Railways to hire Experts in its 300 Training Centres on contract for Periodical Yoga classes to Staff & Officers

New Delhi: Sunday’s worldwide celebration of yoga is not likely to be a one-off event for Indian government employees. It’s all set to become part of daily life as various departments hire instructors to make learning yoga part of a sustained campaign. The Indian Railways (also the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) are among those seeking yoga teachers. Other ministries are likely to follow, especially after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s enthusiastic support for the traditional Indian discipline. Officials told that several ministries are scouting for consultant trainers to help employees lead a stress-free life. There are about 48 lakh central government employees in the country across different ministries and affiliated institutions.

“We have made yoga part of the training curriculum of the National Academy for Training & Research in Social Security (NATRSS) and are looking for a yoga instructor to teach yoga and other stress-relieving exercises everyday,” said KK Jalan, central provident fund commissioner.

EPFO has sought applications from retired government officers to seek contractual employment as trainers and consultants in yoga. “The duties at the academy will involve conducting yoga sessions in training programmes, personal counseling of trainees, visit to the zonal training institutes and other offices of the EPFO and other duties assigned by the director,” said the June 9 notice.

Instructors could train staff on asanas that help prevent back aches, a common problem among those who sit in front of the computer for long hours. EPFO has a staff strength of 20,000.

NATRSS trained 5,600 EPFO employees last year besides conducting sessions for the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The country’s largest employer Indian Railways, which has 13 lakh workers, has made yoga compulsory at all its training centres and plans to cover all its staff by 2020. Railways has 295 training centres for training its officers, loco pilots, technicians and those involved in other services.

“Training of railway staff is a mammoth task… So, we are looking at hiring yoga experts and institutions on contract to cater to the need of these centres,” a senior railway ministry official said, adding a notification inviting applications for yoga instructors has been issued.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) expects a spurt in demand for yoga instructors, both in India and abroad. “The increased focus on yoga by PM Modi and his government, coupled with the growing awareness about the traditional Indian ways of dealing with stress in the corporate sector, has improved job opportunities in yoga training with commensurate demand for trainers set to grow by 30-35% in a few years,”Assocham said in a paper released on Friday.

New Delhi: In light of International Yoga Day celebrations on Sunday, Delhi Metro operations would start at the crack of dawn with the first train scheduled to leave all terminal stations at 4 am.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has extended the facility a day prior to the mega event also, as the ‘Prajapati Brahma Kumaries’ organisation has planned similar celebrations at Red Fort.

“Two extra trains will be run for public service from terminal stations of all Lines at 4 am and 4.15 am respectively on Saturday,” a Delhi Metro spokesperson said.

Special arrangement for ticketing will be done at Kashmere Gate and Chandni Chowk stations in view of the anticipated crowd at these stations.

On Sunday, trains would leave the terminal stations from all lines at 4 am and 4.30 am respectively.

At all the stations in the vicinity of Rajpath such as Race Course, Patel Chowk, Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan, special arrangments for ticketing will be available.

However, the facilities would not be available at the Airport Express Line.

Mandatory Yoga Training for all officers/Staff of Indian Railways including RPF personnel

Sub: Mandatory Yoga Training for all officers/Staff of Indian Railways including RPF personnel

Zonal Railways may kindly refer to Board’s letter No.E(MPP)/2000/19/1/Meditation dated 23.11.2001 (RBE No.231/2001), vide which Yogo training was introduced for trainees in the Railway Training Centres’. These instructions were reiterated and were made permanent vide Board’s letter No.E(MPP)2009/19/1/pt.(Meditation) dated 13.11.2003 (RBE No.194/2003).

It has been established that Yoga/Meditation courses help in improving levels of concentration, alertness and reduction in stress and hence with a view to provide greater thrust, it has been decided to cover all officers and staff including RPF personnel in the progromme, for general well being of employees. Further, in Budget 2015-16, it was emphasized that training in Yoga will be imported to the staff especially from RPF.

