With the main Opposition party Congress accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party- Jannayak Janta Party (BJP-JJP) government of flouting rules for hiring Yoga coaches, the Haryana government on Tuesday said these allegations are “false”, “beyond facts” and fabricated.
“Haryana’s AYUSH Department is recruiting Yoga Coaches on 22 posts completely as per rules and on a merit basis. The responsibility of recruiting Yoga Coaches and Yoga Assistants has been given by the government not to the Sports Department but to the Department of AYUSH. The recruitments are being done by Haryana Kaushal Rojgar Nigam,” a spokesperson of the AYUSH Department said.
He said a 21-day online course is not valid for the post of coach and no candidate has been recruited without prescribed qualification. “Rather, the candidate must have done a Level 2 certificate in Yoga or 400 hours certificate course along with a graduation degree in Yoga from an accredited University,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson said in order to promote Yoga, the state government recruits professionals who are well qualified and possess a degree in Yoga from any recognised university and these recruitments are done through Haryana Kaushal Rojgar Nigam.
He clarified no person with the qualification of 21 hours online degree is working as a yoga coach in the department.
“The aim of the state government is to take yoga to the grass-root level and encourage people to make it part of their lifestyle. For this, Yog and Vyayamshalas and other adequate infrastructure are being made available at the village level. The government focuses on promoting Yoga and naturopathy so as to minimise the dependency on medicine,” the spokesperson said.
Congress’ Rajya Sabha member Deepender Hooda had on Monday alleged the AYUSH department issued joining letters to its favorite candidates before the last date of application.
Deepender alleged the last date to apply for the post of Yoga coach was April 6 but the department issued appointment letters to 10 candidates on 29 March.