Over 2,000 Yoga practitioners in India; 751 in Tamil Nadu

There are over 2,000 registered Yoga and naturopathy practitioners in India with the highest 751 in Tamil Nadu, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

"There are 2,034 yoga and naturopathy practitioners registered in various States and UTs of the country. The highest number of such registered yoga and naturopathy practitioners are in Tamil Nadu that is 751, followed by Karnataka which has 609 registered practitioners," AYUSH Minister Shripad Yesso Naik said in a written reply to an unstarred question.

He said that as per the information given by the West Bengal government, there are many self educated practitioners in the state but the specific figure is not available as they have not yet been registered.

"At present, there is no central legislation for regulation of education and practice in yoga and naturopathy systems. However, this Ministry had asked state governments in 2006 to enact comprehensive legislation for the regulation of naturopathy covering registration of practitioners, medical education and others," the Minister said.

It was also recommended that a system be set up for the registration of practitioners and the accreditation of institutes on the basis of guidelines formulated and issued by the central government.

"Some states, including West Bengal have taken action to implement the guidelines," the Minister said.

The Government has undertaken discussion with the stakeholders on feasibility of regulation of yoga and naturopathy education and practice for maintaining quality and uniform educational standards and preventing the growth of fraudulent and fake institutions.

Based on the comments received, the Government is evaluating various options for co-ordination of matters relating to promotion, development, standardisation and accreditation of yoga as well as naturopathy practices, training and therapies, the Minister said.

He said that a Task Force has been constituted by the Ministry to deliberate and make recommendations on various important issues concerning the Ministry of AYUSH, including the preferred option for promotion, development and regulation of yoga and naturopathy for education and practice.

-PTI