180 nations to observe Yoga Day

Celebrations for the International Day of Yoga (IDY) are moving out of embassy premises this year, to accommodate the high number of participants, and to iconic venues across the globe, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.

The day is observed on June 21.

“Our missions abroad are planning to organise the celebrations at some of the most famous monuments internationally this time around. The popularity of the day has led to increase in people participation and the embassy premises would not have been able to accommodate everyone. So, the respective embassies collaborated and are making it possible,” said Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, Ayush ministry.

The ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) is the nodal ministry for observation of IDY across the country. “Even though locally organisations and individuals have been organising yoga events at prominent places world over, this is for the first time that India’s missions abroad are making it happen,” said Kotecha.

The event will take place in 180 countries, at locations including Opera House, Sydney, Australia, Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia and Victoria Falls Bridge, Zimbabwe. The main event will be held in Ranchi, Jharkhand, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will remain present.

Each year, the day sees millions of people practicing common yoga protocol globally.

In countries where there is a lack of yoga experts, the Ayush ministry is sending trainers from India. So far, eight to 10 trainers are being sent to supervise the event and assist... The total expenditure on the preparations for these events is ~8 crore. “The embassies are only hand-holding the local bodies that have shown interest in organizing the event. The government is only spending on human resource and other minor things,” said Kotecha.