Arogya Fair and BRICS Wellness Workshop in Bangalore

The Ministry of AYUSH, in collaboration with the Karnataka government and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are organising Arogya, a four-day health fair on Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy

at IT capital of India, Bengaluru from 10th - 13th September.

Wellness and health sectors are being promoted and looked into by the Indian government, through the promotion of general well being measures by a systematic promotion of yoga as a form of exercise as well as lifestyle. The efforts of the AYUSH Ministry, created in 2014, are also aiming at modifying lifestyles and patterns of food consumption as a measure to improve health and well being. India recently inked an agreement with World Health Organisation (WHO) to promote the conventional Indian healing treatments including Yoga, Ayurveda, Unani and Panchkarma globally.Recently, the AYUSH ministry had organised an awareness promoting workshop on breast cancer and organised a seminar on conservation and sustainable utilisation of Trans Himalayan Medicinal Plants.

AYUSH products will be available for sale and display at the venue, which will be accompanied by free consultations with specialists and distribution of medicines. The event will also see Yoga demonstrations performed live and it aims to increase awareness on cultivation of medicinal plants, along with other things, said Principal Secretary to the Health department Shalini Rajneesh. A buyer-seller meet has also been organised at the fair, with participation from researchers, manufacturers and processors.

Taking wellness to BRICS

Arogya is set to take place alongside the two-day BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Wellness Workshop that is slated to take place on September 10 and 11. The BRICS workshop seeks to promote and create avenues for mutual cooperation between the countries participating and is a joint effort of the AYUSH ministry, Ministry of External Affairs of India and the Karnataka government. With further collaboration from the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), knowledge sharing and promotion of AYUSH initiatives in the BRICS countries becomes a priority.

A WHO strategy oriented session is going to be the highlight of the BRICS Wellness Workshop, as stated by the AYUSH Ministry. Highlighting the importance of traditional medicine, which is set to be the focus of the workshop, Secretary of the ministry, Ajit M Sharan stated, “Traditional medicine has assumed an important role in contemporary community health care due to its health promoting, disease preventive, curative, rehabilitative and rejuvenation properties.”

Site visits to traditional medicine institutes/facilities for delegates from the BRICS countries will also be organised prior to the workshop, to provide onsite exposure to the delegates. The growing importance of AYUSH in BRICS countries noted by Sharan as, “Many of these countries have already taken steps in this direction, for example, China has set up college of Yoga while Ayurveda is gaining popularity in Russia.”

The AYUSH ministry took to their social media account on Twitter to promote the upcoming event and workshop.