Baba Ramdev to address UN meet

After travelling to many European nations, Yoga exponent Baba Ramdev is now set to fly to the United Nations to deliver a lecture on poverty alleviation.

Ramdev, who runs Patanjali Yogpeeth at Haridwar, has been invited by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to visit the world body's headquarters at New York and deliver a lecture on October 15, sources close to the guru said.

The lecture is part of a two-day conference on poverty alleviation being conducted by a standing council of the world body and attended by social activists from all over the world.

The conference forms part of an UN initiative in 2000 that pledged to eradicate poverty by 2015. But Annan is concerned that several nations have not taken adequate steps so far.

Ramdev had earlier this year travelled to several European nations including Britain where he received appreciation for his work on ayurveda and yoga.