National Institute at Alwar to offer courses in Ayurveda and Unani medicine

NEW DELHI: The government on Monday laid the foundation for the first national institute at Alwar to provide specialised courses in Ayurveda and Unani medicine and a world class skill Centre. It will also in a first make way for minimum 40% reservation for girl students. This educational institution is expected to be ready to take in the first batch of students in 2020.
The ministry of minority affairs plans to set-up four more such institutes across the country to give impetus to education and skill development in backward areas.This institute will be open to everyone including minorities.
At the foundation laying ceremony at Alwar which was till recently in news over the horrific lynching of man who villagers suspected of allegedly smuggling cows, minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi tried to strike a chord with the public affirming the government's commitment to "development". In a hard hitting attack on the Congress he pointed "it was a tough challenge to kill the termites of corruption and remove the stains of failure, received as legacy from the earlier regime at the Centre". Claiming that prime minister Narendra Modi was a "victim of political intolerance" Naqvi said that despite the odds Modi has "taken the country forward on the path of inclusive growth". Naqvi said that the government's determination for development was not influenced by "vote bank politics."
Meanwhile, the national institute will come up on a 15 acre plot of land in Kohrapipli village at Kishangarh Bas in Alwar district of Rajasthan. "This institute will be developed as world class educational institute which will be affordable, accessible and ensure quality education to poor and weaker sections including minorities," Naqvi said.
This institute is proposed to be a space for end to end education where a school facility for primary to senior secondary level will also be created to create an avenue for education for the local students and even those from other states. This is also being seen as a feeder school system to provide students to apply for specialised courses at the higher education level that the Institute will offer. "The Institute will have skill development centre and courses linked to Ayurveda and Unani science and sports facilities will be established here," Naqvi added. The institute will be run on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
On the choice of Alwar as the location of the institute, Naqvi cited this to be a step towards opening up opportunities for people in an area with backward pockets. He pointed that Alwar was also near Mewat which was ranked as the most backward district as per the Niti Aayog rankings and is thus on the list of aspirational districts. Also its proximity to Delhi makes the location of the institute viable in terms of access to students aspiring for education in health sciences. From the skills perspective location of the institute is such that the nearby areas have a lot of automobile industries and hence livelihood centric skill training programmes can be planned to create opportunities for the local residents here, officials said.
Noting that there was vital gap in affordable and quality school education for children from minority communities, a high level committee under the MAEF last year made many recommendations to improve the education facilities. To strengthen the post graduation level base of educational facilities available to minority community students it was recommended that five national level institutes should be set-up with focus on skill development and specialised courses.