Parliament approves bill to give status of national importance to Gujarat Ayurveda Institute

New Delhi: Parliament on Wednesday got the approval of a bill aimed at granting the status of institutes of national importance to Ayurveda institutes located in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The 'Ayurveda Institute of Education and Research Bill, 2020' was passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Lok Sabha has passed this bill in the last session.

The bill provides for merging various Ayurveda institutions in Gujarat Ayurveda University campus in Jamnagar to provide the status of national importance. The bill proposes to merge three Ayurvedic institutions - Postgraduate Ayurveda Institute of Teaching and Research, Gulabkunverba Ayurveda College and Ayurveda Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan praised Ayurveda and its utility for strengthening the society and health systems around the world. He said that 'Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine in the country in which traditional knowledge is embedded.'

The Union Minister said that under 'Self-reliant India', the government has approved Rs 40,000 crore for the production of medical plants and to support the farmers. He said that the selection of Jamnagar Institute was not done in an 'arbitrary' manner but in an objective manner as it was established in 1956 as one of the oldest institutions in this category.

Harshvardhan said that 'this institute has been coordinating with the World Health Organization in Ayurveda for a long time and in the last 20 years it has trained students from about 65 countries'.

The minister said that in the last 20 years this institute has entered into 30 agreements with various countries. He said that there would be a committee in the proposed institute which would include AYUSH Minister of Gujarat Government, AYUSH Secretary and Health and Family Welfare Secretary, two MPs of Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha MP.