Modi government plans to rope in staff for a grand International Yoga Day

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government is considering involving its employees in the International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21, a Sunday, to make the event a grand success. The employees may be asked to be part of the celebrations on the Rajpath in the national capital, senior government officials said, adding the exact nature of their involvement will soon be worked out.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lead the Yoga Day celebrations which will be attended by about 40,000 people, they said.

The Central government employees may be asked to join the Rajpath event or other such programmes in their respective offices here and elsewhere in the country. However, their participation will not be mandatory, officials said.

There are about 48 lakh Central government employees in the country.

The Personnel Ministry has been conducting Yoga classes for Central government employees and their dependents here over the last two months.

The sessions are being held on all days except Sundays and gazetted holidays at Grih Kalyan Kendra, Samaj Sadan in association with Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga.

Modi had in his address to the UN General Assembly in 2014 appealed to the international community to choose a day that could be observed as International Yoga Day. Following Modi's strong pitch, the UN declared June 21 as International Yoga Day.

The government is contemplating to organise the Rajpath event on such a scale that it makes it to the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest number of people performing asanas at a time. The 35-minute event will get underway at 7 AM, sources said.

The International Yoga Day will be observed in over 250 cities in 190 countries and Indian missions have been asked to make arrangements for that.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) Minister Shripad Yesso Naik are scheduled to address the media on Tuesday when they will talk about the plans and preparations for the day. They are also likely to launch a special portal on the event.