The International Yoga Festival organised by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam is touching new heights of success in Rishikesh.

Radhika Nagrath

Rishikesh.

The seven-day International Yoga Festival, jointly organised by the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam and the Uttarakhand government, will conclude on March 22, which will be inaugurated by Uttarakhand Governor Lieutenant General Gurmeet Singh. It was inaugurated on March 16th by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The success of the International Yoga Festival is attributed to Puneet Jain, a dynamic young IAS officer from Uttarakhand and Managing Director of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam. Just a few months ago, Prateek Jain assumed the position of Managing Director and has since been dedicated to making the International Yoga Conference a mega event. His diligence has made the event a resounding success. So far, more than 10,000 yoga enthusiasts have received training in various forms of yoga at the conference. Managing Director Prateek Jain stated that this year, more than 2,500 registrations were received as yoga instructors, compared to only 700 last year. This year, the International Festival was a great success in various dimensions. People learned various yoga postures, while prominent figures from music and spirituality attended. Among the top spiritual figures were international spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Sadhvi Purnamati Mata from the Usha Mata Jain sect, National President of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad and Chairman of the Shri Mansa Devi Temple Trust. Many celebrities including President Mahant Shri Ravindra Puri Maharaj and President of Parmarth Ashram Swami Chidanand Muni came here, while in the field of music, Sufi singers Wadali Bandhu, Bhajan Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota etc. mesmerized the people by giving their performances. In this way, the confluence of music, spirituality and yoga flowed parallel to the flow of Ganga on the holy banks of Ganga at Ganga Resort and people immersed themselves in the holy flow of yoga, music and spirituality. Till now more than 300 yoga sessions have been conducted which is a record in itself.