Massive yoga sessions were held in colleges, government offices and communities across India from Jamshedpur to Jammu and Kashmir on the day of the flagship celebration led by PM Modi from Kolkata’s Red Road.
India and the world celebrated the 12th International Day of Yoga on Sunday, June 21, with this year’s theme being “Yoga for Healthy Ageing.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation’s flag hoisting celebrations from Red Road in Kolkata, participating with thousands of practitioners in a mass yoga session as similar events took place across states, government institutions, universities and community centres.
The Ministry of Ayush picked this year’s theme to spotlight yoga’s growing relevance for an ageing population, a shift the ministry says reflects a decade-long surge in scientific research linking regular practice to better mobility, bone density, cognitive health and emotional balance in older adults. Ahead of the main event, the ministry relaunched its Yoga Sangam Portal for institutional registrations, which crossed six lakh sign-ups in the run-up to June 21, and rolled out a parallel Yoga Park Portal aimed at building dedicated yoga infrastructure across the country.
International Yoga Day traces back to September 2014, when PM Modi proposed the observance at the United Nations General Assembly. The UN adopted the resolution that December with a record 177 co-sponsoring nations, and the first Yoga Day in 2015 drew nearly 36,000 participants to Rajpath in New Delhi, setting two Guinness World Records in the process. The day has been observed every June 21 since — deliberately chosen as the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
Educational institutions join the celebrations
At the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, the day was marked with a “Yoga Sangam” celebration at the Student Activity Centre, bringing together students, faculty, staff and their families. Institute Director Prof. Goutam Sutradhar addressed the gathering alongside senior faculty, including Registrar-in-charge Prof. Saroj Kumar Sarangi and Dean of Planning and Development Prof. Shashi Bhushan Prasad, describing yoga as a daily practice capable of building both physical discipline and inner calm. The session’s centrepiece was a Common Yoga Protocol led by yoga expert Mani Bhushan Singh, known popularly as Yoga Jignasu, who guided attendees through a structured sequence of asanas, breathing exercises and meditation.
Wide participation across Jammu and Kashmir
Celebrations were equally visible in Jammu and Kashmir, where district administrations organised yoga sessions at colleges, stadiums and government offices across Kupwara district and beyond. Government Degree College Handwara — a recurring hub for the district’s Yoga Day programme — once again hosted a large gathering of students, government officers and local residents, with the event presided over by Additional Deputy Commissioner Handwara, Javed Naseem Masoodi. Parallel sessions were reported at tehsil offices, schools and health centres across the district as part of the wider valley-wide observance.
Why the day still matters
Beyond the official programming, International Yoga Day has become one of the more visible reminders of yoga’s global reach: it’s now observed in more than 180 countries, with sessions ranging from corporate office floors to school playgrounds to public parks. This year’s “Healthy Ageing” theme leans into a demographic reality the Ministry of Ayush has been flagging for months — India is home to more than 150 million people above the age of 60, a number expected to double by 2050 — making yoga’s low-impact, joint-friendly approach to fitness more relevant than ever for a country, and a world, ageing in real time.
Whether through a formal Common Yoga Protocol session or twenty quiet minutes on a mat at home, the day’s underlying message has stayed consistent since 2015: yoga isn’t reserved for any one age group, body type or fitness level — and June 21 remains the one day each year built around saying so out loud.
(With inputs from The Avenue Mail and The Global Kashmir)
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