‘International Yoga day’ celebrations in brief from South India
Thousands of people across the country have geared up to celebrate the fourth edition of the International Yoga Day, with mass sessions of exercise and meditation, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the celebrations from Uttarakhand.
Yoga is beautiful because it has the best of our past and presents and a ray of hope for our future, PM Modi said at the opening address of the International Yoga Day 2018 celebrations at FRI in Dehradun, capital of the hill state Uttarakhand, in which over 50,000 citizens have participated. The state’s minister of higher education Dhan Singh Rawat claimed the government has received registrations “more than expected”. Students of government schools, colleges and private institutes in Dehradun will also participate in the event.
The United Nations declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014 after Modi called for the day to be adopted as a global celebration of yoga, an ancient practice that began in India more than 5,000 years ago.
India is set to kick off International Yoga Day 2018 with over 5000 events across the country today and here’s how the states from South India are celebrating the day –
Telangana
The main event in Telangana is being organised by the state government in coordination with the Union ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH). The GMC Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli is the main venue in Hyderabad, where around 4,000 yoga enthusiasts are expected to take part from 6.30am to 8pm.
State AYUSH commissioner Dr Rajendra Reddy said similar events would be organised in all the districts of Telangana.
SCCL organizes mega yoga feat
Elaborate arrangements were made by the Singereni Colleries Company Limited in all the stadia, schools and college grounds in eleven towns of six districts. More than 1.21 lakh are expected to participate on International Yoga Day. As many as 54,000 coal workers and employees of the company will participate in the mega yoga feat along with their family members.
The SCCL Chairman and Managing Director N Sridhar on Wednesday called for steps to ensure larger participation in the event intended to promote Yoga at all levels. All the eleven area of the SCCL were given targets for mobilisation of people for the event.
Some 20,000 people will take part in the event in Srirampur, 15,000 in Ramagundam -1, 14,000 in Bhupalapalli, and 10,000 each in Ramagundam-II, Ramagundam- III, Mandamarri, Manuguru, Kothagudem, 7,500 in Corporate area and Yellandu, 5,000 in Bellampalli, 2,000 in SCCL thermal station, and 300 at Singareni Bhavan ( corporate headquarters). The company authorities have taken up a massive exercise to create awareness among people on the importance of Yoga. The event will not have any impact on the routine of the miners. The event will be organised both in the morning and evening sessions and the coal miners working in all the three shifts can opt for participation according to their convenience in either of the two sessions.
In all, 64,000 SCCL workers and employees took part in the International Yoga Day event in 2006. The event was recognised by the Limca Book of World Records as the event with biggest ever participation in corporate category.
Yoga at Raj Bhavan
Governor ESL Narasimhan will be participating in the International Day of Yoga celebrations in Raj Bhavan on Thursday. A communiqué from Raj Bhavan on Wednesday said that the Governor will attend the celebrations to mark World Yoga Day at ‘Samskruti’ Community Centre from 7.30 am to 8.15 am on Thursday.
At BJP state Unit
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit will also conduct International Yoga Day celebrations at the Amberpet Municipal Grounds in Hyderabad. Bharatiya Prani Mitra Sangh, along with Jeevraksha Trust and other animal welfare organisations, will hold yoga sessions from 8am to 9am for around 2,000 school students and other health enthusiasts at Exhibition Grounds in the city.
International Yoga day in Andhra pradesh
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu performs Yoga in Amaravati
Eastern naval command staff perform yoga on board INS Jyothi in Bay of Bengal
Eastern naval command staff perform yoga on board INS Jyothi in Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam. Eastern Naval Command’s submarine staff also participated in International Yoga Day 2018.
Karnataka
An hour-long mass yoga on International Day of Yoga in Mysuru
Though the organisers are not eyeing a Guinness world record this time, they are confident of a mammoth gathering of yoga enthusiasts like the previous year, with the city etching its name across the globe as a destination for yoga. Mysuru entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest yoga demonstration or lesson at a single venue during last year’s yoga day at the MRC. As many as 55,506 people performed yoga to achieve the record.
The Mysuru district administration, with the support from Department of Tourism and AYUSH, and others, were hoping to attract one-lakh participants since over 70,000 people have already registered for the event.
The dignitaries, celebrities and yoga enthusiasts will perform yoga as per the audio-visual instructions. A total of 19 ‘asanas’ will be performed as per the protocol issued by the Central government. As many as 84 blocks have been created with each of them accommodating around 300 enthusiasts. The organisers said they have made all arrangements for the event. The gates of MRC (seven in number) will be open from 5 am.
