The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has been selected as the first recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding contribution to promotion and development of Yoga.
The institution of the award was announced by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the Second International Day of Yoga at Chandigarh on 21st June, 2016.
The Award was recommended by an Evaluation Committee (Jury) constituted under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary and included additional principal secretary to Prime Minister, the foreign secretary, Secretary (AYUSH) and Dr. Veerendra Heggade as its members. It examined the recommendations of the Screening Committee and also made its own analysis of the contributions made by the institutions and individuals and recommended Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune for the prestigious Award. The Government of India has accepted the recommendation of the Committee to honour the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune with the Prime Minister’s Award for Outstanding Contribution for the Promotion and Development of Yoga for 2017.
The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by the Screening Committee. The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has worked to spread Yoga, internationally, over a period of 4 decades. The Institute has published books on Yoga and these have been translated into multiple languages. There are thousands of Iyengar Yoga teachers popularising and propagating yoga across the world.
