Swami Vivekananda was born on 12 January, 1863. Many organizations besides the Ramakrishna Mission are celebrating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swamiji, all over the world.
Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi has been celebrating the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda by conducting many programs, cultural, social and spiritual. On 12 January, 2013, National Youth Day 2013, a big crowd gathered at the Vivekananda Auditorium in the Mission premises to celebrate the day, which has been termed as ‘National Youth Day’ by the Govt. of India.
The function started with Vedic Chanting by students of Lady Shriram College, New Delhi. Children of the Sarada Children’s Forum, Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi gave a fine invocation by singing patriotic and devotionals. Swami Shantatmanandaji, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission, Delhi gave the Welcome Address. He presented mementos to the dignitaries on the dais.
We had conducted a nation-wide contest, called the ‘All India GenNext Leader Discovery Contest‘. After many months of intense knockout rounds, finally, the prize-winners were selected. They are
- Shri Jainil Shailesh Kumar Bhatt from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat
- Ms. Juwaria Rashid from Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU), New Delhi
- Ms. Ria Jethi from Lady Shriram College, New Delhi
- Shri Pranit Joshi from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati
- Shri Sandeep Srivastav Vaddiparthy from MVGR College of Engineering, Vizianagaram
The prize-winners of the contest delivered short speeches. They were given the prizes by the Chief Guest Shri Abhinav Bindra and Special Guest Shri Akhil Kumar.
Shri V. Srinivas and Shri S. Jagannathan have been instrumental in helping the Mission with various programs. They were felicitated by Mr.Sam Pitroda, the Special Guest for the evening. Srinivas and Jagannathan delivered short speeches.
Shri Akhil Kumar, Gold Medalist in Boxing in the Commonwealth Games spoke to the audience on the influence of Swamiji on his life. His talk in Hindi was widely appreciated by one and all. (Link to the talk)
Mr. Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovations then spoke on the relevance of Swami Vivekananda. Widely read on Swamiji, this talk was an intellectual delight. (Link to the talk)
Shri Abhinav Bindra, the first Indian to win an individual gold medal in the Olympic Games, was gracious to accept our invitation to be the Chief Guest for the evening. His address to the audience was well received. (Link to the talk)
The function concluded with the National Anthem played by the CRPF Band.
A few photos from the evening:
