yoga diplomacy
India's Namaste greeting follows social distancing guidelines and has been adopted by world leaders, writes Aparna M Sridhar of the Center for Soft Power.
In anticipation of Ayurveda Day, Aparna Sridhar of Center for Soft Power writes how the Ayurveda system's unique approach to healthcare is a source of India's soft power.
After the success of Prime Minister Modi's take-yoga-global campaign, it's now the humble Khadi that he wants to take across borders as India peddles its soft power on the international stage. "The government is aiming at making the 'Khadi' a global product identity of India, as it did for Yoga. But before, taking the major step, it plans to put its house in order. A global identity of Khadi would also allow many rural artisans to earn better," a person with direct knowledge of the mater told ET.
The league, launched by India's ambassador to Japan Sujan Chinoy in the presence of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, will be headed by Hakubun Shimomura, former minister for education, culture, sports, and science and technology [...] Chinoy said that the establishment of the league comes at an opportune moment. "India and Japan have a special strategic and global partnership based on our shared values of democracy, rule of law, tolerance and transparency..." he said.
“I love exams. People are usually afraid of them, but I love exams,” says HR Nagendra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal yoga consultant. And as a result of his efforts, along with other yoga exponents like Jaggi Vasudev, Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a module has been designed so that yoga teachers across India can take exams to receive government certification.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a big fan of yoga. He calls it "India's gift to the world" and recommends people make yoga as much a part of daily life as their mobile phone. But yoga is also a key asset in Modi's push to promote and develop India's soft power....
Yoga has offered the Indian state unprecedented opportunities for global, media-savvy political performance. In recent years, the nation has made international headlines by creating a national ministry for yoga. It has promoted yoga tourism; staged mass yoga practices and Indian officials have even proposed yoga as a national solution to an astonishing range of social problems, from reducing rape to curing cancer.
Millions of people across the world are marking the second International Yoga Day on June 21. The brainchild of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is an enthusiastic yoga practitioner himself, the UN-sponsored day has been endorsed by an unprecedented 175 countries, including Qatar.