AYUSH Ministry will work to raise awareness and spread knowledge of the rewards associated with practising yoga: Sarbananda Sonowal

Union Minister for AYUSH speaks to The Hindu about Yoga Day, recommending yoga for school and college students and the blueprint for standardisation of AYUSH medical interventions and drugs.

In marking 75 years of India’s Independence and celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of AYUSH has decided to observe the countdown to the International Day of Yoga (IDY) 2022 from the 100th day backwards which started from March 13. During this period, every day a Yoga Mahotsav will be observed in a designated city on each day. Till June 21, 100 cities across India will celebrate this festival of health and wellness.

The Ministry will leverage its reach through social media platforms. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s MyGov platform will launch citizen–centric awareness building and engaging activities and the AYUSH Ministry will work to raise awareness and spread knowledge of the rewards associated with practising Yoga.

We are tying up with various industry bodies/associations like ASSOCHAM, FICCI, CII, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry along with premier yoga organisations and institutes to observe the International Day of Yoga. The Ministry will coordinate with the missions abroad through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) to make it a grand event across the globe.

The Ministry has requested the National Medical Commission (NMC), the National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) and the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine (NCISM) to introduce yoga in their curriculum.

Under the Centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha, realising the need for holistic development of children, sports and physical education component has been introduced for encouragement of sports, physical activities, yoga, co-curricular activities etc. Further, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has made health and physical education compulsory in all classes from I-XII.

It has been advised to schools that health and physical education includes three areas i.e. health education, physical education and yoga and all three areas are essential to achieve holistic health (physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual).

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) recommended yoga as an integral part of health and physical education. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has already developed integrated syllabi on health and physical education from Class I to Class X.