In a high level review meeting of collaboration activities between Ministry of AYUSH and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for promotion of Yoga globally today at New Delhi, it was resolved to streamline and intensify the joint efforts to promote Yoga in various countries across the world. The review was jointly held by Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President, ICCR and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH. It was also decided to utilise the certification framework of the Yoga Certification Board (YCB) as a means of promoting authentic Yoga across the world.

The Yoga Certification Board (YCB) and Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), two institutions under the oversight of the Ministry of AYUSH in the discipline of Yoga, have forged separate partnerships with ICCR to spread Yoga around the globe. The YCB partnered with ICCR by accrediting it as a Personnel Certification Body (PrCB) of YCB. The ICCR, which is actively involved in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India’s cultural relations has found a natural partner in YCB. The MoU signed by ICCR with MDNIY aims to scale up Yoga training across the globe.

As part of the collaboration of ICCR with YCB, the services of Indian Missions abroad will be utilised to facilitate certification Yoga professionals as per the approved categories of PrCBs, Yoga Institutions and Centers mentioned in YCB guidelines. The Missions abroad will help to promote the information about and activities of YCB for standardization of Yoga in the respective country.

Further, through the partnership with MDNIY, the ICCR will sensitize Yoga Professionals, Yoga Institutes and Centers in foreign countries about the need to follow authentic practices in Yoga. ICCR will also accredit Yoga Institution andCenters abroad.

It was observed in the review meeting that demand of authentic training inputs in Yoga is on the increase around the world.  This has led to commercial exploitation of Yoga and rise of many training institutions whose quality is suspect. Many of them employ trainers without qualifications and offer Yoga courses which are substandard and not authentic. Yoga Certification Board addresses this issue through standardization of teaching and training of the authentic Indian tradition of Yoga through collaboration with institutions, accreditation of institutions and certification of Yoga professionals. This leads to notable contribution to healthy societies and healthy nations. The wide international network as ICCR will be utilised in promoting certification in Yoga in a large number of countries which will provide assurance to prospective learners that the training offered by institutions are authentic and of acceptable quality.

The other points discussed in the review meeting included the possibility of certification of Yoga by YCB developing remote assessmentkiosks which could be deployed in different countries forenabling YCB certification remotely, the need for YCB to certify authentic Yoga textbooks and the possibility of collaboration for promotion of Ayurveda globally. It was decided to work for these objectives in a time bound manner.

MV/SK