Union Territory Chandigarh will host the International Yoga Day event this year on June 21 in a much bigger way than the maiden show on Rajpath last year.
Ayush Minister Shripad Yesso Naik said on Wednesday, "We have decided to celebrate it in a big way. We cannot accommodate more people on Rajpath. We have chosen Chandigarh and all other states will celebrate in their own regions."
He was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day International Yoga Festival in the run up to the second International Yoga Day (IYD).
However, a senior official from the Ministry said that venue is yet to be finalized.
The first IYD was celebrated in 191 countries and the Ministry is expecting participation of more countries this year. In Delhi, the event was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who also led the yoga session at the event.
Secretary Ayush, Ajit Sharan gave the highlights of the yoga festival saying, "One such event is the Yoga Olympiad being organised by NCERT in view of the need to popularize yoga among the youth."
Dr. H Nagendra, Chancellor, S-VYASA University, Bangalore and Chairperson of the Committee of Yoga Experts for International Yoga Day, talked about the activities being planned for a grand celebration of the D-Day and the efforts to introduce yoga among youth and children with the help of Human Resource Development Ministry.
last month, Naik had released an "improvised" common protocol of yoga postures for this year's international Yoga Day (IDY). Apart from 45 minutes of Common Yoga Protocol, a provision has been made for leading yoga institutions to incorporate 15 minutes Institutional Yogic practises like pranayama, yoga nidra, dhayana, satsang and others before Sankalpa as deemed fit.
Two new Guinness World Records were set for Yoga last year with 35,985 participants performing asanas at one venue and as many as 84 nationalities joining in the official observation of International Yoga Day on Rajpath.