Prime Minister Narendra Modi will celebrate this year’s International Day of Yoga on June 21 on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. As many as 3,000- 4,000 people are expected to attend the event scheduled at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) along the picturesque Boulevard road.
This year the theme of the International Day of Yoga is ‘Yoga for Self and Society’ which highlights yoga’s dual role in fostering individual and societal well-being.
Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Ayush (Independent charge), said in Delhi on Tuesday that the Prime Minister has written to each Gram Pradhan, encouraging grassroots participation and the spread of yoga in rural areas.
Srinagar Gears Up
The Srinagar administration is all geared up for hosting country’s main event on International Day of Yoga in the city. The Union Territory’s Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Manoj Sinha-led administration has made special arrangements for the function which will also Prime Minister Modi first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after taking over in his third record term.
This will also be PM Modi’s second visit to Srinagar this year. In February, the PM visited Srinagar and addressed a rally ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won two of the five seats in Jammu and Kashmir, both in Jammu region.
Apart from party workers, students, officers and sports personalities and enthusiasts are expected to attend the function. The authorities will put in place a multi-layer security blanket across Srinagar during from Thursday evening when the Prime Minister is expected to land in Srinagar. The Jammu and Kashmir Police has already declared Srinagar a ‘temporary red zone’, banning any operation of drones and quadcopters in the city until at least the event is over on Friday.
International Day of Yoga
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), heeding to a call by Prime Minister Modi, had made a declaration in December 2014 to observe June 21 every year as International Day of Yoga (IDY).
Prime Minister, Modi, has been a pivotal figure in promoting yoga globally. Since 2015, PM has led the IDY celebrations at various iconic locations, including Kartavya Path in Delhi, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Ranchi, Jabalpur, and even the United Nations Headquarters in New York where he celebrated the event last year.
Also Read: International Yoga Day 2023: ‘Yoga is a way of life’, says PM Modi in New York
“His leadership has significantly boosted yoga’s global popularity and recognition,” Jadhav said.
In the run up to the Friday’s main event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been sharing different asanas on his X account while spreading awareness about Yoga and its benefits. PM Modi shared a few tutorial videos, with an animation explaining how to do perform a particular yoga posture.
In the last 10 years, IDY has set four Guinness Book of World Records. In 2015, a total of 35,985 Indians performed Yoga at Rajpath along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A total of 84 countries participated in the yoga session at one place and gradually each year witnessed increasing number of participation from across the world and last year in 2023, a total of around 23.4 crore people from across the world participated in the IDY event, according to a government press release.
(With PTI inputs)
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Published: 19 Jun 2024, 09:28 AM IST