India considers yoga to boost workplace productivity

The Indian government is looking into yoga to help boost productivity in the workplace, and expects to hear the preliminary recommendations from a dedicated committee set up for this purpose by May this year. 

The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) has set up the interdisciplinary committee comprising members from educational institutions, the corporate sector and select yoga institutions to study the links between yoga and productivity. 

The educational institutions involved in the committee include All India Institute of Delhi (AIIMS) New Delhi, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.

“The spiritual connectedness and health benefits of yoga have been widely embraced by its practitioners. But the productivity dimension of yoga — its role at the workplace in offering benefits to employees to perform better –  remains unexplored to a large extent,” the ministry highlighted in a statement. 

READ: India sees over 800,000 employed in formal work in January

“This dimension becomes especially important given the increasing physical and mental pressures faced by employees, exacerbated by the current pandemic, even as employers grapple with the situation and try to improve workplace wellness,” it added. 

It added that increased productivity could mean different things, such as increased profitability, lowered operational costs, optimised resources, increased competitiveness, lowered burnout and increased employee wellbeing.