In the context of an ageing population, discuss how yoga-based preventive healthcare can complement India's public health architecture.

India's elderly (60+) are projected to rise from 10.5% of the population in 2022 to nearly 21% by 2050, overtaking the child population by 2046 [1]. With a curative, hospital-centric system already strained by non-communicable diseases, yoga — recognised globally through the International Day of Yoga and themed "Yoga for Healthy Ageing" in 2026 [2][3] — offers a low-cost preventive layer, though it can supplement rather than substitute formal care.

How yoga complements the health system

• Preventive and functional gains: WHO notes yoga improves mobility, cognitive health and reduces social isolation, helping older adults retain independence [4].
• Cost-effective primary care: as a non-pharmacological intervention it eases out-of-pocket spending and hospital load, fitting the Ayushman Arogya Mandir wellness mandate.
• Standardisation exists: the Common Yoga Protocol of the Ministry of AYUSH provides a uniform, trainable 45-minute module deliverable at community level [5].
• Institutional convergence: it can be layered onto the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE), which already runs geriatric services from district hospitals down to sub-centres [6].
• Global anchoring: aligns with the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-30) and WHO's Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (2018-30) [4].

Limitations to address

• Event-centric observance risks yoga becoming symbolic rather than a daily habit — the 2026 emphasis on "everyday wellness" acknowledges this [2].
• Shortage of certified therapeutic-yoga instructors, especially rural, and weak integration with clinical geriatric protocols.
• Contraindications for frail elderly demand medical supervision, not mass drills.
• Evidence base for disease-specific claims needs sustained peer-reviewed research.

Yoga is thus best understood as a complement — strengthening the preventive and rehabilitative ends of a system built largely around treatment. Embedding the Common Yoga Protocol into NPHCE and Health and Wellness Centres, with trained instructors and outcome monitoring, can convert an annual observance into continuous care. Such convergence advances SDG-3 and realises Article 47's directive to raise public health as a primary duty of the State.