India banks on yoga export: Blending soft power and commerce

India is banking on the global popularity of yoga to cash in on the success of its most famous cultural export. In the recently unveiled new Foreign Trade Policy, yoga has been included under the services export section, a move that shows the government’s enterprise in leveraging its soft power.

The trade policy focus on the ancient Indian discipline of wellness has come in the run-up to a host of events India will be hosting for celebrations relating to the International Day of Yoga on June 21, a pioneering step that was possible only with India’s proactive diplomacy.

The new trade policy aspires to make India a star player in world trade by 2020 – currently Asia’s third largest economy accounts just about 2% of global trade.

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348 Indian nationals evacuated from war-torn Yemen

As the Gulf country descended deeper into violence and anarchy, India evacuated 348 Indian nationals from the war-torn Yemen. They are being taken to Djibouti across the red sea on the horn of Africa, where the Indian Air Force is waiting to fly them home.

INS Sumitra, India’s major petrol vessel, was deployed to rescue Indian nationals after New Delhi got permission to dock its ship at Aden Harbor in Yemen, and evacuate Indians who were stranded in the port city. The Indian government has launched a massive operation through sea and air to bring back around 4,000 citizens stuck in different part of war-ridden Yemen.

The Indian Navy ship departed from Yemen to Djibouti with 348 Indian nationals on March 31 night. They have reached Djibouti on April 1 morning, from where they will be airlifted to India.

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