NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Culture is chalking out elaborate plans to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The two-year-long celebrations will be a global affair and will see a range of cultural events to spread Mahatma Gandhi’s ideologies.
Currently, the focus is on to plan the celebrations of the first six months of the cultural events starting October 2.
“The mission is to map out the celebration of a variety of events evenly throughout the country. The idea behind the series of events is to spread the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi to the masses. The common theme of the events would be to spread the concept of communal harmony,” said a senior official at the ministry.
“It has been gauged that the younger generation often cannot connect with the ideology of Gandhi. The celebrations aim to bridge that gap through activity-oriented programmes,” the official added.
The government is also aiming for a special Parliament session on Mahatma Gandhi. “The details of this session are yet to be worked out. The special Parliament session may be either day-long or week-long,” said the official.
The first leg of the celebrations will kick off with cycling competitions, padyatras and poster stamp competitions across the country.
It will be followed by academic events like lecture series and symposiums on topics related to the philosophies practised by Mahatma Gandhi. College students from across educational institutions and academics would be encouraged to participate in these programmes.
During the first six months of celebrations, the other focus will be on a series of cultural events. “There will be drama and short film competitions on the themes of the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi.” The ministry is planning to rope in the National School of Drama for these.
The government plans to make the celebrations a global affair and would be conducting youth exchange programmes with other countries on this occasion. “We will also tie up with the Indian consulate in other countries to reach out to the masses for the celebrations,” the official added.
The government had constituted a national committee to deliberate on the commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi earlier this year.