The AYUSH healthcare system is the key to a healthy population, union minister Shripad Naik said on Friday."The goal of achieving a healthy population can be met through AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) system," the minister of state for AYUSH and health and family welfare said. He was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony at the Regional Ayurveda Research Institute for Metabolic Disorders (RARIMD) here. The foundation stone was laid by Naik and union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu at Uttarahalli Manavarthekaval. Naik said the government was making efforts to promote and popularise ayurveda in the country, adding that it will ink an agreement with the World Health Organisation to popularise ayurveda across the world. Naidu, in his address, said that research and development in ayurveda has become the need of the hour as ayurveda is being assimilated into the mainstream healthcare system of the country. The RARIMD Bengaluru, a subsidiary of the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda Sciences, aims to become a pioneer in ayurveda research.