KOZHIKODE TO HOST GLOBAL AYURVEDA FETE

The Hindu
Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala, India
Sunday, October 4, 2015

Kozhikode will host the third edition of the Global Ayurveda Festival (GAF) and Arogya Expo, said to be the largest biennial get-together of Ayurveda fraternity from January 29 to February 2.

About 5,000 delegates from 50 countries will take part in the conclave of Ayurveda enthusiasts at the Swapna Nagari here. Manifold stakeholders of Ayurveda including practitioners and students, manufactures, hospitals, medical plant growers, government and non-government agencies, service organisations, and civil society organisations will be part of the mega event.

The GAF is being organised by the Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action in association with the State government, Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ayurvedic Medicine Manufacturers Organisations of India, Ayurveda Drug Manufactures Association and Kerala State Indian Systems of Medicine of Medicine Self Financing Management Association, State Department of AYUSH, Department of Tourism and Department of Industry. The State AYUSH Department has appointed a nodal officer for the effective coordination of the event, organising committee chairman, P. Madhavan Kutty Warrier, convener M.M. Sanil Kumar and general convener Manoj Kaloor, told a news conference here on Saturday.

The GAF has been positioned as the destination festival on Ayurveda in the State to bridge the great native medicinal tradition with the global community that remains curious to gather knowledge, care, products and collaborations from India.

Both the preceding conferences organised in Thiruvananthapuram in 2012 and in Kochi, 2014, have made the GAF into an internationally recognised event in Ayurveda.

The delegates’ participation shows consistent growth from 1,800 in 2012 to 4,000 in 2014. President of Mauritius Raj Keswur Purryag was the chief guest at the Kochi conference. “This time we are planning to rope in Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the inaugural function,” Dr. Kaloor said.

The GAF 2016 will have a host of activities including an international seminar on the theme, ‘Women’s Health,’ and exhibition of 500 stalls in which Ayurveda hospitals, drug manufacturing industry and various government and NGOs will showcase their services and products. Solidarity meets, live treatment clinics, workshops, an international business meet are other events, they said.