While the state government is gearing itself up for the successful hosting of International Yoga Festival at Rishikesh which is scheduled to start on March 1, the unemployed yoga instructors of the State have blamed the Government for not involving them in the event. The festival is an annual fixture now and attracts a large number of yoga enthusiasts from all parts of the world.

The president of the Federation of Trained Yoga Instructors of Uttarakhand, Rakesh Semwal told The Pioneer that it is very unfortunate that the State Government ignores thousands of trained yoga instructors of the State and instead depends on people from outside to give yoga sessions at the festival. He claimed that many of the yoga instructors who would take part in the event had in fact learnt the art in Uttarakhand itself. Semwal said that the state government is not heeding to the demands of the trained yoga unemployed for many years now. He said that  district Presidents of the federation would hold a  meeting in Dehradun on Monday where the future course of agitation would be decided.

 There are 22,000 unemployed yoga instructors in the State. The Federation is demanding that the state government should appoint yoga teachers in the all the government schools. It is also demanding that government should appoint them either in Ayurveda hospitals or as as yoga instructors in the tourism sector. The members are agitated over the fact that though the state government is spending huge amounts of money on yoga festivals and seminars in the name of promoting yoga large number of quailed Yoga instructors are without jobs in the State.