Narendra Modi's Citizen-Centered Yoga for Diabetes Management Program: Will the Indian State Install Integrative Medicine in Premier Institutes

Abstract

More than 30,000 people were taught to perform Yoga by the Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi at Capitol Complex in Chandigarh last summer on the occasion of the “International Yoga Day” (IYD) 2016. They not only watched their PM perform Yoga but also took his call to translate the Yoga for Diabetes management in letter and spirit. On June 21, 2016, the TV channels remained glued to Capitol Complex as Narendra Modi descended from the high-security stage, entering a special T-shirt-camouflaged, Indo-Tibetan Border Policeguarded enclosure and began following the Yoga protocol. The public suddenly got up to create space for him, duly aided by the local Deputy Commissioner. I personally experienced the aura of the PM in the same enclosure where I performed Yoga with that charismatic person. Narendra Modi’s announcement of a new focus of Yoga on the IYD 2016 soon shaped the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy)sponsored, Yoga-based Niyantrit Madhumeh Bharat (NMB) campaign (“controlled diabetic India”), which has become India’s largest politico-scientific enterprise beyond Chandigarh. This discourse was quickly nationalized by none other than the PM’s Yoga advisor, Dr. H.R. Nagendra, the Chancellor of SVYASA (Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhan Samsthana), and the Vice-President of the Indian Yoga Association. Since then, more than 2,000 volunteers, academicians, administrators, and Yoga enthusiasts have joined the 240,000-subject study spread across the country. The project aims at investigating the effectiveness of a diabetic protocol of Yoga in halting the transition of prediabetes into diabetes as well as the management of diabetes in general. Scientists and research scholars are upbeat about undertaking the world’s biggest study, which is statistically powered to explore the horizons of Yogic lifestyle through 3 months of Published online: June 17, 2017