Aam Aadmi Party’s yoga revolution has now reached Punjab after Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party-led government has launched ‘CM Di Yogshala’ in Punjab, a program to provide free yoga classes to citizens. The initiative was inaugurated by Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Sardar Bhagwant Mann in Patiala. Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that the decision to start yoga classes in Punjab was taken after the LG of Delhi stopped them. He added that yoga classes will be restarted in Delhi very soon.
Under the initiative, if 25 or more people decide to start yoga classes in any locality, the Punjab government will provide them with teachers. Initially, a pilot project will be undertaken in four cities – Phagwara, Patiala, Amritsar, and Ludhiana. After that, yoga classes will be started in every village of Punjab. The Punjab government will provide free treatment in all government hospitals to those who fall ill during the yoga classes.
CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal appreciated the AAP government’s work in the field of law and order in Punjab and said that action is being taken against those who committed sacrilege. He further praised the people of Punjab for their peaceful celebrations during Ram Navami, adding that there were no cases of violence in the state during the festival.
Speaking at the event, the Delhi CM said that he was very happy to be present in Punjab for the inauguration of the first phase of ‘CM di Yogshala’. He said that this was a new experiment that the state government tried out in Delhi and it was extremely successful.
He went on to say that in a democracy it is important for states to learn from each other, and said that a lot of new ideas had been experimented in Delhi since AAP formed the government in 2015. “In the sphere of governance, new ideas are constantly being tried out in Delhi, in various spheres such as Education, healthcare, supply of water and electricity. A lot of our experiments in these areas have been successful in Delhi and now they are also being implemented in other parts of the country. Similarly, our state government had experimented with making our residents practice yoga. Now after its success in Delhi, this scheme has also been brought to Punjab,” he said.
He explained that under the ‘CM di Yogshala’ scheme, if anywhere in Punjab a group of over 25 residents wanted to practice yoga, then the state government will provide them a yoga instructor free of cost. The CM explained that a minimum of 25 residents are required for this scheme, as if there are fewer than 25 people, then it will not be financially viable for the state government to provide a yoga instructor.
The Delhi CM went on to share a number with the residents of Punjab and said that in any mohalla in the state if a group of over 25 residents want to practice yoga, then they just need to give a missed call on this number, and a person will call back and take down the address and accordingly a yoga instructor from the state government will be deployed to assist them in practicing yoga.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that today the phase 1 of ‘CM di Yogshala’ was being launched under which this facility will be provided in four cities – Phagwara, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala. He added that once the program is implemented in these four cities, then it will slowly be taken to every village of Punjab and the desire of the state government is to make the 3 crore residents of Punjab practise yoga free of cost.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that this intiative was first tried out in Delhi and it reached a stage where 17000 residents of Delhi were practising yoga everyday. He said that through yoga the people were able to improve their physical as well as mental lives.
He said that the people in Delhi were very happy with this intiative, until the Lieutenant Governor got it stopped. However, the Delhi CM expressed confidence that it will be restarted in Delhi as ‘no good thing can ever be stopped’.
He added that in the meanwhile, AAP went on to form the government here in Punjab and therefore this intiative has now been brought to the state. He expressed hope that the residents of Punjab will now be able to benefit from these yoga classes.
Highlighting the work of the Punjab government in the field of healthcare, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “As Sardar Bhagwant Mann just mentioned, the state government has started 504 Mohalla Clinics in the state, and soon these will be increased. Our desire is to have a Mohalla Clinic in every village and locality in the state, and in these clinics everything from medical tests to consultation fee to medicines will be free for the residents of the state,” he said.
He further said that the state government ideally wants that no citizen will ever need to go to the mohalla clinic or the hospital and therefore they have now brought these yoga classes to the state. Stating that by practising yoga daily, a person will tend to be healthy and therefore will rarely have to go to a mohalla clinic.
