Jharkhand bids for new All India Institute of Ayurveda at Ranchi's Itki

Jharkhand's health department is preparing point-by-point answers to questions from the Centre as the state tries to win one of the three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda (AIIA) announced in the Union Budget 2026-27, according to a report published on Saturday, October 24, 2026. The Centre has written to the state asking why Jharkhand needs such an institute and how people would benefit if it were set up in Ranchi. The state has proposed land at the tuberculosis (TB) sanatorium campus in Itki, on the outskirts of Ranchi.

An All India Institute of Ayurveda is the Ayurveda system's equivalent of an AIIMS: a national institute under the Ministry of Ayush that combines a hospital, postgraduate teaching and research. The New Delhi institute alone treated more than 37 lakh patients between October 2016 and September 2026, according to its ten-year report, which shows the scale such a centre can reach. A new campus would mean specialist Ayurveda care, a teaching hospital and research jobs in the region where it is built.

That is why states are competing. With only three new institutes on offer and their sites still open, states have to make a case on land, money and need. Jharkhand's pitch rests on land it already owns at Itki and a state share of about Rs 300 crore towards a project of about Rs 1,000 crore. The Centre's letter asking for reasons suggests the selection is still at the stage of comparing proposals, not of final approval. Himachal Pradesh has made a similar offer, with 70 acres at Dhaneta and Rs 300 crore.

The Itki campus has a long history in public health: the TB sanatorium there was set up in 1928 and still treats patients from several districts of Jharkhand. Earlier plans for the same land have included a "medico city" and other medical projects, so the land figures in different reports do not always match. The final area, design and timeline for any Ayurveda institute will depend on what the Centre decides.

There is also a point of evidence. AIIA institutes are meant to be research centres as well as hospitals, where treatments are meant to be tested by study. A new campus would add to that research capacity. Any health claims about specific Ayurvedic treatments still depend on the studies done, not on where an institute stands.

Short-term: Jharkhand's replies to the Centre will form part of the case for Ranchi. No decision on the sites of the three institutes has been announced.

Long-term: If Ranchi is chosen, eastern India would get a national Ayurveda hospital, teaching and research institute, with specialist care, postgraduate seats and jobs.

Who is affected: Patients in Jharkhand and neighbouring states, Ayurveda students and doctors seeking postgraduate and research places, the Itki area, and other states bidding for the three institutes.

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