See below for attribution[/caption]Towards the end of last year, Modi announced his new bid for global dominance by appointing a new Minister for Yoga. To give him his full title, Shripad Naik is now India's minister in charge of the department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH).
What a fantastic idea, I thought. Every country should have one of those, and that might actually inspire me to live my (fantasised, ideal, probably non-realistic life) when I get up every day at 5.30am for an hour's meditation, before a wholesome breakfast of porridge and peppermint tea. That is all before working the next 12 hours saving lives and soothing souls, to come home and relax with 45 minutes of yoga followed by chamomile tea, a light vegetarian meal and an early night. Yes, well we can all dream and in the meantime live with Reality.
I'll start with his grand title: Yoga, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha medicine - I will give him those, as somewhat related to India and South Asian traditional medicine and practices (although Unani originated from the Greeks and developed in Persia and Arabia) . Naturopathy, however, has its origins in the Nature Cure movement in Europe in the 19th century, and is now practised mainly in the US and Canada - although many osteopaths in the UK will still call themselves, 'osteopaths and naturopaths'. Not much of an Indian connection, though. Similarly with homeopathy, created in the late 18th century by Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician who created this system of medicine of treating 'like with like'. Homeopathy seems to have been introduced to India via European involvement in the 19th century. What is clear, though is that both naturopathy and homeopathy are mainly European inventions and imports and really nothing to do with Indian philosophy or traditional practice.
But let's not forget the Chinese equivalent perhaps under Mao, of 'barefoot doctors'. Once a practising acupuncturist, I felt duty bound to have a copy of 'the Barefoot Doctor's Manual' on my bookshelf - proof positive that low tech traditional medicine such as Chinese medicine and acupuncture were the future, in being both affordable and effective.
It does actually seem that China's system of giving basic training to many 'village doctors' who then went out into the resource-poor villages, was indeed effective in reducing infectious diseases and improving infant and child mortality rates. But it seems their efficacy lay not so much in the application of traditional Chinese medical practices, but more in basic hygiene and public health measures taken out to the village level that really made a difference, compared to the concentration of medical services in high tech, inaccessible urban hospitals.
I am quite sure there have been many efforts at similar schemes in India - but just think how much could be achieved if similar, traditional village doctors could be trained in a similar fashion in India. Perhaps, though, their impact might lie in the implementation of basic public health measures such as hand washing, clean water, sewers and vaccination rather than reliance per se on yoga or ayurveda. Used in this way, emphasising low-tech medicine culturally embedded in India, could prove to be an acceptable way of transforming popular health beliefs and practices.
Modi, however, could be making a purely commercial move. Apparently a keen practitioner of yoga himself, it could prove to be a savvy commercial decision aiming to capitalise on yoga's popularity in the West. For example, a 2012 study estimates that the US spends more than $10.3 billion year on yoga classes[i]. That is a lot of revenue if India can claim it's right to 'own ' the yoga and Eastern medical 'brand'. The 'hippy' era is perhaps itself being drawn into the commodification demanded by late capitalism, where even health and spirituality is marketed and packaged for profit. Despite its lack of scientific proof demanded by evidence-based medicine, it can be seen as part of India's quest for its own identity, it's own USP, squeezed out by British colonialism and dominance of Western medicine.
The binary distinction between West and East, however, might not be so easily imposed. Not only is yoga big business both in the USA and UK, so are many different types of 'alternative medicine' - with advocates right at the heart of the British establishment. Prince Charles is a well-known outspoken supporter of alternative medicine, founding his 'Foundation for Integrated Health' in 1993 - later rebranded as the 'College of Medicine'. Both Princess Diana and Cherie Blair consulted alternative 'New Age' practitioners for counselling and advice. More recently, David Tredinnick - a former officer in the Grenadier Guards and Conservative MP is both a supporter of astrology and alternative medicine - even advocating for the integration of astrology into the National Health Service.
So perhaps India is just capitalising on a global trend as seekers of the esoteric leave rationality behind in their quest for the transcendental. And where the market might prevail over the language of scientific proof. As long as the consumers purchase, the profits are made and the brand identity is protected, who needs evidence?
Photo: By Ramnath Bhat (Flickr: Mariko Bhakti Hirakawa) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
[i] The Telegraph, 3rd December 2014
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