Large number of central government employees to participate in Yoga Day event

A large number of central government employees are expected to participate in International Yoga Day celebrations to be held at Rajpath on June 21 here, to make the event a grand success.

The Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has prepared a list of government officials of all levels of seniority who will join the mass yoga session to be held at Rajpath here on coming Sunday. "We are getting requests from various employees working in different ministries for participation in the Yoga Day celebrations. The DoPT is facilitating it," Union Minister Jitendra Singh told PTI. He said yoga classes have already been conducted by the DoPT for central government employees and their family members since April 1, this year onwards.

These sessions are being held on all days except Sundays and gazetted holidays at Grih Kalyan Kendra (GKK), Samaj Sadan in association with Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga. "There will be good participation from government employees working in national capital," he said adding that it is not mandatory for the employees to attend the event. There are about 48 lakh central government employees in the country.

Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, held a meeting with senior officials to discuss the arrangements for the international Yoga Day. The DoPT will facilitate in arranging conveyance for the employees to participate in the event, a senior Personnel Ministry official said. About 40,000 people are expected to be part of the grand celebrations at Rajpath.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in his address to the UN General Assembly last year appealed to the international community to choose a day that could be observed as International Yoga Day. Following Modi's strong pitch, the UN declared June 21 as International Yoga Day. The government is contemplating to organise the Rajpath event on such a scale that it makes it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of people performing asanas at a time. The International Yoga Day will be observed in over 250 cities in 190 countries and Indian missions have been asked to make arrangements for that.