Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala to organise ‘Yoga Mahotsav’ in schools

The 24-member panel,including Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala, will recommend how schools will observe ‘Yoga Mahotsav of Yoga Day’ and would plan ways to organise at the district level event, observing International Yoga Day on June 21.

Koirala, who had taken to yoga after battling with cancer last year, is part of this 24-member committee, which will now decide how schools may take up steps to encourage yoga practice across Maharashtra.

Perhaps one of the largest in terms of the number of members, the panel has been set up by the School Education and Sports Department. The panel will also recommend how to sketch out the syllabus to include Yoga festival.

Reportedly, apart from Koirala, the other members in the panel includes Uday Deshpande from Samartha Vyayam Mandir, Dadar; Vishwas Mandlik from Yog Vidya Gurukul, Nashik; Abhay Bapat from Vivekananda Kendra, Mumbai; Gandhar Mandlik from Yoga Point, Nashik; Vaibhav Ubhare from Central Council of Indian Medicine; Deepika Kothari from Vishuddhi Films, Mumbai; Dipak Ghume from Arogya Bharti, Konkan; Ajit Oak from Ghantali Mitra Mandal, Thane; Subodh Tiwari from Kaivalyadhama, Lonavla; and Pramod Niphadkar from Yog Vidya Dham, Pune, etc.

As suggested by the Government Resolution (GR) issued recently, “The committee will need to see when schools are reopening and check when the rains will start and accordingly celebrate yoga festival. The committee will have to decide what activities the schools will organise.”

No official member from the 24-members panel was available to comment.

The committee will also include Director of Primary Education and Director of Secondary Education, Maharashtra state government, Pune, and representative from the state’s Directorate of Sports and Youth Services.