He also said that a person can fall sick at any time in their lives and the state government, apart from opening Mohalla Clinics which will deal with less severe health problems, is also working hard to improve the government hospitals in the state. He said that soon the government hospitals will also be fantastic and even over there the medical tests, surgeries and medicines will be made free of cost for the residents of the state.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal lauded the AAP-led Punjab government for their work in the field of law and order. He said that although a lot of work has been done in various areas, law and order is perhaps where the most positive changes have taken place. “When AAP formed the government in Punjab a year ago, the law and order at the time was not the best. There were so many gangsters in Punjab and most of them were supported by some politician or a political party. Our government never supported any gangster and therefore we were able to arrest so many of them within a year,” he said.
He added that the investigative agencies in the past were never provided the support to take action against criminals and the drug mafias. “Several years ago, an SIT was formed to curb the drug trade in the state and they filed a sealed report in the courts which had all the details of the people involved in the trade. But this sealed report had not been opened in the last 8 years. Whichever political party came into power, they were afraid to take action against the accused. But our government is not afraid to take action and therefore finally yesterday in court this sealed report was opened. We hope that soon all the people involved in the trade of drugs will be arrested and put behind bars,” he said.
The Delhi CM added that in the last one month in Punjab, the state government has taken drastic steps to show it to the country that anyone trying to disturb peace in the state will not be tolerated, irrespective of how big their fan following is.
He also pointed out how last week on the ocassion of Ram Navami, there were instances of violence in different parts of the state, but Punjab remained peaceful. He went on to say that the law and order has been drastically improved by the Sardar Bhagwant Mann-led government.
He added that when the AAP government was formed a year ago, there were lots of problems in the state, and some of those have been dealt with now. Shri Arvind Kejriwal also said that a lot more work needs to be done in all fields and said that since there is an honest government in Punjab, all of that work will also be undertaken.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal also said that this is a government that works for the people and their actions have proved it to the people as well. Highlighting the example of crop failure due to adverse weather, he said that earlier the farmers had to run behind officials and yet they hardly received any compensation. But now, the state government is immediately giving Rs 15,000 per acre to the farmers whose crops have been affected adversely by the weather conditions.
He also said that other guarantees provided by the state government before the elections were also being fulfilled at the earliest and revealed that the electricity bill of 80 percent of the residents were now zero.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal lauded the Punjab CM Sardar Bhagwant Mann and said that he is a person who comes from an ordinary family and therefore understands the hardship of common citizens. He pointed out how the Punjab CM was the son of a school teacher and has worked on farms in his childhood. He said that a CM like him understands the dreams and aspirations of the youth of Punjab and therefore everything was being done to provide good facilities to the youth in the state.
Asking the youngsters in the state to dream big and saying that ‘only sky is the limit’, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that Sardar Bhagwant Mann is the elder brother of all youngsters in the state and will work hard to fulfill their aspirations. “We do not want the youth in the state to be lured towards drugs or ammunition, we want the youth to get books and employment and to build a life of their dreams,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal concluded by asking the residents of the state to make the best use of these yoga classes and promised them that once they take part in it they will find it to be a lot of fun.
Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Bhagwant Mann, announced that the AAP Government is launching the ‘CM Di Yogashala’ program to promote health and wellness in the state. He mentioned that CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal had previously initiated the ‘Dilli Ki Yogshala’ program in Delhi, where free yoga teachers were provided to a group of 20-25 people in a park. However, the program was stopped by the LG despite increasing demand for yoga teachers. Sardar Bhagwant Mann emphasised that there would be no such hindrance in Punjab and that the program would be started to improve the health of Punjabis.
He highlighted the importance of mental health and how we have forgotten to laugh in our busy lives. He stressed the need to express our feelings and emotions and mentioned that yoga, with its breathing and laughing exercises, can help in this regard. He further added that our country has a rich tradition of home remedies and meditation for promoting wellness.
The government of Punjab has launched various schemes to promote health and wellness, including the revival of 14,000 youth clubs in villages to encourage more young people to participate in sports and win medals. The government is providing complete training to the youth in this regard.
In the field of healthcare, the government has opened 504 Mohalla Clinics, out of which 151 are located in urban areas and 353 in rural areas. So far, over 21 lakh people have benefited from these clinics by getting free tests done and receiving treatment. This has reduced the burden on government hospitals and helped people avoid long queues for treatment.
