Global Ayurveda Festival-Kerala (GAF) came to an end on Tuesday, which saw a congregation of the Ayurveda fraternity and various stakeholders of the Ayurveda industry from within the country and abroad. Apart from the 3,000 delegates who attended the event, over a lakh visitors too visited the Arogya Expo, a mega exhibition of various Ayurveda products and allied industries. The event was organised jointly by the Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA) and the Government of Kerala. Inaugurating the concluding ceremony, Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty said Ayurveda should be accorded the highest priority in the State’s development plan. World over, people were coming back to Nature, which gave Ayurveda an edge over other streams of medicine. The 11-point GAF declaration called upon the government to declare Kerala as the ‘Ayurveda State of India’ and demanded that a separate department be set up for Ayurveda in the State and one for AYUSH be created at the Centre. It also demanded that ‘Ayurveda Biology’ be taught in the school curriculum. The government should also accord high priority to public health interventions focussing on Ayurvedic principles and preventive health practices. The GAF declaration also suggested the setting up of Centres of Excellence (CoE) in clinical practice in various specialties of Ayurveda, with interdisciplinary perspective chalking out a joint action program for promoting Ayurveda and the setting up of a certification agency for the promotion of ‘authentic Kerala Ayurveda’ products and services. It also called for enhancing the cultivation of medicinal plants in small land holdings. Mr. Kunhalikutty gave away prizes to those who had put up the best stalls at the expo Somatheeram beach resorts, Nagarjuna Pharma, and Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala respectively. The Government Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram, won the award for the best stall put up by an educational institution.
Source : The Hindu
