The Armed Forces will take the lead in popularising yoga across the length and breadth of the country and even abroad with its personnel performing ‘asanas’ on the first International Yoga Day on June 21. While Army jawans will perform yoga even on Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield, sailors now on overseas deployment on board various warships, will also perform Yoga while sailing.
While the selected personnel are now practicing ‘asanas’ even on high seas, the three services chiefs including Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, IAF chief Arup Raha and Navy Chief RK Dhowan will join PM Modi on June 21 at the mega event at Rajpath. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is expected to join soldiers in performing Yoga that day in Meerut.
In an effort to make the Yoga Day a huge success, more than 3,000 servicemen besides 5,000 National Cadet Corps(NCC) cadets will also perform tough yogic postures at the Rajpath lawns. Moreover, nearly five lakh NCC cadets all over the country will undergo yoga exercises simultaneously to set a record of sorts, officials said here on Wednesday.
Not leaving anything to chance, senior bureaucrats of the Defence Ministry have already started practicing various postures so as to go through the 30-minute drill on June 21 without a hitch. In fact, some of them were seen going through the paces in the corridors of South Block housing the Defence Ministry here on Wednesday. The Government has asked all officers above the rank of under secretary of all Central Ministries to take part in the grand event.
Giving details of preparations by the armed forces, officials said all Army and IAF personnel be it in operational areas or serving stints in commands and military stations all over the country are practicing ‘asanas.’
Also, all the 140 warships are geared for the event including those which are undergoing refits at various docks of the country and abroad. Even those sailors, who are underwater in submarines, will perform yoga in the confined spaces, they added. The Navy chief along with senior officers will go through a rigorous practice session on Friday here.
Besides the planned events in India, four warships now sailing in Mediterranean Sea, Western Pacific Ocean and the Southern Indian Ocean respectively will participate in the event. Widely dispersed ships of the Navy will conduct Yoga sessions that commence at the pre-decided local time of 7:00 AM, the exact time at which the occasion will be observed at Rajpath, such that “as the sun moves across time zones in its passage from the Pacific Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, it will find personnel of the Indian Navy greeting it successively with their ‘asanas’ across a vast geographical swath,” officials said.
India will lead 191 nations to mark the International Yoga Day with the biggest celebration here on Rajpath where armed forces, NCC cadets, Government officials and envoys from various countries besides other are scheduled to perform ‘asanas.’ Around 35,000 people are expected to take part in the event.
The UN General Assembly had in December last year adopted an India-led resolution, supported by over 175 UN member states, declaring June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga’, recognising that “Yoga provides a holistic approach to health and well-being.” The day will be observed in over 251 cities in 191 countries across the world and the Indian missions and diplomatic posts have made arrangements for the celebrations.