Modi brings out the yogi in him
Senior civil servants receive letters asking them to join yoga session led by Indian premier
Modi will lead an expected 35,000 people at the outdoor session at 7:00am on June 21. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
NEW DELHI:
He has already nixed their long lunches and complimentary golf-club memberships. Now, India’s famously ascetic prime minister is seeking to whip the country’s top bureaucrats into shape by making them join him for early-morning yoga.
Senior civil servants have received letters asking them to join a mass yoga session being led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month to mark a new international day celebrating the ancient Indian practice.
Modi, an avid yoga fan, will lead an expected 35,000 people at the outdoor session at 7:00am on June 21 in the heart of New Delhi. “It’ll be a 35-minute yoga demonstration programme, led by the prime minister himself,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.
He said the ministry in charge of yoga had sent training DVDs and booklets to government officials to help them perfect the yoga poses or asanas that will be performed on the day. “If they practice every day for even 15 to 20 minutes, they will be ready for the big day,” he said. “It will be for their own benefit, it will be a good experience.”
The United Nations last year proclaimed June 21 to be International Day of Yoga, following a proposal from Modi. The prime minister, a vegetarian who practices yoga daily and credits his strict regime with his ability to work long hours on little sleep, said at the time he was ‘elated’ by the decision.
Modi has cracked down on India’s vast and notoriously inefficient bureaucracy since storming to power a year ago. Perks, such as membership of Delhi’s oldest and most prestigious golf club, have been canceled and civil servants are under pressure to start work on time.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2015.
He has already nixed their long lunches and complimentary golf-club memberships. Now, India’s famously ascetic prime minister is seeking to whip the country’s top bureaucrats into shape by making them join him for early-morning yoga.
Senior civil servants have received letters asking them to join a mass yoga session being led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi next month to mark a new international day celebrating the ancient Indian practice.
Modi, an avid yoga fan, will lead an expected 35,000 people at the outdoor session at 7:00am on June 21 in the heart of New Delhi. “It’ll be a 35-minute yoga demonstration programme, led by the prime minister himself,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.
He said the ministry in charge of yoga had sent training DVDs and booklets to government officials to help them perfect the yoga poses or asanas that will be performed on the day. “If they practice every day for even 15 to 20 minutes, they will be ready for the big day,” he said. “It will be for their own benefit, it will be a good experience.”
The United Nations last year proclaimed June 21 to be International Day of Yoga, following a proposal from Modi. The prime minister, a vegetarian who practices yoga daily and credits his strict regime with his ability to work long hours on little sleep, said at the time he was ‘elated’ by the decision.
Modi has cracked down on India’s vast and notoriously inefficient bureaucracy since storming to power a year ago. Perks, such as membership of Delhi’s oldest and most prestigious golf club, have been canceled and civil servants are under pressure to start work on time.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2015.