Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 26th National Youth Festival at Hubballi, Karnataka on 12th January on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda during the Amrit Kaal.
This was announced by Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur at a media briefing on Tuesday. He said the Youth Festival will be held from 12th to 16th January and is being organised by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka.
The programme is starting on the National Youth Day, which is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, to honour and cherish his ideals, teachings and contributions.
The Minister said that as India is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the festival aims to step up the role of youth in nation building during the Amrit Kaal. There will be an endeavour to disseminate the message of ‘Panch Pran’ as espoused by the Prime Minister among the youth, he said.
Thakur said that India is holding the G20 Presidency this year which is a matter of great pride for every Indian. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is organizing ‘Y Talks’ throughout the country for Y(Youth)-20 activities of G-20.
The National Youth Festival will set the pace for Y-20 engagements across the country by sensitizing the youth about the themes of Y-20. The participants will in turn take the message and themes of Y-20 to every nook and corner of the country, Thakur explained. He said that the Youth Festival is being celebrated as a green festival using only biodegradable materials. The focus will be on the Prime Minister’s Mission LiFE and Green Energy, the Minister added.
Giving details, Youth Affairs Secretary Meeta R Lochan said more than 30,000 youth will attend the inaugural function where the Prime Minister will share his vision with them. During this unique five-day event, over 7500 youth delegates from all over India, recognized and leaders in their own field of activity, will get together to engage in different learning activities. The theme of the festival this year is “Viksit Yuva Viksit Bharat.”
Activities in the festival will include discussions on relevant themes like Student Centric governance and Digital India. Domain leaders and other experts will engage in lively discussions with elected representatives about how to facilitate student-centric governance. There will be adventure sports like scuba diving.
There will be exhibition of traditional sports like Kalaripayatu (Kerala), Silambam (Tamil Nadu), Gatka (Punjab) and Mallakhamb (Maharashtra). Competitive cultural events like folk dances and folk songs are being organized where troupes from different States will participate. Interesting non-competitive events include social development fair ‘Yuva Kriti’, ‘Adventure Festival’, ‘Suvichar’, ‘Young artists camp’, among others.
The Youth Summit will include two way discussions on the themes of Future of Work, Industry, Innovation and 21st Century Skills; Climate change and disaster risk reduction; Peace building and Reconciliation; Shared future-youth in democracy and governance; and Health and Well-Being.
Many events in the festival will be live-streamed across the nation so that crores of young people can also be engaged with the entire festival. This year the festival is being celebrated as a Green Youth Festival where only re-usable cutlery, napkins etc are being used. All the mementos, medals, stationery are of reusable material. Water refilling stations are being set up to reduce use of disposables.
On 15th of January, a YOGATHON is planned between 6 am to 8 am by mobilizing five lakh people from across 31 districts of Karnataka. A large number of activities with youth engagement will be organized throughout the period of the festival across the country. Eight indigenous sports and martial arts will also be presented during the event by national level performers. Other attractions include Know Your Army, Navy and Air Force camps.