Ramdev to get status of Haryana cabinet minister

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government decided on Monday to accord the status of cabinet minister to Baba Ramdev, who has been appointed as the state’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda. “The decision was taken at a meeting of ministers that was presided over by the chief minister,” Haryana’s health and sports minister Anil Vij said.

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government decided to give Ramdev the status of a Cabinet minister on Monday.

Ramdev, who has been appointed as the state’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda, is not an elected public representative.

“Ramdev, the brand ambassador for promotion of yoga and ayurveda in Haryana, will be given status equivalent to Cabinet minister,” Haryana’s health and sports minister, Anil Vij tweeted on Monday.

Vij had earlier said a herbal forest would be developed in the state where plants of thousands of species of ayurvedic herbs would be grown under the supervision of Ramdev.

The emphasis on yoga and ayurveda would lead to an amalgamation of tradition and modernity and inclusion of yoga in the school syllabus would turn Haryana into a model state based on Indian values and traditions, Vij had said.

Yoga would be made a compulsory subject in Haryana’s schools for which ‘yogshalas’ will be constructed in all the towns and about 6,500 villages of the state under the guidance of Ramdev, he said.