In the light of foregoing, Board has decided to include mandatory Yoga Training progrommes in all the Centralized Training Institutes and Non-Gazetted Training Centres including RPF Training Centres. Accordingly, all the training progrommes whether Initial, Refresher, Promotionol or structured training progrommes would provide for slots for Yoga Training as per details specified below:

Yoga Training for CG Employees

Accordingly, all Training Centers are advised to arrange these training progrommes. In case necessary, tie up may be mode with certified/Professional Yoga Centres/Trainers on payment basis as may be decided by the concerned General Managers of Zonal Railwoys, PUs and Heads of CTIs etc., in consultation with their Associate Finance under the Zonal Railways/CTIs budgetary powers. Necessary tie up as mentioned above may be finalized within 2 months and training on Yoga in terms of the aforesaid directions may be started immediately thereafter. There would be no exemption from attendance in this progromme unless there are adequate reasons to be accepted by Head of Training Institution personally.

As regards the batch size, the minimum batch size should be 20, however, where more numbers are proposed to be covered in a batch, the some should be decided in consultation with the trainer. In so for as RPF personnel are concerned, RPF Directorote hove alreody issued instructions vide their letter No.2013/Sec(E)/TRG(POL)-1/1 dated 19.3.2015. These instructions are subsumed and would form part of the aforesoid instructions for RPF personnel.

These instructions supersede all previous instructions on the subject of Yoga Training including the ceiling limit fixed for payment of remuneration to Yoga Instructors/Trainers, hired for the purpose.

As regards the number of officers/staff who are being imported Yoga Training, monthly statement showing total number of officers/staff and RPF personnel trained per month will have to be sent to the Board on a continuing basis on the training progrommes begin.

This issues with the concurrence of the Finance Directorate of Ministry of Railways.

Click to view the original order

Authority: www.indianrailways.gov.in

Food Safety Officers to Ensure Hygienic Food Distribution to Passengers

NEW DELHI:  Railways has made yoga mandatory at all its training centres across the country and plans to cover all its employees by 2020.

    

Steps are being taken for providing mandatory yoga training at all railway training centres to cover all employees by 2019-20, Railway Board Member (Staff) Pradeep Kumar said in New Delhi on Tuesday.

    

Railways has several training centres for imparting training to its officers, loco pilots, technicians and other services' employees across the country.

As per the action plan, now yoga has become compulsory as part of training for which instructors are being hired.

     

Railways is also gearing up to participate on the international yoga day on June 21 in a big way.

     

Instructions have been issued to all our zonal headquarters, divisions, field units and centres to be part of the yoga camp on June 21, he said.

   

Kumar said directions were also issued to keep rail premises clean and environment-friendly.

Railways has also appointed food safety officers at all 78 divisions in the country to ensure hygienic food at railway premises and in trains, he said.

Earlier, only one food safety officer looked after four divisions together

Source :NDTV

China gets its first yoga college after PM's visit

BEIJING: The first yoga college in China has been established at the Yunnan University of Nationalities in Kunming. This follows an agreement between the Indian and Chinese governments, which was signed in Beijing during the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The two countries are also jointly organizing a massive 5-day yoga training camp in Chengdu city, where nearly 1,000 Chinese students will be trained by visiting Indian gurus. The camp which will take place between June 17 and 21 will be attended by 20 yoga teachers from India.

READ ALSO: Modi's Yoga Day grips India, and 'Om' Meets 'Ouch!' 

"The university has confidence to build the college into an influential brand with its own characteristics, a platform for cultural exchange and a bridge for Sino-Indian friendship," Peng Jinhui, president of the university, said at the inaugural ceremony on Saturday. 

The establishment of a college is expected to help standardize the teaching and practice of yoga in China. Students would be able to obtain a proper graduation certificate before some of them opt for advance training to become teachers themselves. At present, many of the yoga teachers in China have had limited training, sources said.

READ ALSO: If modified, Muslims have no problem with yoga: Madani 

"There is a lot of enthusiasm about yoga in China. All that is required is to guide the students to practice yoga in the correct way," Zubin Zarthoshtimanesh, a Mumbai based disciple of the late guru, BKS Iyenger, told TNN from Chengdu where he will be engaged in training. 

The college, which has been established as part of a cooperation agreement between YUN and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, will start enrolling students after August, according to Fan Jing, director of international affairs at YUN. 

YUN has a long-term history of cooperation and cultural exchanges with India. It is one of eight institutions in China, and the only one in Southwest China, offering Hindi as a language major, Fan said. Its students have studied at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India in Gujarat during the time when Modi was the chief minister, he said. 

"The arrival of our students was covered by the local media, and Modi met our students at that time. So he knew our school," Fan said. "The Chinese students President Xi Jinping met during his visit to India visit last year were mainly from our school."

Source :Times Of India