Ayush Ministry fails to take off major projs, returns funds

Some major projects of the Ministry of Ayush have failed to take off since its inception due to "non-availability of land" and surrendered more than 50 per cent of its funds.
Envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote the traditional medicine and practices, a separate Ministry of Ayush was formed in November 2014 by elevating the department of Ayush.
Ambitious projects including - All India Institute of Yoga, All India Institute of Homoeopathy, Homoeopathic Medicines Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Pharmacovigilance Initiative for ASU Drugs and National Institute of Medicinal Plants are stuck due to paucity of land, the sources said.

The government has also deferred setting up of All India Institute of Yoga as it could not identify land for the project, they said.
Meanwhile, the land for All India Institute for Homeopathy has been identified and the action is underway to take its possession.
In 2014-15, the ministry was allocated a budget of Rs 1,069 crore, of which 573.21 crore (53 per cent) was surrendered due to non-approval of projects, the sources said.

An amount of Rs 25 crore was alloted from the budget for setting All India Institute of Unani Medicine.
However, the entire funds had to be returned due to non-approval of the project, according to a parliamentary report on funds grant.

The official said that there are many advertisements which
are aired on channels which make "atrocious" claims about treating many conditions.
"I do not know if we will be able to stop them but at least curtail them to some extent or try to get some element of caution. That is the whole idea," he said.
He said that these are draft rules and have been put up to seek public comments and suggestions.
"Central Government may give specific directions to the state government in public interest for banning, suspending or cancelling advertisement of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs, which is found prima facie not to be appropriate," they said.

The draft further said that the application for the advertisement may be rejected if its contents directly or indirectly tantamount to vulgarity or obscenity, gives false impression about the true character of drug and make a misleading or exaggerative claim about its effectiveness.
It said that an appeal can be filed before the Centre against the orders of the State Licensing Authority or Drugs Controller and the decision of Central government shall be "final and binding".
"State Government may notify in the Official Gazette the officers of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani system to monitor the surveillance of the advertisements in the print, electronic, internet and audio-visual media...

"...And maintain printed register as well as online register of the advertisements with appropriate entries including those found inappropriate or invalid and action taken against such faulty advertisements," it said.