50 top officers of armed forces to join Yoga Day

Nearly 50 top officers of the armed forces of the rank of lt-General and equivalent besides the three Services chiefs, Defence Secretary and junior bureaucrats will perform asanas on International Yoga Day on Sunday at Rajpath.  Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will join soldiers in doing yoga on that day at Meerut Cantonment while all units of the IAF, Army and Navy will celebrate the event all over the country.

To ensure glitch free performance, the selected personnel are undergoing training in various asanas at the Defence Ministry headquarters in South Block here.  Moreover, Navy Chief Admiral RK Dhowan also took part in the practice session at the Nau Sena Bagh here with other senior Navy officers, their spouses and children.

Besides these preparations, the Defence Ministry photography unit will cover the event from the top of the India Gate to give a panoramic view.  The lens men will also cover the mass drill led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Ministers, senior bureaucrats and others from helicopters for aerial shots, officials said here on Friday.

More than 40,000 people are expected to take part in synchronised Yoga at Rajpath.  The participants include 3,200 servicemen and 5,000 National Cadet Corps(NCC) cadets besides 5,000 paramilitary personnel.  The largest contingent comprising 1,200 personnel each is drawn from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF) followed by 700 personnel each from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

Apart from these contingents, the para-military forces have also asked their field formations in border areas, anti-Naxal operations grid and high-altitude areas to hold special yoga sessions to mark the event.The commandos of the elite National Security Guard (NSG) will be doing their Sunday session of yoga at their garrison in Manesar near here with newly appointed force chief RC Tayal in attendance.

ITBP troops deployed in upper reaches in ladakh will also undertake these sessions on that day while CRPF men posted in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) areas will also join in to mark the International Yoga Day.