Ayurveda centre opens at Indian mission in Trinidad

Port of Spain, July 30 (IANS) The Indian High Commission in Trinidad and Tobago has launched a centre for ayurveda following a growing interest in the Caribbean in the traditional Indian system of medicine.

The centre was inaugurated by Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Local Government Surujattan Rambachan a few days ago.

The minister also announced that a Chair of Ayurvedic Medicine will be launched soon at the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine.

He said this would be the second such academic programme to be launched at the university, the first being the Chair of Asian Studies.

Rambachan said the steps followed several agreements signed between Trinidad and Tobago's Indian-origin Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during Persad-Bissessar's historic visit to India in January.

Rambachan said relations between India and Trinidad and Tobago have moved swiftly from mere cultural and religious to that of in-depth economic, trade and investment.

The former minister of foreign affairs also heaped praises on Indian High Commissioner Malay Mishra, calling him "the entrepreneurial high commissioner".

Mishra said Trinidad and Tobago was the second country outside India to have an ayurveda centre after Malaysia.

He said people can visit the centre and access all forms of information, brochures, publications and videos on ayurveda.

Mishra said opening of the centre followed a conference on the subject here last November, and from which, "there were widespread interests and requests", all of which were encouraging.

Anusha Vaideeswaran, an ayurveda practitioner from Mumbai, gave a scholastic overview of the traditional system.

Around 44 percent of Trinidad and Tobago's population has its genesis from India's Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states, who came during 1845 to 1917 to work in the agricultural sector after the freedom of African slaves.

(Paras Ramoutar can be contacted at paras_ramoutar@yahoo.com)