Over 1K inmates of Delhi prisons to train as Yoga teachers

New Delhi: More than 1,000 inmates of prisons in Delhi are going to be trained as Yoga teachers within a year under an initiative aimed at helping them start a new life after being released, officials said.

The project, 'Sanjeevan', was inaugurated on January 23 after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in this regard between the Prison Department and the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga in December 2018, they said.

Jails in Delhi, meanwhile, celebrated Yoga Day on Monday and inmates participated in mass yoga exercises in jail number 1 of Tihar. According to a statement released by Delhi Prisons, chief guest Ishwar Basavaraddi, director of MDNIY, conducted the exercise.

Under 'Sanjeevan', instructors from the institute will train inmates in 16 jails in the city, including Tihar, with an aim to provide them life skills so that they can work as yoga teachers and make a living, Director General (Prisons) Ajay Kashyap said. Tihar alone has over 16,000 inmates across its various jails.

"It is our job as well as our moral duty to provide some skill to the inmates so that when they can start a new life after being released. And for that particular reason, we have started this project. We do not want any inmate to come back again after they released," Kashyap added.

There are basically two courses. One is a foundation course, which is of four weeks, and the other is an instructors' course, which is of four months. A total of 750 inmates have been trained under the foundation course and they will get certificates on International Yoga Day on June 21, a senior jail official said.