Why in news? PM inaugurated the 26th National Youth Festival in Hubbali, held on National Youth Day(Jan 12), celebrated on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, to honour and cherish his ideals, teachings and contributions

Highlights

• Period: Five-day event
• Organizer: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in collaboration with the Government of Karnataka
• Theme: ‘Viksit Yuva Viksit Bharat’.
• Aim: To step up the role of youth in nation building during Amrit Kaal and it will be an endeavour to disseminate the message of ‘Panch Pran’ as espoused by the Prime Minister
• YOGATHON: Planned by mobilizing 5 lakh people from across 31 districts of Karnataka to do Yoga

Y-20:

• Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is organizing ‘Y Talks’ throughout the country for Y(Youth)-20 activities of G-20.
• This festival will set pace for Y-20 engagement across the country by sensitizing the youth about the themes of Y-20.

Green Youth Festival

• Youth Festival is being celebrated as green festival using only biodegradable materials.
• Only re-usable cutlery, napkins etc are being used and all the mementos, medals, stationery are of reusable material.
• Water refilling stations are set up to reduce use of disposables.
• It will focuses on Prime Minister’s Mission LiFE and Green Energy

Major activites in Festival

• Discussions on relevant themes like Student Centric governance and Digital India and experts will engage in lively discussions with elected representatives about to facilitate student-centric governance.
• Adventure sports activities like scuba diving are included.
• Exhibitions of traditional sports like Kalaripayatu (Kerala), Silambam (Tamil Nadu), Gatka (Punjab), Mallakhamb (Maharashtra) are being organized.
• Competitive cultural events like folk dance and folk song are organized where troupes from different states participate.
• Interesting non-competitive events include social development fair ‘Yuva Kriti’. ‘Adventure Festival’, ‘Suvichar’, ‘Young artists camp’ among others.

Discussion on themes of summit 

• 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
• Health and Well Being

Swami Vivekananda

• January 12 this year marks the 161st birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, observed as National Youth Day.
• Born on January 12, 1863, Calcutta
• Born into an upper-middle-class family of the Kayastha (scribes) caste in Bengal, he was educated at a Western-style university where he was exposed to Western philosophy, Christianity, and science.
• Social reform became a prominent element of Vivekananda’s thought, and he joined the Brahmo Samaj (Society of Brahma), dedicated to eliminating child marriage and illiteracy and determined to spread education among women and the lower castes. He later became the most-notable disciple of Ramakrishna, who demonstrated the essential unity of all religions.
• Spiritual primacy is the central theme of Vivekananda’s teachings, through which human beings can succeed in every sphere of their lives
• The three instruments of knowledge that he propounded are instincts, reason, and inspiration.