At a recently held state level U-14 Yoga event, children from Gurgaon had to compete under apathetic conditions. According to a report published in the Times of India, they had to survive for an entire day on just an aloo parantha and sleep on the floors as there were no proper bedding facilities available. Despite this lackadaisical attitude from the authorities, the high-spirited children bagged the first prize at the day-long event organized in Rewari.
India prides itself as the land where the practice of Yoga originated and spends crores on celebrating Yoga Day. As per a response to an RTI plea filed, a total of Rs. 34.5 crore was spent in 2015 and 2016 on International Yoga Day celebrations. We have 34.5 crore to sell ourselves to the world through public events, but we don’t have money to spend on children who are actually taking this practice forward at the ground level. Shameful.
Poonam Bimra, a yoga instructor based in Gurgaon said, “The kids showed a lot of zeal to win the school championship. They performed difficult asanas like Vajrasana and Dhanurasana among others. Three of the six boys will now be part of the state team in the national competition to be held in Chandigarh on November 4”.
Ajit Solanki who assists Bimra in training the kids said that for two weeks leading up to the final event, they had to practise at the park near the Government school in Sector 4/7 because the Yoga centre in its campus was shut down. The boys who went to Rewari to compete got just an aloo paratha on the day of the event, and nothing else to eat.
There were not even proper lodging facilities available and the kids had to sleep on mattresses laid down on the floor. The toilets were foul-smelled and unfit for usage.
Suman Sharma, principal of the Government School 4/7 denied all the allegations.
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