Armed forces, Ministers participate in yogic exercises

Armed forces personnel, Union Ministers and officials today observed the International Yoga Day by participating in yogic exercises in various parts of the country, including the ice-capped Siachen.
The show-stealers were the soldiers doing yoga in full gear on the Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world at a height of 18,800 feet above sea level. Dressed in special weather clothings, the soldiers performed the exercises at a temperature of minus four degrees Celsius.
While yogic sessions were carried out by Army units across the country including Kargil and Ladakh, similar camps were conducted across naval installations, as well as on Indian Navy ships deployed on the South China Sea.

The Indian Air Force too carried out yoga sessions across the country which included not just the airmen but also their families.
While Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhag, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha and Navy's Admiral R K Dhowan participated in the celebrations at the Rajpath, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was in Meerut for the celebrations.
Union IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad kicked off the celebrations at the Sports Authority of India complex in Kolkata, while Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan observed it in Kharagpur and Minister of state for Urban Development Babul Supriyo participated in a camp in Burnpur in West Bengal.

Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda inaugurated yoga classes in Thiruvananthapuram, while Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu participated in a session in Kochi and his Minister of State Manoj Sinha attended a camp in Gaya.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju performed several asanas at Visakhapatnam, while his Minister of State Mahesh Sharma took part in a yoga function in Noida.
Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda and Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya took part in yogic exercises in Hyderabad.
Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal presided over a yoga session in Guwahati, while Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh took part in a mass exercise at Motihari in Bihar.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani joined yoga day celebrations in Shimla even as Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi addressed a yoga event in Faridabad, saying linking yoga with religion was wrong.
Officials of several ministries participated in the celebrations in Rajpath here, while sessions were also organised in their offices here.
Railway employees participated in yoga sessions at diesel sheds, EMU car sheds and running rooms (rest rooms for railway drivers and guards) across the Northern zone.