Pune's Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute bags the first yoga award

The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute of Pune has been chosen as the first recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding contribution to promotion and development of yoga. According to IANS, in a statement released by the Ministry of AYUSH, it was said that the decision has been made by a screening and evaluation committee for the awards that were initiated in 2016.

According to The Times Of India, the statement said,

The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by the screening committee.

As per Press Information Bureau (PIB), the statement said,

Two committees were consituted viz screening committee (for preliminary evaluation) and evaluation committee (jury), so that a transparent process is followed in finanising the awards. Nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisement.

PM Narendra Modi had announced this award for the promotion and development of yoga last year on June 21. He made this announcement in Chandigarh on the occasion of the second international day of yoga celebrations. The guidelines of the awards were developed by Ministry of AYUSH.

According to IANS, the statement said that the recommendation by the jury to give the award for this year to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute was made after considering all relevant facts and other inputs.

The statement further said that the institute has been selected by the committees for their efforts in the field for over a period of four decades. The institute has been working to spread yoga internationally and has published several books on yoga which have been translated into different languages. Thousands of Iyenger yoga teachers have been propagating and popularising yoga all over the world.

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