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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be leading a yoga session at the United Nations' Secretariat on June 21 to mark the International Yoga Day, UN Resident Coordinator in India Shombi Sharp said on Tuesday.
Interacting with PTI on the sidelines of a seminar held here to mark 75 years of the United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping, he also said since 2015, "the world has truly embraced International Yoga Day".
Recognising its universal appeal, in December 2014, the United Nations proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga by a resolution. The day aims to raise awareness worldwide of the many benefits of practicing yoga.
"Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi will be leading a yoga session at the United Nations, at the Secretariat, on June 21," Sharp said.
The Secretariat carries out the substantive and administrative work of the United Nations as directed by the General Assembly, the Security Council and the other organs.
"Everyone understood and 175 member states signed it very quickly. It is one of those popular international days, and really embodies so many things. It is about mindfulness, mental health," he said.
He said yoga helped people in difficult times like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yoga is about staying fit and staying comfy, and International Yoga Day has "struck a resonance with the international community", Sharp said.
And, having PM Modi at the UN will be "special", he added.
The draft resolution establishing the International Day of Yoga was proposed by India and endorsed by a record 175 member states, says the UN website.
The proposal was first introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address during the opening of the 69th session of the General Assembly, in which he said, "Yoga is an invaluable gift from our ancient tradition. Yoga embodies unity of mind and body, thought and action...A holistic approach [that] is valuable to our health and our well-being. Yoga is not just about exercise; it is a way to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature".
Earlier, Sharp read out a message from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the seminar.
After reading out the message, he thanked India for its contribution to UN Peacekeeping over the decades.
"Bharat ka dil se bahut dhanyawad (many thanks to India from the bottom of the heart)," Sharp said.
India is one of the largest contributors of troops in UN Peacekeeping. It has contributed approximately 2.75 lakh troops to peacekeeping missions so far, with around 5,900 troops currently deployed in 12 UN missions, according to the defence ministry statement.
Later, Sharp also interacted with media and also took a few questions.
In his address, during the seminar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pitched for expanding the United Nations Security Council with India as a permanent member, and said the time has come for making UN bodies "more democratic and representative of the current realities of our age".
When asked for his response to these remarks, the UN diplomat said, "The UN, when it comes to the Secretary-General, the staff of the UN, recognise that all multi-level organisations need to adapt and change to be relevant, and certainly the UN is no exception".
Everybody recognises that there "needs to be reform and change to be relevant to today's world", Sharp said, adding "it is up to the member states, however, to determine the pace and nature of these reforms and change".
"Anybody, even disinterested bystanders could not argue that India does not have an incredibly strong resume to be a member of the Security Council," he said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
