NEW DELHI: Yoga has found a vigorous proponent in Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. His ministry is now looking for a qualified yoga teacher to train its officials and keep them motivated and healthy after long hours of stressful job. The green ministry already houses a gym with sophisticated equipment.
The decision to introduce yoga was encouraged by the keen interest of Javadekar, who practices yoga to keep himself fit while working long hours and travelling. The ministry is in the process of preparing a note seeking appointment of a yoga teacher in the ministry to train employees.
The hour-long yoga sessions will be on voluntarily basis and three slots have been looked at. While lunch hours will be reserved for women staff, morning sessions will be for other staff members and evening for officers. The ministry will bear the expenses and there will be no fees charged from the participants.
“Yoga is a tried and tested way of beating stress and being healthy. So why should we not do it for the ministry staffers who are working so hard and efficiently?” said an environment ministry official.
The administrative department in the ministry has been unofficially hunting for a yoga teacher. “We had some candidates but none fit as per our requirements yet. We are looking for someone who could attend to our officers and staff during specific times so that regular official work is also not hampered,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the gym that was started by ministry in April has already gained popularity among its staffers and people are also looking forward to yoga sessions.
Under the initiative of the NDA government, yoga training sessions have been started from April 1 for the benefit of central government employees and their dependents at Grih Kalyan Kendra Smaj Sadans in association with Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi. The programme is being run at 26 places in Delhi and 14 from other parts of India at zero cost to people.
A logo for the International Yoga Day, which will be observed on June 21 was unveiled recently along with protocol to create general awareness among people and community to get harmony and peace through Yoga. The day was named by the United Nations last year following a proposal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to the UN General Assembly.