Four charts that show how the Centre is pushing for yoga

Along with Swachh Bharat and Jan Dhan Yojana, promoting yoga has been one of the pet projects of the Narendra Modi government. On the occasion of the second International Yoga Day, Mint looks at what the government has been doing to push yoga and how various states fare in terms of practice, infrastructure and spending on this discipline.

Southern states clearly take the lead when it comes to the number of registered yoga practitioners, yoga dispensaries and the number of colleges offering a degree in yoga sciences. The five southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh together account for over 90% of all the registered yoga and naturopathy practitioners in the country. Among them, Tamil Nadu is home to the largest number of yoga dispensaries (104) in the country, accounting for more than half in the country, according to the Ministry of AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy), in response to a Lok Sabha question.

However, the latest efforts of the government signal that it is keen to ensure a more geographically-balanced promotion of yoga across the country. For instance, in response to a Lok Sabha question in March this year, the government revealed that the top three states which received the most number of approvals in 2015-16 for “AYUSH Wellness Centers”, which include yoga facilities, were Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The Centre has been the driving force behind the efforts to promote AYUSH systems of healthcare. The Centre contributed 65% of all funds for the National AYUSH Mission in 2016-17, with states pledging the remaining amount. At an all-India level, ₹ 4.9 has been allocated per person for the National AYUSH Mission for 2016-17. However, there are state-wise differences, with the less-populated north-eastern states showing a much higher per capita allocation than other states. The population-adjusted average of per capita allocation of funds in the 13 NDA-ruled states comes at around ₹ 5, using 2011 population figures, which is slightly higher than ₹ 4.8 per capita allocation in non-NDA states.

The utilization of funds earmarked by the Centre for yoga and other allied interests improved slightly in the last fiscal year (2015-16), compared to earlier years when the actual spending by the AYUSH Ministry was often just half of the budget estimates, as in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

In aggregate, the Centre plans to spend ₹ 1,326 crore on the Ministry of AYUSH in 2016-17, which is around 83% of the amount set aside for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. This year’s budgeted amount for the ministry is 9% higher over last year’s budgeted expenditure and 23% higher than last year’s actual expenditure.