The Ministry of AYUSH has launched an initiative to turn 500 villages in the country into 'Sampurna Yoga Grams' with at least a member of each household practising yoga regularly, ahead of International Yoga Day (IYD) on June 21, a senior official said.
The concept comes from a village named Kunnamthanam in Kerala, where the
village panchayat has started this initiative.
The aim is to replicate the Kunnamthanam model across India, the senior AYUSH ministry official said.
"The National Health policy 2017 places emphasis on health promotion and diseases prevention rather than the curative aspect.
"Yoga is the most suited system for self health and regular practice of yoga can substantially help in reducing the incidence of diseases and impact macro health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate among others," the official said.
As a part of the Sampurna Yoga Grams (Complete Yoga Villages) initiative, every village will have a research extension unit so that health parameters can be periodically measured.
Further, the ministry has short-listed four cities -- Jaipur, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Mysore -- for holding the main function of International Yoga Day this year.
These four names will now be sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) which will select one city and then finalise the venue of the main function.
In the run-up to the main event, an international yoga fest will be held from March 21-23 at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi which will be followed by 10 state-level fests to be held in different parts of the country.
Also, 100 yoga teachers have been deployed in Indian missions abroad. Delegate from more than 16 countries will participate in the event.
"The aim is to build an atmosphere of yoga in the lead-up to the main event and sensitise the masses about the grand function on June 21," the official said.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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