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Context: On June 21, 2023, the world witnessed a historic event at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The Prime Minister of India led a yoga session for the first time at the UN, on the occasion of the 9th International Yoga Day, and created a Guinness World Record for the participation of people of most nationalities in a yoga event.

Details

• The event saw the participation of top UN officials, envoys from across the world, prominent individuals and hundreds of yoga enthusiasts who gathered at the North Lawn of the UN building to perform various asanas.
• The session was accompanied by Annelies Richmond, a New York City-based ballerina-turned-yogini who is a faculty member at several prestigious universities in the US.

International Day of Yoga

• The International Day of Yoga aims to raise awareness worldwide of the many benefits of practising yoga, which is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India.
• The UN General Assembly declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga in 2014, following a proposal by the Indian Prime Minister during his speech at the UN General Assembly in September 2014.

Guinness World Records

• The Guinness World Records was first published in 1955 as the Guinness Book of Records.
• It was the brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Brewery in Ireland. He decided to create a book that would compile all kinds of facts and figures about human and natural phenomena and hired a team of researchers and editors to collect and verify the data.
  • The first edition of the book was an instant success, selling over 50,000 copies within a few months. It soon became a global phenomenon, translated into dozens of languages and updated annually.
• The Guinness Book of Records changed its name to Guinness World Records in 2000, to reflect its broader scope and appeal.

Today, it is not only a book, but also a multimedia brand that includes a website, a TV show, a museum, and live events. It also has a team of adjudicators who travel around the world to witness and certify new record attempts.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/pm-modi-yoga-guinness-world-record-8678115/

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