Children should make yoga part of their lives: Raman Singh

Expressing happiness at participating in the International Yoga Day celebrations with school kids here, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Sunday urged the children of the state to make yoga a part of their lives as it would improve their memory and make them healthy.

"I did yoga today along with several officials and over 1000 school children. By doing so, we not only connected with people doing yoga in Chhattisgarh but also with those doing yoga in the entire country and the world. This is probably the biggest such event organised wherein people of more than 190 nations took part," Singh said.

"I do yoga daily at home, but I enjoyed doing it with children today... I request these children to make yoga a part of their lives. Doing it daily will improve their memory and make them healthy," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated the celebrations in Delhi, dubbed the International Yoga Day as the beginning of a new era of peace and goodwill, thanking all those who have contributed to the development of the great discipline.

An estimated 40,000 people participated in the celebrations in the national capital, with around two billion people taking part across the world.

The yoga celebrations are being organised after the United Nations had in December last year declared June 21 as International Yoga Day.

The proposal was mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to the UN General Assembly last year.