New Delhi: On June 21 every year, thousands of people come out in the morning to perform various asanas and mark International Yoga Day and promote the concept of living a healthy life. But this time, the government has added a new agenda to mark the day the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, or AYUSH is promoting the concept of living a sustainable life by asking volunteers and authorities to celebrate the day by using only eco-friendly products.
An official note has been circulated to all the ministries with asking them to avoid PVC mats with a “large-scale presence of cheap varieties” on International Yoga Day, as these are not recyclable, has contaminants, and it further adds to air pollution.
Instead, the government has asked ministries to use yoga mats made from jute, rubber and other materials. The note further urged people or volunteers participating for the International Yoga Day to help mark this day in an eco-friendly manner as much as possible by prohibiting usage of plastic bottles and other plastic items.
This time, the theme of the year is ‘Climate Action’ and the main event to be held at Prabhat Tara Maidan in Ranchi in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The eco-friendly move is set to be in line with Central government’s commitment to eliminate all single-use plastic items including carry bags, straws, and water bottles, among other plastic products from the country by 2022.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.
