The BJP-led Central government has taken up the cause of propagating the benefits of practicing yoga. The country celebrated the first International Yoga Day in June by holding mass-yoga events. A look at the money spent in organising these.
The Central Government ensured that the entire world took notice of the ‘International Yoga Day’ on 21st June. The mass Yoga Demonstration at Rajpath with more than 35000 participants did catch the eye of the local & global media. Since then, social media has been agog with all kinds of numbers about the amount spent by government on the extravaganza. Factly dug into the details to find that a total of Rs 32.75 crore was spent by the Government for this celebration.
International Yoga Day & Events
The first International Day of Yoga was celebrated all over the Country and abroad on 21st June, 2015. The following events were organized as a part of these celebrations
- The main event was organized by the Ministry of Ayurveda,Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha And Homoeopathy (AYUSH) at Rajpath, New Delhi. A mass Yoga demonstration was held wherein 35,985 participants performed Yoga.
- A two days International Conference on Yoga for Holistic Health was also organized on 21st & 22nd June, 2015 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
- All the States/UTs were advised to hold mass yoga demonstration at State, District, Block and Panchayat levels for celebrating International Day of Yoga on a grand scale involving all Schools/Colleges/Universities, General Public, Yoga Institutions, Police Personnel, NCC Cadets, NSS, NYKS, etc.
- The Ministry of External Affairs celebrated the International Day of Yoga in more than 190 countries by organising activities which included conferences on Yoga, Meetings of Yoga clubs, Yoga concerts, Yogathons, Yoga walks, documentary film screening on Yoga, Photo exhibition on yoga etc.
Total Expenses
According to the data available with the Government, a total of Rs 32.75 crore was spent on various activities. Expenditure on Publicity through Print & Electronic media including the government owned Doordarshan & All India Radio was Rs 8.28 crore. The Mass Yoga demonstration at Rajpath costed Rs 7.59 crore. The International Conference on Yoga costed Rs 1.83 crore. The Ministry of External Affairs spent Rs 8 crore for related activities in various Indian Missions across the world.
Apart from these, the Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy (CCRYN) provided assistance of up to Rs 1 lakh per district for the celebration, a total of Rs 6.7 crore. The Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY) produced a film and booklets on Yoga with an expenditure of Rs 34.8 lakh.
| S. No. | Activity | Expenditure (Rs In Lakhs) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ministry of AYUSH | |
| (i) Publicity through DAVP, DD & AIR | 828.43 | |
| (ii) Arrangements for the Mass Yoga Demonstration at Rajpath on 21/6/2015 | 758.53 | |
| (iii) International Conference on Yoga on 21st & 22nd June, 2015 at Vigyan Bhawan | 182.8 | |
| 2 | Ministry of External Affairs | 800 |
| 3 | Financial Assistance to Government Institutions / Non Government Organization for organising of Yoga Camps and celebration of International Day of Yoga in each district of the Country @ upto Rs 1.00 Lakh each by CCRYN | 670 |
| 4 | Expenditure on production of Film & Booklet on Common Yoga Protocol by MDNIY | 34.8 |
| Total | 3274.56 |
The government has also said that no separate funds have been released to states apart from the CCRYN assistance.
Expenses for the Mass Yoga Demonstration at Rajpath
The Mass Yoga Demonstration at Rajpath led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was a much talked about event. The event saw more than 35000 participants in a Mass Yoga demonstration.
According to information provided to Factly by Ministry of AYUSH under RTI, the vendor for managing the event at Rajpath was M/s. Arch Concept Pvt. Ltd. The vendor was paid a total of Rs 3.67 crore for the arrangements. The major expenditure for the event included the following.
Yoga Mats
There was a lot of discussion about the Yoga Mats procured for the event. There were discussions whether these were procured from China or in India. While it is not clear where they were procured from, the RTI reply suggests that the vendor Arch Concept procured 36000 yoga mats. The total expenditure (including tax) for these 36000 Yoga Mats was Rs 1.02 crore.
Payment to Ernst & Young (EY)
The RTI reply suggests that payments to the tune of Rs 1.32 crore were made to EY. The reply from the ministry does not specify the kind of services provided by EY. It could be for the managing the entry passes & ticket strips.
T-Shirts by National Textile Corporation
A total of 25000 T-Shirts were procured from the government owned National Textile Corporation at a cost of Rs 49 lakh.
Payments made to Guinness World Records Limited
A total amount of 11900 Pounds (Rs 12.05 lakh) was made to Guinness World Records Limited for the commercial services provided. It may be recalled that two new Guinness World Records were set on this day. A separate payment of 450 pounds was also made for ‘Fast Track’ service.
NSS Volunteers
The National Service Scheme Regional Center in Delhi provided 1000 volunteers for the event. A total of Rs 22.5 lakh were paid to NSS.
PS: It may be recalled that the Government celebrated the ‘Good Governance Day’ on 25th December, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. To check if the government was equally enthusiastic in promoting the ‘Good Governance day’, Factly filed an application under RTI with the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) asking details of the amount spent on promoting the ‘Good Governance Day’. The DAVP spent a paltry Rs 2.52 lakh in promoting the ‘Good Governance Day’. This is 0.3% of the Rs 8.28 crore spent in promoting the Yoga day.
This article was republished from Factly.in.