Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Anurag Thakur and Lt. Governor of Puducherry Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan today unveiled the Logo and Mascot of the 25th National Youth Festival to be held in Puducherry from 12th -16^th January 2022.  Speaker of the Puducherrry Legislative Assembly,Shri R. Selvam, Chief Minister of Puducherry Shri N. Rangaswamy, Education Minister Shri A. Namasivayam were also present on the occasion.

Speaking at the occasion, Shri Anurag Thakur said that Puducherry as a  venue for the National Youth Festival 2022 was handpicked by the Prime Minister , Shri Narendra Modi. The Union Minister added that the Prime Minister is expected to inaugurate the Youth Festival and address the youth. Shri Anurag Thakur also unveiled the tag-line of the National Youth Festival, Shaksham Yuva Shashakth Yuva meaning Capable Youth- Forceful Youth, Able Youth- Strong Youth.

Shri Thakur further said, “India has a very important role to play in the 21st century whereby the whole world is looking at us. Youth is our key force and has the largest and most important role to play in nation building. We must focus on how to channelise our youth power to make India one of the strongest economies of the world and global power in other fields. Time has come to showcase the soft power of India ranging from IT to start-Ups in which we have done very well.”

Shri Thakur said that youth from all over the country will be visiting Puducherry to participate in the festival, and was confident that the youth will learn from the life of Shri. Aurobindo, who was a great poet, patriot, philosopher and also a great Yoga Guru, and Poet Subramania Bharati and from Swami Vivekananda who is the ideal for every youth. “We want the local people to take part in the festival with enthussiasm since the main idea behind Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is Jan Bhagidari”, the Minister added. Elaborating on the events to be held during the Youth festival, the Union Minister said that the festival will take us through the cultural heritage of India. The Festival is a great opportunity to showcase the cultural and tourism potential of Puducherry, the Minister added. Shri Anurag Thakur reiterated that it will offer a Cultural extravaganza  and  give exposure  to the youth hailing from far-flung areas of the North-east, Himalayas and Kutch among others.

Earlier in the day, Shri Anurag Thakur also reviewed in detail the arrangements being made for the Youth Festival.

National Youth Festival is organized by the Government of India every year in collaboration with one of the States from January 12th to 16th to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda i.e. 12th January. The basic objective of the NYF is to bring the youth of the country together in an attempt to showcase their talents in various activities to cover almost all socio-cultural aspects of life, providing an opportunity to amateur young artists to express themselves and interact with fellow artists and to further learn the new art forms from experts of various disciplines.

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