Dehradun: Eleven-year-old Deepa, a student hailing from the Talla Krishnapur area of Nainital will be seen doing yoga with Prime Minister Narendra Modi this International Yoga Day in Delhi. Deepa got selected for the Under-14 National Yoga Olympiad in Delhi on the occasion of International Yoga Day on June 21, where PM Modi will also be present. Fifteen other girl students from Uttarakhand also got selected for this Olympiad.
Deepa has already left for Delhi with her trainer Kanchan Rawat and her family members. Deepa's father, Kishan Giri works as a gardener in the High Court Advocate General's Office, Nainital. Her mother, Kamala is a homemaker. Deepa is the youngest among the three sisters in her family. The news of Deepa participating in a yoga session with Prime Minister Modi has made them overwhelmed.
Deepa studies in class 6 in Atal Utkrisht Government Girls Inter College at present. Her School Principal, Savitri Dugtal said that Deepa has been practising yoga since the age of nine and wants to pursue a career in the field of yoga. Deepa has also participated in the state-level Yoga Olympiad organized by NCERT at GGIC Dhaulakheda Haldwani and has made her way to the National Yoga Olympiad.
The theme of this year's International Yoga Day is 'Yoga for Humanity'. Earlier in his Mann Ki Baat program, Prime Minister Modi had mentioned that this theme was decided upon after much deliberation. He reasoned that during the pandemic, yoga has contributed to reducing a lot of suffering among people. Hence, apart from the spirit of humanity, yoga will also teach kindness and compassion to them.
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The Ministry of AYUSH has been instructed to organize International Yoga Day programs at 75 heritage sites of Uttarakhand. Places like Nainital, Kedarnath Dham and Harki Paidi have been selected among those 75 special places of national importance by the Ministry. Special places have also been identified at Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Champawat, Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital, Pauri, Pithoragarh, Rudraprayag, Udhamnagar and Uttarkashi. Nodal officers have also been appointed from the Department of Ayurveda for conducting the yoga session on June 21.
Moreover, it has been instructed to organize yoga sessions on the occasion of International Yoga Day across all health and wellness centres set up by the Department of AYUSH and Health. Prime Minister Modi has also sent a message to all the village heads of the country inviting them to participate in the June 21 program to be held across all health and wellness centres and encourage people to participate.
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami will be the chief guest at the yoga session to be held at Parmarth Niketan on June 21. It is expected that more than two thousand participants will participate in the program. Various yoga institutes in the state like Indian Yoga Institute, Art of Living, Bharat Swabhiman Trust and Uttarakhand Ayurved University will also be participating.
