Bhubaneswar: Yoga courses at Utkal University will help promote India’s ancient tradition and make the age-old practice more accessible to students and the wider community, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said on Saturday.
Inaugurating the annual event of the Yoga Mahotsav Samiti at Utkal University here, Majhi lauded the organisation’s contribution to popularising yoga across Odisha, particularly through its grassroots initiatives in villages and communities.
He said the Samiti had played a significant role in taking the ancient Indian practice to people across the state. He also recalled Odisha’s record-setting International Yoga Day celebration at Kalinga Stadium and appreciated the organisation’s efforts to introduce yoga courses at the university through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
More than 2,500 people, including over 600 office-bearers representing the Samiti’s 36 organisational districts, attended the event and performed yogasanas collectively.
Politician and keynote speaker Sudhanshu Trivedi described yoga as an invaluable legacy of India’s Vedic tradition. He said yoga was not merely a form of physical exercise but a spiritual process that connects the soul with the Supreme Being.
Trivedi credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives in 2014 with giving yoga a new global identity and appreciated the Samiti’s efforts to popularise the practice at the grassroots level.
Sports and Youth Services Minister Suryabanshi Suraj said more than five lakh people had practised yoga in Odisha last year with the Samiti’s support.
He added that steps had been initiated to introduce yoga courses based on the Indian Knowledge System in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP).
Utkal University Vice-Chancellor Chandi Prasad Nanda said the university planned to establish a Yoga, AYUSH and Wellness Centre to promote holistic education and overall well-being.
