New Delhi: Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has said that yoga should be made compulsory for school students. After attending a yoga camp organized by yoga Guru Ramdev here on Saturday, Ramadoss said that the health ministry was talking to the Human Resource Department (HRD) to encourage school students to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

         “We are trying to have a national school health programme. That programme will comprise of two parts, one part is of screening all children for diseases like cardiovascular, diabetes, skin disease or ENT problems. Second part would be having a health subject, a mandatory subject where you will have yoga, population issues, HIV, sanitation, hygiene and holistic lifestyle problem that will inculcate into the school children," Ramadoss added.

          Yoga has been vigorously propagated in India by Ramdev who claims to cure illness ranging from cancer to AIDS through breathing and traditional medicines. Ramdev has a large following amongst the young and old who believe that he has amalgamated spirituality, yoga and Ayurveda. Over the years, the centuries-old Indian practice of yoga which literally means 'union' (of body and mind) has become largely popular in the West and is even patronized by many Hollywood celebrities.      
-October 11, 2008