22/06/2015
Uttarakhand government may soon recruit 10,000 yoga instructors to teach yoga and pranayam in state-run Ayurvedic hospitals. Announcing this at an event held at Pavilion Ground to celebrate International Yoga Day, chief minister Harish Rawat said that the appointments, which will be made on an ad-hoc basis, will solve some of the employability concerns of the 20,000-plus trained yoga teachers in the state. Rawat added that hour-long yoga and pranayam sessions will be introduced in the Ayurvedic hospitals across the state within a few weeks. "In the first phase, district Ayurvedic hospitals will be covered. Later, the scheme would be extended to other civic bodies including the municipal corporation and nagar panchayat. These civic bodies will be entrusted to develop parks in their areas which will be labeled as Yoga and Natural Therapy Parks," he said.
Adding that the state government had chalked out a detailed plan to promote yoga, Rawat, who performed asanas with other participants, said jocularly that if he could learn yoga at his age, so could other people too. "Yoga should be presented in its simplest form so that everybody can take it up." The chief minister added that efforts will be made to develop Yoga Gram (Yoga Villages) in different district to sensitize people about the significance of yoga.
A senior officer in state tourism department said base camps will also be set up at Rishikesh and Tanakpur for conducting yoga programmes. A particular ghat will be developed and beautified for a yoga campaign by the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam during upcoming Ardh Kumbh. "Yoga instructors will also be give certificate and diploma courses in foreign languages at Doon university to help to go abroad to teach yoga," he said.