Tourist visa may be granted for short term yoga courses
Yoga has been gaining momentum under the current government.
Chennai: Yoga has been gaining momentum under the current government and the Centre now plans to include short-term yoga programmes under Tourist Visa and e-Tourist Visa categories to help drive Indian wellness tourism.
The latest move to encourage foreign nationals to undergo short duration medical treatment under Indian systems of medicine in the list of permissible activities under e-Tourist Visa would prompt Yoga centres spread across India to offer their expertise.
To observe International Day of Yoga on June 21, the Centre has roped in the assistance of one to three reputed Yoga institutes in each of the 30 states and six union territories to provide technical assistance in organising the mega Yoga display. In Tamil Nadu, Isha Yoga Foundation, Coimbatore, Krishnamachari Yoga Mandiram, Chennai, and Amrita University, Amrita Puri, Kerala, are engaged in providing the technical expertise. Also, both Krishnamachari Yoga Mandiram and Amrita University are also involved in training the people in the neighbouring Kerala.
For the first time, the Union Department of Science and Technology will fund research on the impact of yoga and meditation on human health and this will be part of a long-running Cognitive Science Research Initiative of the DST.
Yoga, according to the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy, is universal in character for practice and application irrespective of culture, nationality, race, caste, creed, sex, age and physical condition.