Govt. for initiatives to make International Yoga fest a 'mass movement'

With the two-day International Yoga fest all set to begin on Wednesday, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu today urged all to take initiatives to make it a mass movement.

"It is just a beginning. We should take initiatives so that it becomes a mass movement. Yoga is an art and important part of our culture (and) so the government wants to promote it," Naidu told the media here.

Asserting that 192 nations are interested in the International Yoga fest, Naidu said it is a curtain raiser for the yoga festival to be held in June.

More than 3,500 participants including eminent yoga gurus, yoga masters, scholars, policy makers and representatives from 15 to 18 countries will participate in the mega event.

It will comprise parallel yoga workshop, lectures, Satsang, cultural programmes and yoga demos.

There will be exhibition of more than 50 stalls where books, DVDs, yoga appliances and other yoga related products will be displayed.

A half-day seminar will be conducted on Life Sketch and contributions of two Yoga Gurus Swami Ved Bharati and T.K.V. Desikachar for promotion and development of yoga.