The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute here has been selected as the first recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of yoga.

The decision has been taken by the screening committee and evaluation committee for the awards that were constituted in 2016, according to a statement released by the AYUSH Ministry on Tuesday.The committees have selected the Institute for its efforts in the field for over a period of four decades, it said.Nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisement.The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by the screening committee.

After considering all relevant facts and other inputs, the Jury recommended that the Award for the current year be given to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, the statement said.On the occasion of the second International Day of Yoga celebrations at Chandigarh on in 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the institution of awards for the promotion of Yoga.The AYUSH Ministry had developed the guidelines for the awards.