Mumbai/Pune, 1 October 2020
The National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune in association with the Regional Outreach Bureau Maharashtra and Goa, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, virtually hosted a curtain raiser for the 48-Day Webathon which is to begin from tomorrow, Oct 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.
Under the Webathon, 48 webinars on the theme “Mahatma Gandhi- The Healer”, will be streamed live on National Institute of Naturopathy’s Facebook page https://facebook.com/punenin from 11AM to 12 noon for 48 days every day.
The webinars are intended to propagate the relevance of Gandhiji’s thoughts on Health and Nutrition in the 21st century among people of all walks of life.
Dr. K. Satyalaxmi, Director, National Institute of Naturopathy(NIN), Pune in her welcome address said, “The 48-day Webathon will be introducing 48 eminent personalities in the field of Gandhian Philosophy and Naturpoathy from all over the world who will be sharing the knowledge and expertise in the form of anecdotes, interactive sessions, presentations in these webinars.”
Gandhi Kathas, Gandhi Bahjans and rare footage of Gandhiji will also be shared. This will not only educate the public but will also sensitize Naturopathy fraternity with regard to Gandhi’s views on self-health reliance, public health and naturopathy’.
Prof. R K Mutatkar spoke about Gandhi’s contribution to health care and also mentioned that National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), Pune which is a mother institution of Nature cure stands as the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. He mentioned about the significance of food which is also a medicine.
Speaking about Gandhiji’s efforts in eradicating leprosy pollution and caste pollution, Prof. R K Mutatkar mentioned that, “Gandhiji included leprosy in his constructive programmes extending his concept of truth and non-violence to clear off leprosy.”
Joint Secretary, M/o Ayush, P N Ranjit Kumar, spoke about the relevance of the Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts, policies and solution today when the world is fighting the Pandemic.
He said “Bapu’s solutions are all rooted in basic elements of life and these solutions are in the vicinity. All we have to do is look around, with an alert mind and a determination to adopt and implement.”
“This Pandemic has made people conscious of one’s own health, reminding our responsibility towards our own health which is exactly what Gandhiji had insisted in his books on health”, he added.
DG, Western Region, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Manish Desai, spoke about Mahatma’s lesser known passions which was about the study of food and nutrition. Shri Desai cited how Gandhiji had introduced the concept of Aatma Nirbharata and sustainable living to the world years before.
“Long time ago Mahatma Gandhi Ji propagated the concept of food security. He emphasised the need to lessen hunger and malnourishment among people and advocated self-sufficiency at village level. He believed in making villages self-sufficient to consume locally available food to achieve food and nutrient security for health – the concept of Aatma Nirbharata. He even taught everyone around him the meaning of true sustainable living long before the word became fashionable in current days,” he said.
Shri. Vikram Singh, Director of Yoga & Naturopathy, M/o Ayush delivered the vote of thanks.
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RT/ DL/DR
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