Ministry of Science and Technology launched a new programme SATYAM-”Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation” to strengthen research in the areas of yoga and meditation.
An objective of SATYAM is to harness knowledge obtained in academic institutions and other related agencies for finding Science & Technology – led solutions that would enable us to cope with stress and strain associated with fast changing social, economic, environmental and professional circumstances.
Cutting-edge research under SATYAM will seek to identify various issues and challenges related to human well-being and address them.
The programme will encourage research in two major thematic areas:
(1) investigations on the effect of Yoga and meditation on physical and mental health, and
(2) investigations on the effect of Yoga & meditation on the body, brain and mind in terms of basic processes occurring therein.
Given the ever increasing prevalence of physical and mental health problems, the holistic approach of Yoga and meditation is believed to have the potential to find beneficial treatment that is relatively safer and more cost-effective.
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline which originated in India. There is a broad variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The best-known are Hatha yoga and Raja yoga.
The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions, but most likely developed around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, in ancient India’s ascetic and sramaṇa movements.
On 11 December 2014, The 193-member United Nations General Assembly approved by consensus, a resolution establishing 21 June as ‘International Day of Yoga’.
The declaration of this day came after the call for the adoption of 21 June as International Day of Yoga by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to UN General Assembly on 27 September 2014.
The first international day of Yoga was observed world over on 21 June 2015.
In suggesting 21 June, which is the Summer Solstice, as the International Day of Yoga, Narendra Modi had said that the date is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and has special significance in many parts of the world.
