Union Minister of State for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, Shripad Naik, on Saturday said that a Bengaluru-based institute has proved with research that yoga can cure cancer, reported NDTV. Naik said that many people at the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana had claimed to have been cured of cancer by practicing yoga regularly. He added that the AYUSH Ministry may endorse and prescribe this alternative cure to people in about a year’s time “only after confirming that it is 100% scientific”.

The chancellor of S-VYASA, Dr HR Nagendra, who is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s yoga guru, said that the institute had submitted the first set of documents on their study to the Centre in January. “It’s an ongoing research. We will be giving further evidence and case studies as and when we progress with our research,” he said.

While launching a “Common Yoga Protocol” on World Yoga Day last year, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar had said Ayurveda could cure diseases like AIDS and cancer, PTI reported. “We should conduct necessary research on this aspect so that India can revolutionise the health sector of the world,” he had said.