AYUSH services under the National AYUSH Mission (NAM) have got a major boost in the union budget 2022 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman yesterday. The total allocation of budget to AYUSH Ministry in the last seven years has increased over four times from Rs 691 crores to Rs 3,050 crores.
Recognisng the importance of traditional medicine system of India, including Yoga and Naturopathy in the current pandemic-led situation, the central government has been emphasising on the augmentation of works done by AYUSH Ministry.
In the present budget, this is reflected in increase of budget provisions in various AYUSH sectors and core areas. Increasing budget amount under NAM, a Centre-sponsored scheme, up to Rs 800 crores will help AYUSH in the upgradation of its hospitals and dispensaries, support cultivation of medicinal plants, and in many other areas, including an increase in export of value-added items of medicinal plants. The NAM had earlier received a budget of Rs 500 crores.
Another area that saw a big boost is Champion service sector scheme. The budget has been doubled in this scheme from Rs 29.6 crores to Rs 60.22 crores.
All the states (Rs 610 crores), union territories (Rs 70 crores) and north-eastern areas (Rs 181.97 crores) have also witnessed an increase in grants-in-aids from Rs 547.87 crores to Rs 861.97 crores overall.
Growing popularity and dependency on the digital space, the central government emphasised building the digi-infrastructure which AYUSH has well-supported. The various provisions under the budget will see a major step towards digitising the entire AYUSH sector under AYUSH grid.
Considering the strength of Ayurveda, Yoga and other traditional Indian systems of medicine, the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM-WHO) in India is being setup and the budgetary provisions have been done for the establishment of the centre. The establishment of WHO (GCTM) in India will directly affect investment in the traditional medicine sector in India and India can emerge as a global leader with concerted efforts. The research councils, centre of excellence and autonomous bodies also got a fair boost in the budget as they were allotted Rs 1,870.1 crores.