Council passes Yoga Act

The Legislative Council on Wednesday passed the Maharashtra Yoga and Naturopathy Act 2016, a day after the lower House cleared it.

The Act seeks to regulate and develop yoga and naturopathy and their academic and business aspects. Replying to the discussion on the bill, education minister Vinod Tawde also announced that the first naturotherapy centre set up by the government in the state would be named after Mahatma Gandhi while the first yoga centre would be named after Gautam Buddha.

“In today’s fast-paced lifestyle, there is a growing demand for yoga and naturotherapy treatments. These are our ancient sciences and we should preserve and promote them. The objective of the Act is to regulate the education and professional practice of yoga and naturotherapy so that they can be further developed. If there are certified practitioners, people will also have increased trust in them. This provides us with an opportunity to use these practices as skill development options and give employment to our youth,” Mr Tawde said, while introducing the bill in the council.

The Act proposes setting up a council for yoga and naturotherapy, which will regulate professionals, educational institutes and research in these fields.

The aforementioned council will be responsible for giving its approval to educational institutes in these fields, curricula, registration of institutes, giving recognition to research institutes and guiding the government regarding it, inspecting the approved institutes, giving them accreditation, maintaining records of people working in these fields and preparing a code of conduct for them.