June 21, 2016
NEW DELHI — On Sunday, two top ministers of the Narendra Modi government – Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu – were seen attending an event organised by yoga guru Ramdev at Rajpath in New Delhi.
Yoga Chakras
June 21, 2016
NEW DELHI — On Sunday, two top ministers of the Narendra Modi government – Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu – were seen attending an event organised by yoga guru Ramdev at Rajpath in New Delhi.
Yoga Chakras
But key questions that are now being asked are, who is paying for these events and how much will it cost the government?
Government sources told NDTV that the Centre is not paying for events like the one hosted by Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth.
Nor will it pay for any of the events organized by the 21 yoga institutes that are partnering AYUSH, the main ministry responsible for the event.
But AYUSH will be spending around Rs 20 crores for the second edition of International Yoga Day.
Nearly half of this amount will be spent on advertisement, campaigns and special programs across various media platform like television, newspapers, journals and social media.
People participated in a yoga class in a Times Square event in New York City, New York, U.S., on June 20, 2016, in preparation for International Yoga Day on June 21.
Soldiers of the Indian army perform yoga in Ahmadabad, India, on June 20.
The government would also be spending on accessories like t shirts, caps, mats for the participants of mass yoga sessions, including the ones organized by Indian missions abroad.
"There are 193 countries in United Nations and except Libya and Yemen, yoga day is being celebrated in all the countries," said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj at a press conference on Sunday.
But the Rs 20 crore budget won't include expenditure incurred on security. Nor will it include expenditure planned by the various state governments.
RTI data had revealed that Ayush had spent Rs 32.5 crores last year on International Yoga Day. This year's budget is lower but the government does not want to confront on the scale of celebrations. Sources say 57 union ministers will fan out across the country to celebrate Yoga Day. While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to be in Delhi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be in Lucknow, capital of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, a state that's likely to see 10 union ministers taking part in the celebrations.
Courtesy: NDTV
