National Youth Festival (India)

The National Youth Festival in India is an annual gathering of youth with various activities including competitive ones. It is held in a different state each year during National Youth Week.

Background

Swami Vivekananda's birthday on January 12 is always celebrated as National Youth Day and the week commencing from that day is known as the National Youth Week. As part of National Youth Week celebrations, the Government of India holds the National Youth Festival every year. This is an event of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India and is celebrated annually in one of the States in a joint venture. The whole idea behind this youth festival is to propagate the concept of national integration, spirit of communal harmony, brotherhood, courage and adventure amongst the youth by exhibiting their cultural prowess in a common platform. This is done by organizing gatherings of youth across the country and encouraging them to take part in different activities.

Crucial components of the National Youth Festival are the competitive events. To compete at the national level, the young talents perform their level best to get themselves medals and awards. To conduct these competitions, eighteen in all disciplines, a team of officers was deployed who managed the competitions, helped in creating logistical arrangements for smooth conduct of competitions, collected and collated the results.

The activities held during the festival include competitive and non-competitive cultural events, martial arts, exhibitions, intellectual discourses, young artists camps, seminars and adventure programmes. The presentation of National Youth Awards also takes place.

Objective

The National Youth Festival began in 1995 as a major activity under the programme of National Integration Camp (NIC). In collaboration with one of the States and institutions like Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and the National Service Scheme (NSS), the Government of India conducts this programme every year. Like the National Youth Festival, States are also encouraged to hold state level, district level and block level youth festivals in the same format as that of the National Youth Festival. The centre of the festival focuses on cultural aspects and a number of other programmes covering a wide variety of activities, which not only reflect the spirit of friendship but also peace and development. Besides all this, this festival provides a nation-wide exposure to the youth for the expression and fulfilment of their cultural talents and aspirations.

2010

Orissa hosted for the first time the 15th National Youth Festival in Bhubaneswar from 8 to 12 January 2010. The closing ceremony was on 12 January 2010 which is the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, the great philosopher and thinker. This was the 15th year in which Orissa State has celebrated this event. This was celebrated in collaboration with the Government of India under the umbrella scheme of the National Integration Camp with other partners like Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and the National Service Scheme.

Program Venues

The participants from across the country were around 6,000 coming from all states and union territories.

• For cultural activities - 100 per state/ UT
• For the exhibition to show case each State products - 40 per state/ UT
• For the young artist camp (artistic work and painting) - 10 per state /UT
• National youth awardees – 30
• Judges for conduct of events - 60
• Suvichar (seminar) /intellectual invitees - 100
• Event conducting officials – 500
• VIPs and celebrities, including secretaries and directors of different states

Events

The competitions were held in various instrumental, classical and other events to select the best talent from all over the country. Thousands of young artists competed and were judged by a panel of judges from all over the country. The events are listed below:

Competitive

• Folk dances
• Classical dances
• One act play
• Classical vocal solo
• Folk song
• Classical instrumental solo

Non-competitive

• Folk dance
• Hasya Kavi Samillani
• Rock show
• Special cultural evening
• Martial Arts

Other events

• Yuva Kirtti
• Food festival
• Youth convention
• Suvichar
• Young artist camp
• Adventure sports

Logo/Mascot/Theme of the festival

The Logo/Mascot and Theme were approved on 30 November 2009 at the National Steering Committee Meeting for NYF-2010 held in New Delhi with Hon’ble Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr MS Gill and Hon’ble Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Pattnaik, Orissa, Government of India.

Logo

The logo of the festival depicts six active and stylised youth, portraying the “unity in diversity” of India. It uses various colour shades to suggest the multi-hued cultural facet of India and symbolizes the theme ‘Celebrating Diversity’.

Mascot

Gori, India’s 34-year-old rare white crocodile has been chosen as the mascot for the festival. India’s this lone captive albino crocodile Gori, bred and reared in a pen within Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary in Kendrapara, had become sort of cynosure for wildlife experts and is widely admired for its ivory white complexion.

Theme

“Celebrating Diversity” was accepted as the theme of the festival.

Ceremonies

Inaugural ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 15th National Youth Festival in Bhubaneswar was attended by Hon’ble Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India in presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Orissa and Hon’ble Minister, Sports, YS and Revenue, and other Hon’ble Ministers of Orissa at Kalinga Stadium sports complex on 8th Jan-2010 at 3 PM. More than five thousand police officers and hundreds of state government officials had been deployed. An Indian Air Force helicopter showering flower petals and carrying the logo of the event followed by Akash Ganga formation over the main festival venue took place. The event also included a dare devil display by the Indian Army, a cultural march past, a fusion dance of Odissi / Gotipua / Ranappa, Ghumra dance, a crocodile dance and a laser show. Young artists from across the country performed diverse forms of classical and folk dances on the opening day of the Youth Festival.

Closing ceremony

The event ended on the evening of January 12 after the National Anthem and fireworks. The closing ceremony started after the Suryakiran Show by the Indian Air Force and a cultural display by the Event Management. The ceremony was marked by an aerobatic show by the Indian Air Force, Chhau Dance, a Malkhamba presentation, Beating the Retreat by the Ceremonial Band of the Indian Navy, a dance show by Prince Dance Group and fireworks. The aerobatic show by the IAF personnel was viewed by a crowd of over 50,000 people in the stadium. The sky divers drifted down from a height of thousands of feet to land in the middle of the stadium. A march past by the state contingents Hum Yuba was followed by an address by the Minister of State Sports and Youth Services, Praveen Chandra Bhanj Deo. There followed an address by the celebrity guest Vijendra Singh, a bronze medallist in boxing at the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008 and then an address by the Union Minister of State Youth Affairs and Sports Pratik Prakashbapu Patil. The Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik released a souvenir and distributed the prizes and medals to the winners of the various competitions held during the past five days. He said that the festival demonstrated India's unity in diversity. The Commissioner cum Secretary, Sports and Youth Services P.K. Mohapatra proposed the vote of thanks and the Chief Minister announced the close of 15th National Youth Festival 2010. Finally a ceremonial band of the Indian Navy performed 'Beating the Retreat'.