Centre’s Yoga Day plans a photo-op, says Congress

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said: “There is a hiatus between reality and hype. What you speak and shout from the rooftop and the figures on the ground are different. The Department of AYUSH has utilised only 43 per cent of its budget allocation in the last one year. And the AYUSH funds some 17 institutions…Utilisation of funds by these institutions ranged from 3 per cent, 4 per cent, 8 per cent to mostly 30-35 per cent. In one case, it is 55 per cent.”

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He added: “This is the level of utilisation in a year when yoga has been hyped so much. The performance of AYUSH is in line with Modi’s as well as the BJP government. They make a lot of noise, but there is no action on the ground. They believe in words and not deeds.”

Singhvi said the utilisation of funds at the Moraraji Desai National Institute of Yoga was just 4 per cent while at the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy, it was 30 per cent.

“The entire tantrum over yoga is just a photo op and event management exercise by the government… This is evident from the fact that Rs 318 crore has been allocated for AYUSH promotion in 2015-16 against a spending of Rs 66.52 crore in 2014-15,” he said.