is to stop foreign practitioners and individuals, including Indian expatriates, from claiming copyrights."Most of the misuse has been done by people of Indian origin living outside India and multinational companies. By the documentation, we hope we would be able to control it largely," V.K. Gupta, head of the task force, told IANS."We have identified 1,500 yoga postures and thousands of formulae in Indian medicinal systems from ancient books to document and make it available for the office that grants patents and copyrights to trademark it as our public property."He said the documentation process - including texts, voice and visuals - would be completed by March 2007.

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