Chandigarh, June 20 – With a view to make yoga an integral part of everyone’s life, the Haryana Government has decided to engage yoga volunteers in the yoga centres and gymnasiums being opened in rural areas of the state. These Yoga volunteers will be appointed by the Zila Parishads and preference will be given to the youth of the same village or of nearby villages.

This decision was taken in a review meeting of Haryana Yoga Parishad held here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal.

Chairman, Haryana Yoga Parishad, Dr. Jaideep Arya gave a presentation on the yoga activities being run in the state and gave information about the process of appointing yoga volunteers. It was also informed in the meeting that the age limit for these Yoga volunteers will be between 18 and 35 years and the educational qualification will be 10 + 2 pass from Haryana School Education Board or CBSE. In addition, they must possess a certification of Level-1 or its equivalent course in Yoga from one of the 16 nationally recognized institutes or a one-year diploma from any university.

These Yoga volunteers will also be offered a three month certification course in Naturopathy or Physiotherapy from Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Dhudhola, Palwal under the Haryana Skill Development Mission, so that after teaching two hours of yoga during morning and evening shifts in yoga centres and gymnasiums, they can be employed as AYUSH assistants in the Health and Wellness Center being maintained by the Department of AYUSH. In this way, they will work for eight hours a day and initially they will be given an honorarium of minimum Rs. 11,000.

It was also decided in the meeting that AYUSH coaches will also be appointed in every district under the outsourcing policy to monitor the working of these Yoga Volunteers till their regular recruitment. The educational qualification for AYUSH coaches will be the same as prescribed for the Yoga Coach by the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs.

Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal directed the officers to speed up the construction work of yoga centres and gymnasiums being constructed in rural areas. Regarding this, the Chief Minister was apprised that the construction of 1000 such gymnasiums is going on in the first phase, out of which 599 have been completed and about 150 are in the final phase of completion.

The Chief Minister was also informed in the meeting that the work of the Ayush Department is gradually being transferred to Zila Parishads. Earlier, as per his directions, the work of some other departments including repair of PHC and CHC buildings and construction of Bus Queue Shelter have also been handed over to Zila Parishads. Similarly, health and wellness centers in urban areas will also be handed over to Zila Parishads. He was also informed that officers of Haryana Civil Services have been appointed as Chief Executive Officers of Zila Parishads for proper monitoring of these works at the administrative level.

In the meeting, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr. Rajesh Khullar, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Mr. Rajeev Arora, Principal Secretary, Development and Panchayats Department, Mr. Sudhir Rajpal and Director General, AYUSH, Mr. Atul Kumar and other senior officers were also present.