According to the latest news reports, the State government is going ahead with its project of setting up a Global Ayurveda Village, at a cost of Rs 200 crore, to be completed in three phases in four years and have already allocated Rs 5 crore for its launch. KINFRA (Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation) has been entrusted as the nodal agency by the government for the project who have already 12 globally reputed companies on board, shortlisted for the project.
As far as land acquisition for the Global Ayurveda Village goes, “About 148 acres will be acquired soon near Ponmudi and this being a project to promote indigenous knowledge, it will not be tough to acquire land,” KINFRA officials have said. According to Dr. J Muraleedharan, special officer of the Global Ayurveda Village, “This is based on the agenda for global acceptance of Ayurveda and to transform Kerala into the world capital of Ayurveda as stated in the development agenda of the state chalked out by mentor to state government Sam Pitroda.”
If realized, this would be first of its kind in ayurvedic health tourism from the government sector. According to KINFRA‘s Invitation of Interest on the project, the project envisages development across these areas – Knowledge, Wellness care, Resources, Manufacturing and Marketing. Under Knowledge development, full-fledged educational and training institutions will be set up offering basic to research level activities. These educational centers will be able to meet the growing demand for qualified Ayurvedic professionals. The wellness care is proposed to be addressed by establishing a specialty Ayurvedic treatment center for non-communicable diseases.
While initiatives on this scale, from the enterprise point of view, that too keeping the indigenous strength of Ayurveda as the core focus is welcome, it is hoped that the ‘sanctity’ of the fundamental treatises of Ayurveda on medicine and the man will not be lost in the commercial scale and execution of the Rs 200 crore project.
