Kathmandu, June 21: The International Yoga Day is being celebrated in Nepal today by organizing a variety of programs. International Yoga Day is celebrated every year on 21st June at the call of the United Nations General Assembly since 2016. The proposal by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare International Yoga Day at the 69th General Assembly of the United Nations was approved in 2014.
The proposal was first seconded by then Prime Minister of Nepal Sushil Koirala, which was then supported by the European Union and other permanent members of the United Nations. The International Yoga Day has a record of being supported by 177 countries in 90 days, since it was put out for endorsement.
It may be noted that the Yoga Day was being unofficially celebrated in Nepal since 1979 on 1st Magh (mid-January).
Yoga, which was studied and researched by sages in the lap of the Himalayas during the Vedic period, had become almost extinct in Nepal. The celebration of the Day helped raise public awareness and thereby revive it. The Council of Ministers through the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction had declared Magh 1 as official National Yoga Day.