As the country gears up to hold the International Yoga Day, the Modi Government is leaving no stone unturned to promote yoga which has been universally acknowledged by the United Nations and is now practiced globally by 200 countries on June 21 every year.
While, like every year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the nation in performing asanas— this time at Prabhat Tara, Ranchi in Jharkhand, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has decided to honour media houses for their contribution towards creating awareness about the yoga.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said that 33 awards will be given - 11 each for newspaper organisations, TV and radio channels. “A six-member jury will consider the entries in all 23 languages. Media campaigns on yoga from June 10 to June 25 will be considered for the International Yoga Day.
Eleven Sammans will be conferred in 22 Indian languages and English under category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Newspapers while equal number of awards will be given to 22 Indian languages and English under category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Television.”
Eleven Sammans will be conferred on 22 Indian languages and English under category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Radio.”
This year, the government has zeroed in on Ranchi in Jharkhand to hold the D-Day to mark the event. A senior Ayush Ministry official said that approximately 30,000 people are expected to participate in the main event. On 13th June, there will be a Curtain raiser to the main event at Ranchi, which will be attended by several state dignitaries, besides the yoga organisations and yoga gurus.
Last year, the main event on International Day of Yoga was held at the ground of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated.
The first International Yoga Day was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015, in which representatives of 191 countries took part. In 2016, the main function was held in Chandigarh and in 2017, it was held in Lucknow.