Critical opinion of Mahatma Gandhi

Chandrakant Katiyar in his article “Critical opinion of Mahatma Gandhi on Ayurveda: A time to revisit” has rightly raised the issue and his concern about the state of affairs in the field of Ayurveda. The criticism of Ayurveda by Mahatma Gandhi becomes more serious because it was made while laying down the foundation of new Ayurvedic College building in BHU in 1942 and Mahamana Pt. Madanmohan Malaviya Ji, the founder of said Ayurvedic College was among the audience. That clearly means from that day onwards every promoter of Ayurveda was fully aware about the public opinion about Ayurveda.

Things appear worst when we hear same feelings in more bitter words from eminent people of today questioning the professional ability and utility of the Ayurvedic doctors. Now we have 450 plus Ayurveda colleges, 8 National institutes, Central Research Council with its 30 plus regional branches in the country [1]. Still, we are standing where we were standing 80 plus years back when the foundation stone of first Ayurvedic institutional education was being laid. An independent Ministry of AYUSH has been established with budget allocation of ₹ 3,992.90 crore in 2025-26 [2]. Indian Ayush market is projected at US$ 200 billion by 2030, reflecting an exponential growth of eight times over the past decade [3]. Still Ayurveda is nowhere in Govt. health care sector.

Ayurveda graduates are happy to work as mid-level health provider that too with six-month training vis a vis B.Sc. nursing/GNM personnel in wellness centre [4]. We couldn’t find any Ayurveda expert eligible to be nominated as distinguished professor or to chair the committees constituted in times of national health crisis. We are nowhere in picture in national health care sector. We feel happy to nominate non-Ayurveda expert to chair Ayurveda committees [5], invite them to give guidance on development of research and education in the field of Ayurveda. This entire scenario reflects miserable failure of Ayurveda education and research policies on Ayurveda. Still, we are sticking with them, encouraging mushrooming of substandard colleges and institutions in Govt and private sector with big campuses, pompous machinery, high rise buildings, launching schemes like Gurukulam which are nothing but only changing the drapery of the dead body to carry on the same failed system.

Everywhere and every moment the quality of Ayurveda education is approaching the downhill path. The root cause of this disgrace is the present curriculum, a fractured and disfigured replica of modern medicine, in which the soul of academics required to establish Ayurveda as a science is completely absent. Unless, this is changed nothing is going to change. This is a wake-up call for real care takers of Ayurveda. Are they going to take it? or will they stay happy in their deep slumber?