Britain will mark the recently- declared 'World Yoga Day' by the United Nations with a mega event on June 21, in what may be seen as India's growing "soft power" in the world.

From yoga to soft power, from digital diplomacy to the role of states in foreign policy, India’s envoys got a taste of what the PM would like them to internalize when they represent India’s interests.

The government is trying to get yoga recognized throughout the world as India's cultural property. Since his election last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist and devout yoga practitioner, has persuaded the U.N. to announce an International Day of Yoga and has even appointed a minister of yoga in his cabinet. 

India has long seemed unable or unwilling to become a major player on the world stage. But the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is looking to change all that. In order to compensate for a small and weak foreign service, he is tapping into India’s considerable soft power: its emigrants, intellectuals, and yogis.

Crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “whirlwind tours” and “out-of-the-box initiatives” for bringing about a sea change in India’s global image, the Union Minister for External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday said even softer powers, like yoga, Indian curry and Bollywood songs, have contributed to enhancing the “image of a new India”.