Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Quality Control of Ayurveda, Siddha ...

(1) BackgroundSCHEME FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AYUSH CLUSTERS(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)The Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Sidha & Homeopathy(AYUSH) industry represents the traditional form of Indian medicine,and has been part of India’s socio- cultural heritage. The industry,that has approximate annual turnover of Rs. 5000 Crore is essentiallydominated by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) whichaccount for more than 80% of the enterprises that are located inidentifiable geographical clustersThe market for traditional health medicine has been increasingsteadily, the world over. Although AYUSH industry has been one of themost traditional form of medicine, it has not been able to exploit theemerging market opportunities, primarily due to constraints such as:fragmentation of the industry, lack of standardization of raw materialand the finished products, inadequate R&D, slow pace ofmodernization of production processes and technology, absence offocused marketing and branding, inadequate emphasis on HRD andothers due to which AYUSH Sciences are not recognized as Medical &Health Care SciencesAYUSH industry has the potential to contribute positively to nationalhealth programme by providing traditionally and historically provenhealthcare solutionsCluster based approach is increasingly being recognized as aneffective and sustainable strategy for competitiveness enhancement ofMSMEs. Such an approach, which leverages the geographicalproximity of the enterprises on ‘collaborating while competing’principle is participatory, cost effective and provides critical mass forcustomization of interventionsIt is in this context that this scheme for AYUSH clusters’ developmentis being implemented during the XI Five Year Plan(2) The Scheme(a)The Scheme termed as ‘Scheme for Development of AYUSH Clusters’,is a Central Sector Scheme and would be co-terminus with the 11 thFive year plan(b) Department of AYUSH would allocate Rs 100 Crores in the 11 th fiveyear plan to fund the pilot projects under the scheme(c)The Scheme would be implemented on a Public Private Partnership(PPP) format. Support from Department of AYUSH would be by theway of grant to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), formed by group ofentrepreneurs from AYUSH sector