NEW DELHI:Yoga improves health but it will also be used for creating employment. Carrying on with the impetus provided by the International Day of Yoga being organised on Sunday across the country, the government intends to set up a yoga centre in all the villages across the country, and appoint a yoga teacher to them.
Brainchild of AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik, the scheme—still on the drawing broad—can help create lakhs of certified yoga teachers who would not only get monthly income, but also help people get better health. If the scheme were to reach its logical conclusion, a yoga centre in over six lakh villages will help employ six lakh yoga teachers.
“We will soon set up a task force to see how we can reach that target, and what all infrastructure and support it would require. After the task force submits its recommendations and provides a road map, we would approach the Prime Minister or Finance Minister for funds,” Naik told The Sunday Standard.
Himself a yoga practitioner for over 30 years, a habit he picked from the RSS, Naik says the idea can be worked out. “We will take help from the yoga organisations and even think of having public-private partnerships,” the 63-year-old minister said, adding that momentum created by the International Day of Yoga will have to be carried further to enhance awareness at the grass-root levels.
The minister’s vision is matched by industry projections. “The increased focus on yoga by government, coupled with growing awareness about the traditional Indian ways of dealing with stress in the corporate sector, has improved job opportunities in yoga training with commensurate demand for trainers set to grow by 30-35 per cent in the couple of years,” according to an ASSOCHAM paper released on Friday.
Even a preventive survey carried out by ASSOCHAM revealed that South India has taken a lead in practising yoga as 15 per cent of people in the age group of 30-70 years are availing the preventive healthcare measures as against the other region. The West region registered the third position followed by the East and the Northeast.
While the government was still working details of its ambitious plan, in the private sector, yoga trainers are much sought-after. About 14.3 million people in the India practised yoga in 2013, up from 6.3 million in 2001. The popularity of yoga among celebrities makes teaching yoga an even more lucrative profession. It could vary from Rs 400 to Rs 1,500 per hour per person depending upon the policy of the institution and the experience, the study added.
An AYUSH ministry official said it could in initial stages ask for appointment of yoga teachers in the public health centres which cater to the rural population.
The biggest issue currently was creation of certified yoga trainers. AYUSH ministry sources said they were currently working on the issue of ceritification. To tide over the dearth of ceritified yoga trainers, the government was even thinking of setting up of a yoga university.
Health in Hinterland
■ Yoga centre in each village
■ Will create a demand of six lakh yoga teachers
■ In private sector demand for yoga trainers is growing by 30-40 per cent
■ Government to address the problem of certification