Mandya
Several hundreds of volunteers, especially students and government employees, are expected to perform various ‘asanas’ at Sir M. Visvesvaraya District Stadium here on June 21, on the occasion of annual International Day of Yoga.
The district administration will initiate all measures including providing mats and other infrastructure facilities to ensure the success of the programme, said Pushpa, Mandya District Ayush Officer. According to the officer, hundreds of volunteers across the town will perform ‘asanas’ under the guidance of experts.
Meanwhile, according to the Education Department, students from a good number of schools have been rehearsing for the event. Legislatures, members of panchayat raj institutions, Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and other officials are also expected to take part in the programme.
International Yoga day in Kerala
Over 1,000 to perform on International Yoga Day
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the state-level yoga day celebrations at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Kochi on Thursday. At least 1,000 trained instructors will participate in the hour-long demonstration.
Yoga master trainers from 22 countries, a part of a week-long tour of the state, will also hold a session in Fort Kochi. The yoga ambassadors’ tour was organised by the Union AYUSH ministry, Kerala Tourism and Association of Indian Trade Organisations.
Governor P Sathasivam will observe the day along with employees and their families in the Raj Bhawan in Thiruvananthapuram. Sports Minister A C Moideen, former MP P Rajeev, GCDA chairman N Mohanan and M P Pathrose are the other dignitaries who will be taking part in the programme
Workshop
The Department of Computer Applications, Cochin University of Science and Technology, in association with Democratic Alliance for Knowledge Freedom (DAKF) will organise a three-day workshop on ‘Machine Learning’ starting on June 22.
International Yoga day in Puducherry
Large-scale arrangements have been made for World Yoga Day celebrations in Puducherry. Union minister of state for food processing industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti would lead the celebrations here along with Lt Governor Kiran Bedi. The minister and Ms Bedi will participate in the inaugural ceremony of national seminar-cum-CME on yoga to be held at Jipmer.
According to a Jipmer release here on Wednesday, the programme is being conducted as part of the fourth International Yoga Day Celebration to be organized by Advanced Centre for Yoga Therapy, Education and Research (ACYTER), Jipmer. International Yoga Day celebration at Jipmer is being conducted this year in collaboration with Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN), Ministry of Ayush, New Delhi, where more than 300 delegates from different parts of the country will participate in the event.
At Raj Nivas
On the other hand, Raj Nivas here also made elaborate arrangements to celebrate the yoga day. The Lt Governor in a message said that the entire Raj Nivas team will participate in the yoga event being held at Raj Navas at 6 am on Thursday. Later Ms Bedi along with the Union minister will participate in a yoga event at the beach road here. The Lt Governor will visit the central prison at Kalapet and will organise a yoga session with the inmates.
“With all prisoners, I will teach them a few asanas I practise daily,” she said in a WhatsApp message. Yoga Day celebrations have already kickstarted in Puducherry with the Kancheepuram-based Mahamaharishi Foundation embarking on its 36-hour long yoga event with the participation of 121 women, to create a Guinness record.
Guinness Book feat
A group of 121 women are aiming for an entry into the Guinness Book by doing asanas for 36 hours at a stretch. Imagine performing about 3,000 yogasanas in 36 hours without a break! In a display of a new level of dedication, a group of 121 women is bidding for an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for performing yoga for 36 hours non-stop.
The group of enthusiasts, all aged between 18 and 70 and including home makers, software engineers, and doctors, started the exercise at 7 a.m. on Wednesday at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
The yoga practitioners will go without food or sleep for 36 hours. The only relief they allow themselves is a five-minute break every one hour. A spokesman for the Kancheepuram-based Mahayogam, functioning under the aegis of Mahamaharishi Foundation, said the objective was to show the public that if this group could sustain solely on yoga for two days, it was possible to practise yoga for a few minutes daily. The yoginis, he said, had been rigorously preparing for about a month for this attempt, the spokesman said. On Thursday, the Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, a yoga advocate herself, would participate in the valedictory programme at 7 p.m.
Tamil nadu
The Isha Foundation here today said it will offer free ‘Upa Yoga’ to prisoners, lodged in the 16 prisons across Tamil Nadu, on the 4th International day of Yoga on June 21.
Its trained persons would conduct the yoga classes in the prisons, a release from the foundation said. The main aim of conducting the yoga programme in the prisons was to help the inmates overcome stress and to reduce suicide rates in jails, it said.
Apart from this, the foundation will also offer free yoga programmes to the Defence personnel, including those from the Army and para-military forces, the release said.
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