Vice-President Inaugurates KAUMARACON-2026 at AIIA Delhi

Vice-President of India Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan opened the third edition of KAUMARACON-2026 in New Delhi on 15 October 2026. The international conference on Kaumarabhritya, the branch of Ayurveda that deals with child health, was organised by the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA). Its theme this year is Shaping the Future of Child Health: Global Perspectives, Research Innovations, and Clinical Frontiers in Kaumarabhritya. The Vice-President used the occasion to ask for deeper scientific research into Ayurveda, saying that proof of efficacy is what will win patients' trust and acceptance abroad for India's traditional systems of medicine.

Five launches and one agreement

• The AYUSH Start-up Portal
• The AIIA-iCAINE website
• The Ayurveda Digital Innovation and Venture Acceleration Facility (AyuDIVA)
• The Vamana App and the Panchakarma Assessment App

An international Memorandum of Understanding between Maharishi International University (MIU) of the United States and AIIA, New Delhi was exchanged in his presence.

AIIA at ten years

The Vice-President congratulated the institute on its 10th Foundation Day and said the Prime Minister's wish to see AIIA stand on a par with AIIMS was taking shape. He had earlier walked through the institute's hospital wing and its Dhanwantari Vatika, where he was shown medicinal plants, herbs and rocks of Ayurvedic value and briefed on the institute's public health work.

Traditional medicine and the policy frame

Calling India's traditional medicine a legacy drawn from centuries of civilisational learning, Shri Radhakrishnan recalled that a separate Ministry of AYUSH was set up in 2014 to strengthen teaching, widen services and push research. He pointed to joint work between that ministry and bodies such as ICMR, CSIR, DBT, DST and AIIMS, and said placing AYUSH services inside leading medical institutions opens a conversation between traditional and modern care. The worldwide spread of Yoga and the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar were, he said, landmarks in taking Indian knowledge to other countries.

Child health and 2047

He argued that children need particular care in nutrition, growth, development, prevention of disease and emotional well-being, and that a Viksit Bharat by 2047 rests on the health of its children and the quality of its human capital. Among those present were Shri Prataprao Jadhav, Minister of State for AYUSH and for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary in the Ministry of AYUSH, Dr Maneesha Upendra, Chairperson of the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine, and Professor P. K. Prajapati, Director of AIIA.