India Community in Ghana Observes International Yoga Day

By Seth Adu Agyei

The Indian High Commission in Ghana, on Monday, marked the fifth International Day of Yoga in Accra, with a Yoga exercise undertaken by a section of Indian nationals.

The exercise was held at the India House at Ridge, which is also the residence of the Indian High Commissioner, Mr Singh Birenda Yadav.

The International Day of Yoga is celebrated every year on June 21 ever since its inception in 2015, and declared unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as a physical, mental and spiritual day, a practice which originated in India.

According to the High Commissioner, "Yoga holds the key to a healthy living and health balances to the body and mind, adding that it is a discipline for dedication and a health preventive measure which is practised in many countries in the world."

High Commissioner Yadav said the occasion was also to commemorate the 130th birth anniversary of the late India Prime Minister, Mahatma Ghandi.

Dr Mohammed Awal, Minister of Business Development, in an address read for him, said yoga was the solution to ensure fitness and total wellbeing after a hard day's work, indicating that yoga had been recognised to be the oldest science in the history of wellbeing, which had been helping people around the world to deal with various health related issues and also set on the path to achieving peace and harmony in their lives.

He said Yoga had proven to help manage stress, weight loss, high blood pressure and diabetes, among other lifestyle diseases which many are suffering from.

Dr Awal assured of government's commitment to ensuring that many Ghanaians adopted the yoga lifestyle for improved health, and also support the event.

Touching on his ministry, Dr Awal explained that the government created the ministry to formulate national policies, plans and programmes, to improve entrepreneurial and technical skills of micro and medium enterprises, particularly the youth, in line with the government's economic and social development agenda.

He said discussions were underway with the Ministry of Finance to approve an India Exim Bank facility to assist ACE Construction of India, to establish a tractor assembly plant to manufacture agricultural implements in Ghana, under the Youth in Industry programme of the ministry.

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