Competitive Exams: Current Affairs 2012: Baba Ramdev

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Baba Ramdev is a renowned Yoga teacher. His yoga sessions have attained immense popularity and reaches across to millions of homes. He is the host of a program named ‘Divya Yog’ that airs on Aastha TV everyday, at 5 am in the morning. This has enabled people to practice yoga from the comforts of their homes. He is also one of the founders of the Divya Yoga Mandir Trust that aims to popularize Yoga. Baba Ramdev has been among the forefront of new channels off late. His organized fast against corruption at the Ramlila maidan in New Delhi generated a lot of controversy when it was cracked down by the police.

Early days: Ramdev was born as Ramkishan Yadav in 1965 at Alipur, in the Mahendragarh district of Indian state of Haryana to Gulab Devi and Ram Nivas Yadav. He hailed from a poor family and after his eighth grade joined a yogic monastery (gurukul) in Khanpur village. There, he started learning the techniques of Yoga, along with the Sanskrit language. Eventually he renounced worldly life becoming an ascetic and adopted the name of Swami Ramdev.

After this he went to Jind district where he joined the Kalva gurukul. He started conducting yoga sessions for the people of the village there. It is also widely believed he has also traveled to the Himalayas where he had spent a considerable amount of time.

There, he started teaching Yoga to the villagers across Haryana. It is believed that some time later, he traveled to the Himalayas, spending a number of years there. Thereafter, he went to Haridwar and till date, the city serves as his base.

In 1995, Ramdev established Divya Yoga Mandir Trust with Acharya Karamveer and Acharya Balkrishna. Acharya Karmaveer is well-versed in Yoga and Veda while Acharya Balkrishna is a physician with a degree in Ayurveda.

His Yoga Pranayama educational show is broadcast on numerous TV channels daily. He has been conducting Yoga science camps regularly all over the country, and sometimes abroad as well.

Baba Ramdev has also courted lots of controversies as well. His fast against corruption created tremendous new buzz in media recently. Thousands of people had assembled for the fast which suddenly cracked down by the police a few hours later in middle of the night. Ramdev՚s demands to the government was bringing back black money that was held up in banks abroad. While he himself has been accused of amassing huge sums of that is said to run into thousands of crores. It remains to be seen what would be the outcome of this issue.