Patanjali Yogpeeth will see participation of less than 6,000 members due to security reasons.
On Sunday, more than 37,000 people will descend on the lawns of India Gate to participate in the Central government’s commemoration of International Yoga Day. While there will be a considerable representation from the bureaucracy, organisations like the Patanjali Yogpeeth and the Art of Living as well as students from Delhi will make up the numbers.
While VIPs and foreign dignitaries will account for four per cent of the total numbers, those from the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and students from various Delhi schools and colleges will account for nearly 27 per cent of the total representation.
Additionally, partner organisations like Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation will see an equal representation.
Data accessed by The Indian Express shows that while VIPs and foreign dignitaries will send 1,440 representatives, students and those from the NCC will send 4,951 and 4,885 representatives respectively. Participants of the Patanjali Yogpeeth and Art of Living will see 5,130 members each.
The list of VIPs include ministers, members of parliament, chiefs of armed forces and director generals of the Central Police Forces and commissioners. Among the bureaucrats will be special secretaries, additional secretaries, joint secretaries, directors, under secretaries and deputy secretaries across Central and state ministries.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Ramdev’s aide Balakrishna said, “The entire event is being organised by the Government of India.
Patanjali Yogpeeth will see participation of less than 6,000 members due to security reasons. However, across India, two lakh representatives of the Patanjali Yogpeeth will participate in the International Yoga Day celebrations on Sunday.”
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Sources said 107 paramilitary forces, including the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force and others, will also be participating in tomorrow’s event. Reportedly, they will be aiding the volunteers in laying yoga mats along Rajpath.
Meanwhile, a sizeable representation of defence personnel will also be seen with 1,880 members.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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Patanjali Yogpeeth will see participation of less than 6,000 members due to security reasons.
