PM to lead 3rd International Yoga Day celebrations
NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: The stage has been all set for grand celebrations of the third edition of International Yoga Day on Wednesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slated to lead thousands of yoga enthusiasts here.
The main event of the celebration is to be held in Lucknow’s sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar Ground under a partly overcast sky. The Met Office, however, has forecast chances of rain are low.
Some 51,000 persons, including several dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats, are expected to take part in the mass yoga demonstration in the Uttar Pradesh capital, where rehearsals have been going on for over a month.
Adityanath and Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik inspected the overall preparations, including the security arrangements, for the mega event, and attended full-dress rehearsals at the spruced up ground.
Modi reached Lucknow on Tuesday afternoon.
According to private weather forecaster Accuweather, the sky will be “partly cloudy” and the mercury will hover between 28 and 30 degrees Celsius in Lucknow on Wednesday morning.
The chances of rain are less as precipitation level will go down from 28 per cent to 20 per cent from 6 am to 8 am, but humidity will be around 80 to 90 per cent.
An ardent advocate of yoga, Modi during his monthly radio talk “Mann Ki Baat” had asked three generations of the families to do yoga together on the International Yoga Day — observed globally on June 21.
The United Nations declared it on December 11, 2014, following a resolution moved by India and co-sponsored by a large number of nations.
The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015.
Yoga day events will also be organised in all states with the Union Human Resource Development Ministry directing universities and educational institutions to ensure elaborate arrangements to mark the event.
While Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will head the events in Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar will preside over the celebrations in Manipur.
Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu is scheduled to lead the event at the national capital where at least seven main events are being organised by civic bodies and yoga organisations.