ICC Note:

Recently, leaders of Christian schools in India had expressed concern over the government’s attempt to make the practice of yoga mandatory. Many Christians in India see the practice of yoga as a form of Hindu worship and to be forced to add it to the curriculum of a Christian school was seen as an attack on the religious freedom of those Christian institutions. Fortunately, initial signs from India’s Supreme Court seem to indicate that the government will not be allowed to impose the practice of yoga if it is against individual’s religious freedom rights enshrined in the country’s constitution. 

11/09/2016 India (Times of India) – The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would not impose yoga on anyone and refused to entertain a PIL seeking to make the ancient practice mandatory in the school curriculum.

“Go and persuade people to take up yoga. If people want, they will pick it up themselves. It is for the government and academicians to decide what should be included in the school curriculum,” a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur, Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice L N Rao said.

Petitioner and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay had engaged two senior advocates — M N Krishnamani and V Shekhar — and later jumped into the arguing arena himself in an attempt to convince the bench to seek answers from the Centre. But the bench refused to entertain the petition while permitting the petitioner to intervene in a pending petition filed by advocate J C Seth on the same issue that will be taken up for hearing on November 29.

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