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Dear Prime Minister, Yoga means to ‘To Unite- Not ‘To Divide’




June 21st is not only the Summer Solstice in the Northern hemisphere, but the International Day for Yoga declared by the United Nations. As an Indian, it is indeed a matter of great pride that this daily practice of meditation and exercise carried out by millions of Indians in their ordinary routine has attained a global symbol.

Although, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not the first man to promote Yoga internationally, but certainly the way he is event managing the entire show showcasing it as a spectacle – a new thing to the entire world is certainly commendable

Marketing and event management is an art in which our Prime Minister has mastered. As CM, he had the services of PR firm APCO Worldwide, now he even does not need that. The master of selfies is doing every bit to create a spectacle with a 35-minute mass demonstration of 15 yoga asanas by 45,000 school children, government officials, diplomats, army personnel and NCC cadets at Rajpath on June 21st

20 days before the event, Television channels have started ‘debating’ it; by bringing in those who are ‘opposed to the idea’ and those ‘who support this event’. Reporters are knocking the doors of Maulivis, Mullahs, Christians, Sikhs and every other wannabe minority cleric to take their views on this grand spectacle. Of course, those who want to get free press are ready to give an opinion on it. Be it the RSS or the Deobandi Muslims, or the Catholic priest from Kerala- they are happy to push their agenda. This leaves the Liberal Indian- nowhere in the picture.

The ‘Liberal Indian’ whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian or atheist is being pushed to take a stand on an issue in which he or she might not be even interested in.

Meditation is personal, exercise is a very personal thing- relaxing your own mind and body in order to live a healthy life is a matter of personal choice. Millions of Indians and even people around the world practice Yoga to keep their body and minds fit. The pertinent question here is – why make it an event? Why do we want to create a world record of sorts, of an exercise regime which so common in nature in our day to day lives.

Why do we have to force 45000 school children, government servants and army men on a Sunday to showcase the world, which the world already knows and practices.

The answer is simple. Self, Selfie and Selfishness is the ‘Mool Mantra’ of our dear Prime Minister. Unless, there are photo-ops, unless small and big film, TV stars, sportspersons et all endorse his grand event, his selfish ego is not satisfied.

The AYUSH department, which is organising this event, has not taken a single step to institutionalize Yoga, in this one year of Modi Sarkar. There are 17 institutions which come under this department have spent measly amounts like 3%, 4% and 10% of the budgetary allocation this year.

Utilization of AYUSH Ministry is among the lowest - a dismal 43% indicating that Modi’s tantrum on pushing Yoga globally is just a show-off




Allocation to Morarji Desai Institute of Yoga was Rs. 13.20 crore which is lower than Rs. 15 crore spent in 2013-14 by the UPA. More-over, only a dismal Rs. 0.35 crore was utilized (lesser than 10%) in 2014-15(RE). The following table shows the reality of under utilization of funds by the Modi government:


Scheme
Budget Est (Plan) 2014-15
Revised(Plan) 2014-15
% Utilization
Budget Est 2015-16
 
Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga
9.0
0.4
4
12.0
Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy
12.7
3.8
30
12.0
All India Institute of Yoga
0.5
0.0
0
0.1
Central Council for Research in Siddha
15.0
2.0
13
9.5
Other Schemes
9.0
2.8
31
20.0
Development of Common Facilities for AYUSH Industry Clusters
24
0.8
3
10.6
Assistance to accrediated AYUSH Centres of Excellence in NonGovernmental/ Private Sector engaged in AYUSH education/drug Development & Research/ Clinical Research/ Folk Medicine etc
18.5
5.7
31
17
Other Schemes of AYUSH(Aggregate)
107
59
55
113
North Eastern Institute of AYUSH/Folk Medicine
37.5
2.9
8
20.4
Provision for projects/schemes for the benefit of the North Eastern Areas and Sikkim
65.9
24.3
37
64.4
Investment in Public Enterprises - IMPC.Ltd.
7
0
0
5
STATE AND UT PLAN
AYUSH




Development of Institutions
50
0
0
0
Hospitals and Dispensaries (Under NRHM including AYUSH flexi-pool)
240
0
0
0
Drugs Quality Control
8
0
0
0
National Mission on Medicinal Plants
70
44
63
0
CENTRAL PLAN OUTLAY
689
346
50
690
STATE PLAN
364
117
32
300
UT PLAN
15.6
3
19
18

The entire tantrum on Yoga is just a photo-op event management exercise by the government - this is evident from the fact that Rs. 318 crores have been allocated to AYUSH Promotion in 2015-16 against a spending of Rs. 66.52 crore in 2014-15

Critical analysis apart, promoting Yoga in our day to day lives and institutionalizing it,is a job which the government should have undertaken. Instead, this government is hell bent in creating a spectacle of a one day event- a one day wonder!

Public memory is too short to remember this ‘one day wonder’ and to even learn 15 aasanas in a 35 minute session. They may or may not remember this, but one thing is for sure, they would certainly remember our PM for imposing this on them!

Dear Prime Minister, Yoga means ‘To Unite’- but you are doing the opposite.


Comments

universityofpatanjali said…
Truly i am awed from this post....the individual who made this post is a liberal and knows how to keep the perusers connected..Thanks for imparting this to us thought that it was useful and intriguing. Looking forward for more overhauls..yoga courses in india
September 15, 2016 at 1:30 AM
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