Jiva Ayurveda seeks global recognition to Indian system of medicine
New Delhi, July 13 : Jiva Ayurveda, which runs 80 clinics and hospitals across India, has come out with diagnostic protocols in a bid to get global recognition to the ancient Indian system of medicine. The protocols will be launched on Monday.
"The ayurveda industry has long been wanting a set of protocols to transform the age-old healing tradition into a data and evidence driven system of medicine for wider acceptance in the world," Jiva Ayurveda Director Madhusudan Chauhan told IANS.
Jiva Ayurveda, which created the protocols after analyses of consultation records of two lakh patients its doctors treated over the last decade, has concluded that the practice can be standardized but not treatment as it is personalized.
Unlike allopathy, ayurveda is fundamentally a personalized system of medicine. "Ayurveda is a far more evolved science. Same medicines for same symptoms do not work here. Personalized medicine based on genomics and the 'systems view' of human health is only now coming into fashion in allopathy, while ayurveda is built around these very concepts," he said.
Yet, ayurveda is not accepted as a medical science in many countries as the scientific community asks for data and evidence -- on what basis are the medicines given and how is their effect proven? Chauhan said ayurveda did not have this data and evidence.
Set up in 1992 with the head office in Faridabad, Jiva Ayurveda has more than 350 doctors and 400 healthcare professionals. It has been collating data since 2009 for the purpose of evolving protocols.
"Four years ago, Jiva began a huge data analytics project, reviewing the consultation records of two lakh patients by using artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer modelling. The protocols are now ready," he said.
The protocols and the decision support system built over them will actively help ayurveda practitioners through the entire process of consultation that incorporates patients answers. The system assigns weightage to various factors and arrives at an authoritative diagnosis.
It also suggests diagnostic clues that the doctor may have missed which may lead to a possible different line of treatment.
The protocols, which have been run successfully on 20,000 patients so far, will create a wealth of data that will be validated by domestic and international institutes and universities which will eventually go on to validate ayurveda as a legitimate science of treatment.
"It's a long battle but at least the protocols will open the gates. I believe it will take seven to eight years before ayurveda gets its due recognition. Ayurveda can be India's biggest contribution to the world in this century," said Chauhan.
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UK Professor Nitasha Kaul's Overseas Citizenship of India cancelled
Academician decries move as "transnational repression"
London/New Delhi: Professor Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic, announced on May 18, 2025, via a social media post that her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card has been cancelled by the Indian government. She described the move as a "bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of transnational repression" intended to punish her for her scholarly work critical of the Modi government's policies concerning minorities and democracy.
The cancellation follows an incident in February 2024 when Professor Kaul, who holds a British passport and held an OCI card, was denied entry into India upon arrival at Bengaluru airport. She had been invited by the then Congress-led Karnataka state government to speak at a conference on "The Constitution and Unity in India."
According to an image of the letter shared by Professor Kaul, the Indian government stated that it had been "brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been found indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history." The letter further accused her of regularly targeting India and its institutions on matters of India's sovereignty through "numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms."
Professor Kaul, who is a Professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the University of Westminster, London, vehemently rejects these accusations. She stated she had provided a 20,000-word response to what she termed the government's "ridiculous inanity about ‘anti-India’," but the OCI was cancelled through a "rigged process."
In her social media posts, Professor Kaul lamented the decision, questioning how the "mother of democracy" could deny her access to her mother in India. She characterized the action as stemming from "thin-skinned, petty insecurity with no respect for well-intentioned dissent."
The February 2024 denial of entry had already sparked controversy. At the time, immigration officials reportedly cited "orders from Delhi" without providing formal reasons, though Professor Kaul mentioned informal references to her past criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Ministry of External Affairs had then responded by stating that the entry of foreign nationals into India is a "sovereign decision." Unofficial government sources had indicated that a "preventive lookout circular" was issued against her due to her alleged "pro-separatist" and "anti-India" stance on Kashmir.
The BJP in Karnataka had criticised the state government for inviting her, labelling her an "anti-India element." Conversely, the then-Karnataka government and various international human rights organizations and academic bodies had condemned the denial of entry.
Professor Kaul has been an outspoken commentator on Indian politics, including the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and has testified before international bodies such as the US Congress on human rights in the region. She maintains her work is academic and pro-democracy, not anti-India.
The cancellation of her OCI card effectively bars her from entering India, a country to which she has personal and academic ties. This incident adds to a growing list of academics, journalists, and activists of Indian origin whose OCI status has been revoked or who have been denied entry to India in recent years, raising concerns about freedom of speech and dissent. Reports indicate that over 100 OCI cards were cancelled by the Indian government between 2014 and May 2023. Furthermore, in 2021, new rules were introduced requiring OCI cardholders to obtain special permission for activities such as research and journalism.
