Webinars on naturopathy to be organised as part Gandhi Jayanti celebrations

The webinars will start from October 2 and go on till November 18, the National Naturopathy Day. The webinars will convey the message of self-health responsibility to people through simple naturopathy modalities that are easily available to everyone, the Ministry of AYUSH said in a statement on Tuesday.

The National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune under the Ministry of AYUSH will be organising a series of webinars on the Gandhian philosophy of self-reliance through self-health reliance as part of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary celebrations. The webinars will start from October 2 and go on till November 18, the National Naturopathy Day.

The webinars will convey the message of self-health responsibility to people through simple naturopathy modalities that are easily available to everyone, the Ministry of AYUSH said in a statement on Tuesday. "The aim of the programme is to create awareness on naturopathy practices with demonstrations. Feedback sessions will be strengthened through live chats and discussions with practitioners," the statement said.

The virtual programme will open up the physical boundaries and participation is expected from across the country and beyond. "There will be a special effort to spread the thoughts of Gandhiji on health and well-being, which are of special significance in the current COVID-19 crisis.  Gandhiji was convinced that self-health is an individual responsibility," the statement said.

Eminent scholars from different countries will be invited to speak on Gandhi's insights on health. Such discourses will be customised to sensitise healthcare professionals on Gandhi's views on various aspects of health determinants for better public health. The webinars shall be organised in partnership with Gandhian institutes in the country such as the Gandhi Research Foundation, Centre for Gandhian Studies, Gandhi Bhavan, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi etc., the statement said.

Reputed speakers from international Gandhian institutes such as the Mahatma Gandhi Canadian Foundation for World Peace, Gandhi Information Center, Germany, Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence, Virginia, USA and Sydney, Australia are also expected to join. The 48-day programme, starting October 2, shall have a session a day for a fixed hour. The webinars shall culminate with a final virtual event on November 18, the Naturopathy Day. This was the day Gandhi became the lifetime chairman of the All India Nature Cure Foundation Trust and signed a deed with the object of making the benefits of nature cure available to all classes of people.

Alongside the webinars, online quiz competitions for school and college students, social media contests for the public etc. shall also be organised. This initiative of the NIN, Pune is in line with its vision of Ayush for disease prevention and health promotion, the statement said, adding that it is fully in consonance with the ongoing "Ayush for Immunity" campaign of the Ministry of AYUSH.