New Delhi, Jun 18 (IANS): Union Minister of State for Ayush, Prataprao Jadhav, said on Tuesday that yoga nurtures physical, mental, and spiritual growth while also promoting societal harmony.

Ahead of the 10th edition of International Day of Yoga (IDY), which is celebrated across the world annually on June 21, the minister emphasised that this year's theme 'Yoga for Self and Society' highlights yoga's dual role in fostering individual and societal well-being.

"The enthusiastic participation of millions in recent years reflects the profound impact of yoga on communities," Prataprao Jadhav said.

This year's IDY celebrations will be held in Srinagar, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again at the helm.

Since 2015, PM Modi has led the IDY celebrations at various locations, such as Kartavya Path in Delhi, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Ranchi, Jabalpur, and even the UN Headquarters in New York.

In the last 10 years, IDY has set four Guinness Book of World Records.

In 2015, a total of 35,985 Indians performed Yoga at Rajpath along with PM Modi.

A total of 84 countries participated in the yoga session at one place and, gradually, each year, witnessed an increasing number of participants from across the world and last year, in 2023, a total of around 23.4 crore people from across the world participated in the IDY event.

As a special initiative, this year, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is organising a unique initiative 'Yoga for Space' to mark the IDY 2024.

All scientists and officials of ISRO will perform yoga together as per the Common Yoga Protocol guidelines.

To promote technology and startups in the field of Yoga, the Ministry has organised Yoga Tech Challenge on MyGov portal and MyBharat Portal of the government with an aim to identify and promote those startups or individuals who have developed yoga-related tools, developed software and accessory products.