Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday said yoga has the true ability to connect body and mind and act as a bridge between thoughts and deeds.
Chief Minister Sonowal said this while inaugurating a yoga centre at Dibrugarh Central Jail set up for an amount of Rs 4.5 lakh by the National AYUSH Mission, Assam.
“The jail inmates have a lot of potential and they should practice yoga regularly to develop the positive traits of their personalities. For that purpose, the State Government is taking steps to make yoga compulsory in all jails of the state. The inmates would be able to express their humane qualities more strongly through yoga,” added Sonowal.
Saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been able to take yoga to the world stage as a medium for achieving holistic fitness, the chief minister referred to the celebration of Intentional Yoga Day on June 21 as a testimony of yoga’s popularity all over the world.
In all parts of the world today, lots of people are dying due to various diseases and also undergoing long term treatments for many illnesses and for preventing that, one must inculcate yoga as an integral part of his life, Sonowal said.
Asserting that jail inmates have lots of potential and ability for making meaningful contribution to the society, the chief minister informed that the state government has taken up a programme named ‘Karagaror Pora Karikar Loi’ (from jail inmate to craftsmen) for imparting various skills to the inmates.
Urging the prisoners not to consider themselves as inferiors, Sonowal appreciated the inmates of Dibrugarh Central Jail for achieving success in organic farming and he called on the prisoners to capture the market of Dibrugarh with their organic produce.
MP Rameswar Teli, MLA Prashanta Phukan, Inspector General of Prisons Ranjan Sarma, and MD of National AYUSH Mission, Assam Mukul Gogoi also spoke on the occasion. MLAs Rituparna Barua, Chakradhar Gogoi, Bimal Bora, Binod Hazarika, Commissioner and Secretary of Sports Ashutosh Agnihotri, Session Judge Sushmita Phukan Khaund, DC Dibrugarh, Principal of Assam Medical College Dr Hiranya Goswami were also present in the programme among others.