Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

State bends, stretches into record books

- HT Correspond­ent htraj@hindustant­imes.com (With PTI inputs)

NUMBER Cameras determined that 1.05 lakh performed yoga, beating previous record of 55,524 in Mysore

Rajasthan on Thursday created a world record bringing over a lakh of people together for a yoga session to mark the Internatio­nal Day of Yoga.

Two representa­tives from Guinness World Records, watched as Yoga guru Ramdev put the gathering, which included chief minister Vasundhara Raje, through a series of asanas at the RAC ground in Kota, the coaching hub of India.

The internatio­nal private organisati­on then handed over a certificat­e to Raje and Ramdev. “The largest yoga lesson was achieved by Government of Rajasthan, Patanjali Yogpeeth and District Administra­tion at Kota, Rajasthan, India on 21 June 2018,” the certificat­e read.

Nearly two lakh people were at the RAC grounds for the statelevel function, also attended by ministers, MLAs and bureaucrat­s.

Cameras set up at the site and drones determined that 1.05 lakh people performed the asanas, beating the previous record of 55,524 people in Mysore in 2017.

The yoga camp started at 5 am and the 15 exercises that were part of the protocol for setting a record were performed from 6.30 am to 7 am.

Raje, meanwhile, announced plans to set up a yoga centre with an ‘acharya’ to coach people at each district headquarte­rs. She also asked Ramdev to set up an Acharayaku­lam in Kota, on the lines of the Vedic school set up by him near Haridwar. “Our culture considers the entire world as one family based on Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. The country could emerge as the `vishwa guru’ with the help of yoga,” Raje said.

Raje praised students at Kota for being a part of the yoga event. “It is the moment of pride that the world record in Yoga is being set at a place where the entire nation dwells,” she said, adding the importance of yoga increases in Kota as due to cut-throat competitio­n, the students get tense and “nothing is better than yoga to beat the stress and tension”.

“’Yoga roots out all bad habits and tendencies from the body and soul,” Ramdev said.

Allen Career Institute played an important role in making the World record possible with 72,000 of its students, their parents, and teachers taking part the vent. The students reached the venue by bus, van and on foot from 16 campuses across the city.

State Health Minister Kalicharan Saraf, Agricultur­e Minister Phrabhulal Saini, legislator­s and top bureaucrat­s too attended the event.

“I am proud to be the part of an event that has set a world record and highly elated to have performed yoga on Internatio­nal Yoga Day,” said Aakriti Shrivastav, an IIT-JEE aspirant from Uttar Pradesh.

At Udaipur’s Narayan Seva Sansthan, over 500 differentl­y abled people performed yoga, Prashant Agrawal, president of the sansthan, said.

JAIPUR:

The largest yoga lesson was achieved by Govt of Rajasthan, Patanjali Yogpeeth and District Administra­tion at Kota, Rajasthan, India on 21 June 2018

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS

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