Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

AP sets up Rs 6.7-million yoga centre for ministers

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who loves to call himself the CEO of AP Inc, believes that the path to good governance can be traversed better through yoga and meditation.

His government has constructed 'Shanti Nilayam', a full-fledged yoga centre spread over 10,000 square feet area, at a cost of Rs 6.7 million on the campus of the Dr M Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute in Hyderabad.

The centre will impart training in yoga and meditation to 35 ministers, 500-odd all-India services officers and scores of other government functionaries.

The Shanti Nilayam, inaugurated by the Chief Minister during the week-end, has facilities for dhyan, reading and indoor games. The centre can hold classes in stress management, yoga and meditation for 60 participants at a time.

The persons attending the training programmes at Dr MCR HRD Institute will have to undergo yoga and meditation sessions for two to three hours a day.

Chandrababu Naidu has roped in prominent spiritual, meditation and yoga training institutions and experts for conducting the classes for the participants. These include the Art of Living Foundation (led by Sri Ravi Shankar), Ramakrishna Mission and Prajapita Brahmakumaris Ishwariya Vidyalaya.

Yoga and meditation have been dovetailed in the training action plan evolved by the Dr MCR HRD Institute to provide HRD training to a select group of 10,000 public functionaries who head the government offices/administrative units at various levels to tone up their skills, attitudes and managerial capabilities. They are identified as 'change-agents: to usher in the administrative reforms'.

In the last couple of years, particularly, the chief minister has laid emphasis on yoga and meditation for his ministerial colleagues, senior bureaucrats and other functionaries. In fact, a week-long training camp in yoga, meditation, diet control, water therapy and naturopathy was organised for all the ministers in November 1999.

Similar sessions were conducted for ruling Telugu Desam Party legislators and for IAS and IPS officers.

Training and relaxation camps are aimed at improving power of concentration, overcoming the ill-effects of stress and building the capacity to take heavy workload easily among the participants.

The Brahmakumaris recently conducted these programmes at Dr MCR HRD Institute, Administrative Staff College of India and the Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad.

Chandrababu Naidu himself attended the lectures of Sri Ravi Shankar of Art of Living Foundation (whom he first heard during a visit to World Economic Forum summit at Davos this January) as well as the Raja Yoga classes conducted by Brahmakumaris.

Money

Business News

Tell us what you think of this report