International Yoga Day: PU, education department to bring around 10,000 students for event
The event is scheduled to be held on June 21 in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate. On Tuesday, a meeting was held to discuss the arrangements for the mega event under the chairmanship of Ajit M Sharan, secretary, Ministry of Ayush.
Among those who attended the meeting were Jatinder Grover, chief security officer of Panjab University, and Jatinder Yadav, UT director (higher education). According to sources, all the three officials were asked about the number of students they can bring in for the event.
The officials responded with the figures of around 5,000 college/university students and around 5,000 schools students.
Talking to Chandigarh Newsline on the sidelines of the meeting, Sharan said that they had not fixed the exact target but were hopeful of seeing around 8,000 students in the event.
The one-hour event, which will kickstart around 7 am, is being jointly organised by the Chandigarh Administration, Punjab and Haryana.
Last year, Modi did asanas on the first International Yoga Day along with 35,985 people belonging to 84 nationalities at Rajpath in Delhi, creating a world record.
On setting a new record, Sharan said: “At the moment, we are not thinking of setting any new record. All I can say is that it’s going to be a big function and we are expecting mass participation.”
He said that volunteers of Patanjali, Art of Living and other such groups along with foreign nationals would also take part in the event.
The mega event is being funded by the ministry. Last year, around Rs 7 crore was spent on the event. “Last year’s event was a big success and it’s going to be a challenge for us to replicate last year’s success,” said the secretary.
The Central government had approached Chandigarh and states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan for organising the event. Chandigarh was picked as it was first to respond.
Sharan along with officials of Chandigarh Administration visited possible venues — Capitol Complex, Sector 34 Exhibition Ground and Botanical Garden. He said that the venue would be finalised in the next few days. The officials also met UT Administrator Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki to appraise him of the preparations.
PM likely to address gathering
Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken at International Yoga Conference organised on the same day in New Delhi. The ministry is planning to organise a similar event in Chandigarh this year where Modi would address the gathering. According to sources, the ministry is looking for a venue for the event.
One-month long training camps
The ministry will organise one-month yoga training camps in different parts of the city under the supervision of Dr Dinesh Brahmachari starting from May 21. Camps will be organised in schools, community centres and parks.
