KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 19

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that yoga and meditation are excellent means for a healthy life and claimed that the whole world has embraced yoga.

Inaugurating the Ratna Sarraf Building, Patanjali Nepal, Aastha Nepal TV and the 'Swadeshi Samriddhi Card' under the Patanjali Yogpeeth Nepal here today, he said the whole world has accepted that Ayurvedic medicine is beneficial to human life as it does not have any side-effects. On the occasion, PM Deuba appreciated Yogaguru Swami Ramdev Baba and Ayurveda Shiromani Acharya Balakrishna for their research and publicity on yoga and meditation as well as for their contribution to production and publicising the use of ayurvedic medicine.

He expressed the commitment on behalf the government to provide maximum support for establishing and operating a non-forprofit industry for processing and production of ayurvedic medicine in Nepal.

Stating that Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna are persons who love Nepal, the PM thanked them for a variety of assistance they have provided to Nepal.

Former prime minister and CPN-Maoist Centre Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' described Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna as 'great revolutionaries' as they have brought new revolution through yoga, taught society healthy way of life by means of meditation and yoga and promoted ayurveda as an industry.

The CPN-MC chair said Nepal is rich in medicinal herbs and their plan of opening an industry in the country for processing and producing ayurvedic medicines is important.

He thanked them for their contribution to the economic, social and cultural development of Nepal. Expressing the belief that the inauguration of Ratna Sarraf Building set up for the teaching and learning of the students, the Patanjali Nepal and Astha TV, and the Swodeshi Samriddhi Card would provide new motivation to Nepali society, he said this had given new energy to all.

Former prime minister and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chair Madhav Kumar Nepal said ayurvic medicine and naturopathy had their own importance and it could be a big achievement in the human health sector if these two were combined with modern science.

Recalling how his health improved after practising yoga, he said yoga and sadhana (meditation) could bring a lot of benefits to people.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways of the Government of India Nitin Gadkari, who joined the programme virtually, lauded institutions as Patanjali for the works like generating positive thinking among people and the support to society through the yoga science and ayurveda when the whole world was suffering from the COV- ID-19 pandemic.

He opined that Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna had done significant work in terms of providing relief in the life of people through research, processing, production and manufacturing medicine from herbs in Nepal and India.

Noting that the relations between Nepal and India is very old, he said the culture, history and legacy shared by both the countries was their strength.

At the programme, Minister Gadkari informed that the Government of India was carrying out the construction of various roads under the 436-kilometre long Ramjanaki Road linking Ayodhya and Janakpur, and the Buddha Circuit, expeditiously.

He opined that this would make important contribution to the promotion of cultural ties and tourism between the two countries.

Baba Ramdev said Nepal could be the capital as well as the centre of attraction for the entire world in terms of yoga, healthy life, pranayama and ayurvedic medicine. Stating that all the human beings were the offspring of a single god, he urged one and all to move ahead with a sense of equality of all by removing all types of discrimination.

Acharya Balakrishna had informed about the plan to be implemented in Nepal through the Patanjali Yogpeeth.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 20, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.