India’s Effort in organizing International Yoga Day

June 18, 2015 Incredible India Valli Sarvani No comments

International Yoga day is ahead. It is the first time that the world is going to celebrate the day after the declaration of UN General Assembly on December 11, 2014 which is supported by 177 countries.

The declaration was done after the maiden speech of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014 to observe the International Yoga Day. In his speech, PM Modi addressed the UN stating that yoga is a holistic approach to the health and well-being of humans, and world should adopt June 21 as international yoga day. There are certain reasons for Modi to suggest June 21 as international yoga day. The first and foremost reason is that it is the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Another reason is that the date is specifically important in majority of the world.

Furthermore, the day is auspicious because the Summer Solstice results the change to Dakshinayana that is believed to support spiritual practices. It is also believed that the first transmission of yoga was started on this day by Lord Shiva. For all these reasons, June 21 is suggested for the international yoga day, and the day was approved by the UN General Assembly.

As it is the first international yoga day, government of India took it as a prestigious issue to promote this “India’s gift” to the world. The ministry of AYUSH assigned the Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy (CCRYN) to recognize the Govt. Orgnisations, NGOs and Voluntary Organisations which will be given a grant of Rs.1 lakh (or the actual expenditure, whichever is less) on reimbursement basis.

An event will be conducted on Rajpath, Delhi on that day, which will be led by the PM and the government. It is proposed that a 35-minute mass yoga will be conducted on June 21 at 7 am. In this event, nearly 40,000 people are expected to perform yoga asanas simultaneously to draw the global attention. Since this is a remarkable event, the ministry of AYUSH is planning to register the event in the Guinness Book of World Records.

With several protests from Muslim groups throughout the country on chanting “Om” and performing Surya Namaskar, the government of India decided to drop Surya Namaskar from the list of asanas. Even the chanting of slokas is not mandatory for Muslims. They are permitted to say “Allah” instead of chanting “Om”.

Embassy of India and Consulate General of India in various countries are organizing curtain raiser events.

A series of worldwide celebrations are planned in the US, the Time Square in New York being the centre. Plenty of Indian-origin groups are planning to conduct the mass yoga sessions throughout the US. Overseas Volunteers for Better India will be uniting its hands to organize the mass yoga demonstrations with 70 organizations in more than 100 cities in the US.

Several yoga teachers in various countries are hosting events. Wai Lana, one of the popular international yoga teachers, launched a video “Namasthe” to spread a message that yoga is a simple but powerful tool to improve the lives of people. Even the Secretary General of UN Ban Ki-moon admits that yoga brings satisfaction, but does not discriminate. Interestingly, the international yoga day falls in the holy month of Ramadan. So, it is decided that the celebrations in Egypt will take place after Iftar in the evening.

Indian government wants to promote Yoga as it is not related to religion but it promotes harmony between mind and the body. In this regard, Rs.205.36 crore has been allocated by the government for the financial year 2015-16.

Photo by Steve Halama on Unsplash (Free for Commercial Use)