Digital outreach by line ministries has changed the scale of behavioural campaigns. Illustrate with reference to recent Ministry of Ayush initiatives.

Q. Digital outreach by line ministries has changed the scale of behavioural campaigns. Illustrate with reference to recent Ministry of Ayush initiatives. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Behavioural campaigns once depended on physical assembly; digital platforms now let a single ministry reach millions at near-zero marginal cost. The Ministry of Ayush's 2026 outreach — culminating in a Guinness World Record of 4,35,831 verified viewers for a YouTube live yoga stream on 14 June 2026 [1] — illustrates this shift in scale, though scale alone is not behaviour change.

Scale: from stadium to stream - The record stream surpassed the earlier benchmark of about 2.46 lakh viewers, and drew practitioners across India and abroad on the official ministry YouTube channel [1]. - Standardisation aids scale: the 45-minute Common Yoga Protocol (CYP), the same sequence used at mass events, is directly replicable at home [1][3].

Convergence with health policy - Digital reach is being aligned to policy targets — IDY 2026's theme "Yoga for Healthy Ageing" addresses India's ageing population [2]. - The 10 Yoga Protocols for NCDs and Target Groups, developed by the WHO Collaborating Centre at MDNIY, cover diabetes, hypertension, asthma and mental health, with modules for the elderly, children and pregnant women [2].

Campaign architecture, not a one-off event - Yoga Mahotsav 2026 at Lonar (Maharashtra) opened a 75-day countdown, blending physical gatherings with the "Yoga 365" push for daily practice [3]. - Physical and digital reinforce each other: the 2026 main event at Kolkata's Red Road anchors the campaign that the stream amplifies [2].

Limits - Viewership measures reach, not adherence; no published evaluation links such streams to sustained practice. - The digital divide — device access, bandwidth, language — risks excluding rural and elderly users, the very group the 2026 theme targets.

Digital outreach has genuinely transformed the scale of ministry-led behavioural campaigns, converting an annual observance into a continuous, measurable engagement. The next step is outcome measurement — tracking practice retention through Ayushman Bharat's Health and Wellness Centres and vernacular, low-bandwidth content — so that record viewership translates into the preventive-health gains that the Common Yoga Protocol was designed to deliver.

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Sources: 1. Ministry of Ayush Creates New Guinness World Record for Largest Viewership of a YouTube Live Yoga Stream, PIB (14 June 2026) — 4,35,831 verified viewers; previous record 2,46,252; CYP used; MDNIY collaboration 2. Kolkata to Host International Day of Yoga 2026 Main Event; Theme Announced as "Yoga for Healthy Ageing", PIB and IDY 2026 Theme 'Yoga for Healthy Ageing', PIB — theme, Kolkata/Red Road venue, 10 Yoga Protocols for NCDs, MDNIY as WHO Collaborating Centre 3. Ministry of Ayush Begins 75-Day Countdown to IDY 2026 with Yoga Mahotsav–2026 in Lonar, PIB — Yoga Mahotsav 2026, 75-day countdown, Common Yoga Protocol demonstration, Yoga 365 campaign