NEW DELHI: Indian President Droupadi Murmu on Monday presented the prestigious Padma Shri award to Kuwait’s Sheikha Shaikha Ali Jaber Al-Sabah for promoting yoga. Sheikha Shaikha is the founder of Daratma for Yoga Education, Kuwait’s first officially licensed yoga studio. On Dec 22, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Sheikha Shaikha in Kuwait and discussed ways to make yoga more popular among the youth. Modi appreciated her passion towards yoga and fitness.

Sheikha Shaikha, a yogi, founded Daratma, a yoga and wellness studio in Kuwait, in 2014. She started her yogic journey in 2001. Due to her efforts, the ministry of commerce and industry introduced a yoga education license in Kuwait. In 2021, she started Yomnak lil Yaman, a fundraiser to help Yemeni refugees and internally displaced people. — Agencies