Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 20 APRIL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced his government’s decision to soon launch AYUSH visas and develop a network of AYUSH parks to encourage the promotion, research, and manufacturing of AYUSH products across the country.
The AYUSH visa would help people to visit India for AYUSH treatment and the AYUSH parks would give a new direction to AYUSH manufacturing in India, he said while inaugurating the ”Global AYUSH Investment & Innovation Summit” at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus were among those present on the occasion.
The three-day summit will help uncover investment potential and give a fillip to innovation, research & development, start-up ecosystem, and the wellness industry.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the idea of the Global AYUSH Investment & Innovation Summit came to him during the time of pandemic when Ayush provided a strong support for improving immunity of the people and Ayush products saw surge of interest and demand. Recalling Indian efforts to tackle the pandemic the Prime Minister noted the promise shown by the modern pharma companies and vaccine manufacturers if they get investment at the right time. “Who could have imagined that we would be able to develop corona vaccine so soon?” he asked.
Describing the strides made by the Ayush sector the Prime Minister said “we are already witnessing unprecedented growth in the production of AYUSH medicines, supplements and cosmetics. In 2014, where the AYUSH sector was less than $3 billion, today it has increased to more than $18 billion.”
He said that the Ministry of AYUSH has taken several major steps to encourage startup culture in the field of Traditional Medicines. A few days back an incubation center developed by All India Institute of Ayurveda has been inaugurated, Modi informed.
Describing the current age, the era of unicorns, the Prime Minister informed that in the year 2022 itself, so far 14 start-ups from India have joined the Unicorn Club. “I am sure unicorns will emerge from our AYUSH start-ups very soon”, he hoped.
Noting that the production of medicinal plants can be a good means of increasing the income and livelihood of the farmers and the scope of employment generation in this, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of facility to easily connect with the market for the farmers involved in the production of medicinal plants. For this, the government is also working on modernization and expansion of AYUSH e-market place, he said. “India is a treasure trove of herbal plants, it is, in a way our ‘Green Gold’”, the Prime Minister stressed.
The Prime Minister described the unprecedented efforts made in the past years to promote the export of AYUSH products. Emphasis has been laid on mutual recognition of AYUSH drugs with other countries. For this more than 50 MoUs have been entered with different countries in the last few years. “Our AYUSH experts are developing ISO standards in collaboration with the Bureau of Indian Standards. This will open a huge export market for AYUSH in more than 150 countries”, he said.
PM Modi also informed that FSSAI has announced a new category named ‘AYUSH Aahar’ in its regulations last week. This will greatly facilitate the producers of herbal nutritional supplements. Similarly, India is also going to make a special AYUSH mark. This mark will be applied to the highest quality AYUSH products made in India. This AYUSH mark will be equipped with the provisions of modern technology. “This will give people all over the world the confidence of quality AYUSH products” he added.
Continuing on the potential of traditional medicine, the Prime Minister noted the role of traditional medicines in increasing the tourism of Kerala. “This potential is there in every corner of India. ‘Heal in India’ can become a big brand of this decade” he said.
He continued that India of the 21st century wants to move ahead by sharing its experiences and its knowledge with the world. “Our heritage is like a legacy to the entire humanity”, he said.
WHO chief Ghebreyesus praised the AYUSH Ministry for fostering the spirit of a collection of data for research in traditional medicine. Noting the rising global demand and investment in the AYUSH products, the DG said the whole world was coming to India and India was going to the whole world.
Tags: #AYUSH #AyushVisa #AyushParks #NarendraModi
