Troops in Northeast observe Yoga Day

In Bumla, located at an elevation of about 5,000 metres above sea level and on the China border, jawans and officers participated in the Yoga Day programme despite heavy snow. Bumla is a pass on the Himalayas on the India-China border, about 37 kms off Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. Soldiers and officers of the Army and ITBP also participated in Yoga Day at other snow-bound locations like Sangatser and Mechuka, as also in Wallong and Kibithu.

One full battalion of the BSF is deployed on the riverine portion of the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam, with several companies permanently operating from boats and some posted on char islands – seasonal sand-bars – in the middle of the river, an official in the BSF Assam Frontier HQ said.

Tezpur-based Defence PRO Lt Col S Ghosh said over 3,000 jawans and officers took part in the Army’s Four Corps headquarters in Tezpur in northern Assam. At Rangiya, the 51 Sub Area headquarters, over 1800 personnel of all ranks took part in the Yoga Day function.

The Army had already incorporated yoga in its training curriculum and has been practicing yoga for some time now. “Yoga has been integrated in the training curriculum for all the soldiers with an aim to provide a balance between mind and body, thought and action, and overall harmony in the life of a soldier both during peace time and preparing him to do his duty during times of conflict,” he said.

Jawans and officers of the 1st National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) too celebrated Yoga Day at their Battalion headquarters at Patgaon near Guwahati, as well as in different locations where its companies are currently deployed as stand-by for rescue operations during floods.

In Guwahati, over 9,000 cadets of the NCC on the other hand took part in the International Yoga day celebrations in 14 different venues including the function organized by the Assam government as well as in different educational institutions.