Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan wants secular nature of yoga to be retained
Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 21: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday termed Yoga as a 'form of healthcare' and said if it is confined within the frames of any religion, a vast majority of the society would be denied its benefits.
Modern Yoga is not something that should be seen in connection with spirituality or any particular religion, the Marxist veteran said in his video message to mark the seventh International Yoga Day.
Stating that Yoga is beneficial for both the physical and mental well-being of people, he urged people to make the ancient practise part of their daily routine.
"Modern Yoga is not something that needs to be seen in connection with any particular religion or spirituality. It should be seen as a form of healthcare,"Vijayan said.
Saying that Yoga is a scientific physical exercise practise, he said it would ensure health and peace of mind to people.
"It's benefits will be denied to a larger section of the society if it is connected to any particular religion or spirituality and it should not happen," he added.
The Chief Minister praised the efforts of the Kerala Yoga Association (KYA), a registered outfit in the southern state to promote yoga science, for its efforts to retain the 'secular nature' of Yoga.
The outfit had imparted yoga training to at least 50,000 people in the state to fight the COVID-19 during the time of the severe spread of the pandemic, he added.
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Nitish Kumar's son Nishant among 32 to take oath as Bihar ministers
Patna (PTI): In a major expansion of the Cabinet of Bihar's first BJP-led government, JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar and 31 others took oath as ministers on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Altogether 32 leaders, drawn from all constituents of the five-party NDA in the state, were administered the oath of office by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain at a grand ceremony that was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Health Minister J P Nadda and BJP president Nitin Nabin.
Prominent inductees included Nishant Kumar, the son of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, who stepped down as chief minister last month to enter the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP, which is the single largest party in the 243-member assembly with 89 MLAs, has 15 ministers, who took oath on Thursday.
Most of the inductees were those who were part of the Nitish Kumar cabinet formed in November last year after the NDA stormed back to power in the assembly polls.
The JD(U) is represented by a total of 15 ministers, 13 of whom took the oath at the Gandhi Maidan on Thursday. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav had taken oath in April along with Samrat Choudhary and were designated as deputy chief ministers.
Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Paswan, both from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, are back as ministers, and so are Santosh Kumar Suman and Deepak Prakash, sons of Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, respectively.
