The Ministry of Ayush has short-listed three venues in Dehradun for the main event of International Yoga Day on June 21, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate.
The three venues which have been short-listed are Gorkha Training Centre (GTC) Grounds, Maharana Pratap College of Physical Education and Forest Research Institute (FRI) grounds.
Consultation with the state government for finalising the venue is on, the Secretary in the Ministry of Ayush, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, said today.
Kotecha said the ministry has already initiated a country-wide mobilisation for taking up appropriate and specific activities for observing the International Day of Yoga (IDY)-2018, through a series of communications.
Different central ministries and departments, state governments, gram pradhans (of about 2.5 lakh villages), yoga institutes, educational institutes, chambers of commerce, municipal bodies and others have been provided with suggested lists of activities.
Kotecha said the count-down to the main event also incorporates a sustained campaign through social media platforms.
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Online competitions for composing jingles, poster-making and yoga quiz have already added to the buzz. Competitions on Facebook such as the "IDY Challenge" attracted excellent response and more such activities are being planned on the revamped interactive IDY Portal, he said.
Kotecha said that one of the highlights of IDY celebration in India is the announcement of the Prime Minister's Yoga Awards. The awards are presented each year for exemplary contribution development and promotion of yoga.
He said this year, the ministry has received more than 200 nominations/applications for the same and these are being processed.
Joint Secretary P N Ranjeet said the ministry is developing a yoga protocol for women above the age of 40 in consultation with Indian Menopause Society (IMS).
He said the ministry and the IMS would hold various training programmes on June 21 and in the months after that to popularize the protocol.