The highlight of this year's International Yoga Day (IYD) on June 21 will be a message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will be televised.

The International Yoga Day this year will be observed on a large scale through the electronic and digital platforms by the Ministry of AYUSH.

The PM’s remarks will be telecast on DD National, DD News, DD Bharti, DD India, DD Urdu, DD Sports, DD Kisan, all RLSS channels and all regional kendras.

As has been the practice in International Yoga Day observation in the previous years, the message will be followed by a live demonstration of the 45-minute Common Yoga Protocol (CYP).

The demonstration will be made by the team from Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY).

The drill of CYP has been designed keeping people of different age-groups and of varied walks of life in mind.

Those who get trained in CYP are likely to develop a taste and attitude for yoga and hence may pursue it in the long term.

The observation of IYD in the past years has been marked by thousands of harmonious mass demonstrations of yoga in public places.

Due to the current global health emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the focus this year is less on such celebrations and more on the people performing yoga at their respective homes with the participation of the entire family.

Yoga is found to be especially relevant in the pandemic situation, since its practice leads to both physical and mental wellbeing, and increases the individual’s ability to fight diseases.

Ministry of AYUSH, the nodal ministry for observation of International Yoga Day across the country, has been fostering and facilitating the trend of practising yoga at Home during COVID- 19 crisis through various online and hybrid-online initiatives in the last three months.

Many leading yoga institutions have joined forces with the ministry in this effort.

Such activities have intensified in the last month with an added focus of training in CYP.

This is followed by participants of IYD every year for ensuring harmony in the mass demonstrations of Yoga.

The ministry streamed various online initiatives including daily morning CYP session on DD Bharati for people to follow and learn the Protocol.

Additional resources have been made available on the ministry website, the Yoga Portal, and through its social media channels, including sessions from eminent yoga experts daily.

Numerous individuals and institutions including educational institutions, government bodies, business firms, industries and cultural organizations have committed themselves to join IYD for the benefit of their employees, members or other stakeholders, from their homes.

Through such efforts, the Yoga fraternities in different parts of the country are now ready to observe IYD with thousands of families joining the same from their respective homes.

The ministry invites yoga followers all over the world to come together to celebrate the International Yoga Day 2020 at 6:30 am on June 21, 2020, and join the harmonious demonstration of CYP from their homes.

The programme schedule is as follows:

6:15 am to 7:00 am - Opening ceremony. This will include the welcome address by Minister (AYUSH), Remarks of Prime Minister followed by a vote of thanks by Secretary (AYUSH).

7:00 am to 7:45 am - Live demonstration of Common Yoga Protocol by MDNIY.

7:45 am-8:00 am– Discussions with yoga experts and conclusion of main International Yoga Day event.