UNGA declares December 21 as World Meditation Day, unanimously adopts resolution co-sponsored by India

India co-sponsors UN resolution declaring December 21 as World Meditation Day, promoting global well-being and inner peace.

India co-sponsored a UN General Assembly draft resolution that was unanimously adopted to proclaim December 21 as World Meditation Day.

India, including Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mexico and Andorra, was a member of the core group of countries that guided the unanimous adoption of the resolution titled ‘World Meditation Day’ in the 193-member UN General Assembly on Friday (December 6, 2024).

“A day for comprehensive well-being and inner transformation! Glad that India along with other nations of the core group guided the unanimous adoption of the resolution on the declaration of December 21 as World Meditation Day @UN General Assembly today (Friday),” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said in a post on X.

He said India’s leadership in overall human wellbeing stems from “our civilisational dictum of #VasudhaivaKutumbakam - the whole world is one family”.

Mr. Harish noted that December 21 marks the Winter Solstice, which in Indian tradition is the beginning of “Uttarayana – an auspicious time of the year, especially for inner reflection” and meditation.

It also falls exactly six months after the International Day of Yoga commemorated on June 21, which is the Summer Solstice.

Recalling that India had in 2014 taken the lead in declaring June 21 as International Day of Yoga, Mr. Harish said that in a decade, it has become a global movement which has led to common people across the globe practising yoga and making it part of their daily lives.