JOIN USAs the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government prepares for a mega yoga show on the Rajpath on June 21, behind the scene deliberations are going on for regulating the teaching of yoga.
Last year, a concept note was circulated on ways to regulate yoga and naturopathy and how yoga teachers can be registered in a central database.
“The aim is to improve the quality of yoga education so that anybody with barely any knowledge of yoga cannot claim to be a trained yoga teacher. A task force has been set up to explore the options,” an official in the Ayush ministry told Deccan Herald.
While Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal have their own registration system, the central government only has a guideline that came out in 2006 after the Central Council on Indian Medicine did not approve any separate regulations for yoga. The flip side of having such a regulation was that it could be misused to restrict yoga teaching among a select group of people rather than the current practice where it is open to all.
The wide acceptability of yoga will be on display next month where close to 35,000 people take part in a half hour yoga camp on the Rajpath in Delhi. The programme is being organised to mark June 21 as International Yoga Day.
The United Nations last year awarded the special status to after Modi appealed to the UN to dedicate one day for practising the traditional technique of staying fit. The government will issue commemorative stamps and organise a two-day conference on yoga. Last week, the World Health Organisation arranged a special exhibition on yoga in Geneva, which was inaugurated by Health Minister J P Nadda, the chair of the World Health Assembly.
On June 21, not only the VIPs but a large number of youngsters from schools, colleges, universities and National Cadet Corps along with men from the Army and paramilitary force will do the asanas (yogic postures) on the Rajpath.