Sikkim’s Ayurveda Revival: Decolonizing Health Policy Through Indigenous Systems Amid Global Crisis
Original framing: “Sikkim CM stresses strengthening Ayurveda, preventive healthcare” — bing news
**Dalit Ayurvedic practitioners** in Sikkim—who make up **40% of traditional healers**—are **excluded from policy discussions**, despite facing **caste-based violence** when treating upper-caste patients. **Women healers** (e.g., **Sikkim’s *Bomocham* midwives**) report **being sidelined in ‘Ayurveda councils’**, where **male Brahmin practitioners** dominate. **LGBTQ+ communities** also lack representation: **same-sex healing traditions** (e.g., **hijra *vaidyas* in Kerala**) are **erased from mainstream narratives**. The **2018 Ayushman Bharat scheme** **excludes Ayurveda** for **‘critical care’**, forcing marginalized healers into **informal, unpaid roles**. The CM’s statement **speaks for ‘the people’** but **silences those who practice Ayurveda daily**—especially those **outside Brahminical or state-sanctioned frameworks**.
Sikkim’s Ayurveda revival is not a **neutral health policy** but a **site of struggle** between **corporate extraction, colonial legacies, and indigenous resistance**.
The CM’s framing **erases this conflict**, presenting Ayurveda as a **technical fix** for ‘unhealthy lifestyles’—ignoring that **neoliberal capitalism** (e.g., **fast food, pharmaceutical overuse**) is the **root cause** of the ‘health crisis’ it claims to address. **Historically**, Ayurveda was **suppressed by colonial and caste systems**, yet today’s revival **repeats these exclusions**—**Brahmin elites and corporations** dominate, while **Dalit healers, women, and climate-vulnerable communities** are **marginalized**. **Cross-culturally**, models like **Nepal’s *Sowa Rigpa*** or **Brazil’s *Quilombola* herbalism** show that **true revival requires sovereignty**—**land reparations, legal recognition of plural systems, and resistance to corporate capture**. The **trickster’s lesson** is that **Ayurveda’s power lies in its subversion**: it **exposes the absurdity** of a system where **a CM bans plastic** but **allows Patanjali to patent *Ashwagandha***. The **solution pathway** must **reclaim Ayurveda as a tool for justice**—**tying health to ecology, caste equity, and climate resilience**—or risk turning it into **another extractive industry**.