Govt set to create 100 yoga parks this year

India plans to create 100 “yoga parks” across the country by the end of 2017 to encourage people to learn and practise yoga, said AYUSH minister Shripad Yesso Naik, a month before the International Yoga Day on June 21.

These parks will promote yoga by organising activities throughout the year, including classes at dawn and sundown. These parks will be managed by voluntary yoga organisations, the minister said.

This year, the main International Yoga Day event will take place in Rambhai Ambedkar Sabha Sthal, Lucknow, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior Union ministers and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Around 51,000 people are expected to join the Prime Minister and his entourage to do yoga in Lucknow.

Apart from the parks, the government will engage in several activities to promote the traditional practice, including a quiz competition on the ministry’s official website and essay writing on the effects of yoga on depression, ante-natal care and cancer care.

“Last year, we had invited scientific articles from medical graduates and yoga graduates on these topics. This year, we have opened it to all — people can write about how they have benefitted from yoga,” said CK Mishra, acting secretary of ministry of AYUSH.

The ministry is also conducting research on the effects of yoga on these non-communicable diseases.

The ministry will also award four persons — two nationally and two internationally — for propagating and contributing towards yoga. These awards would be announced by the Prime Minister on the International Yoga Day.