National Youth Day (Yuva Diwas or Swami Vivekananda Birthday) is celebrated with the great joy and enthusiasm in India every year on 12th of January. It is celebrated to commemorate the birthday of Swami Vivekananda, maker of the modern India. It was first declared by the Government of India in the year 1984 to celebrate the birthday of Swami Vivekananda as the National Youth Day. Since then (1985), it is started celebrating as the National Youth Day all over the country.
National Youth Day 2019
National Youth Day (Yuva Diwas or Swami Vivekananda Birthday) 2019 was celebrated all over India on 12th of January, Saturday.
It was celebrated across the country with great zeal commemorating the teachings and thoughts of Swami Vivekananda. There were various camps, discussions, group talks, youth summits and youth festivals held across the nation on the occasion.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das unveiled Swami Vivekananda’s bronze statue on the occasion of National Youth Day on 12th January. The statue is the tallest Vivekananda statue in India with the height of 33 feet.
The Youth Affairs and Sports minister Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore started the celebration of National Youth Day by launching National Youth Festival 2019 with the theme “Be the Voice of the New India” and “Find Solutions and Contribute to Policy”. The festival will encourage the youths to voice their opinions, ideas and thoughts through the platform and contribute in the development of new India.
The Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence, Hyderabad organised a program based on the theme ‘Channelizing Youth Power for Nation Building’. Chandigarh University also organised the national youth summit ‘EVOKE-2019’ with the theme ‘Indian Youth: An Unpolished Diamond’ on the occasion.
History of National Youth Day
It is well known that the Government of India had declared to observe the National Youth Day every year on the birthday of Swami Vivekananda on 12th of January. It was decided by the Government of India in order to inspire all the youths of country towards the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and his ideals. The birthday of the Swami Vivekananda was decided to be celebrated as the National Youth Day to complete the aim of making better future of the country by motivating the youths through the way of life and ideas of the Swami Vivekananda.
It is the aim of great importance of distributing the ideas and ideals of the Swami Vivekananda among the youths of India. It is the great way to wake up the eternal energy of the youths as well as their big efforts to make the country developed.
Youth Day Celebration
Swami Vivekananda was born on 12th of January in the year 1863 in the Pausha Krishna Saptami tithi. The birthday of the Swami Vivekananda is celebrated every year at many centres of the Ramakrishna Math, Ramakrishna Mission and their branch centres according to the Indian culture and tradition. A great mangal aarti, hoom, devotional songs, meditation, religious speech as well as the sandhya aarti is performed while celebrating the birthday of the Swami Vivekananda.
Activities on National Youth Day
National Youth Day (Yuva Diwas or Swami Vivekananda Birthday) is celebrated by the youths at all the schools, colleges by performing the parade, speech on Swami Vivekananda, recitations, music, songs, conventions, Yogasanas, presentations, competition for essay-writing, seminar, sports and etc. Lectures and writings related to the ideas of Swami Vivekananda are also performed by the students to inspire the Indian youths.
Variety of other performances are also carried out by the people participated in the event all over the India as well as outside the country in order to promote education, art, way of life, trust among youths inspire their inner soul.
An event for two days for all the age group is organized by the Mission Bhartiyam in Uttar Pradesh. This event includes dozen of activities and named as the Basti Yuvo Mahotsav. The day is celebrated by the government, non-profit organizations as well as corporate groups in their own way.
The event celebration is started in the early morning with the pooja of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Ramakrishnananda. A great hoom is performed after the pooja by the Monks and devotees. Then devotees offer pushpanjali and aarti to the statue of Swami Vivekananda. In the end, distribution of Prasad takes place.
Why National Youth Day is Celebrated
Philosophies, teachings and ideas of the Swami Vivekananda are the great cultural and traditional assets of India. Youths are the most important part of the country who leads the country ahead, that’s why youths are selected to be inspired first by the ideas and ideals of the Swami Vivekananda. So, the National Youth Day is started celebrating every year to encourage and inspire the honorable youths of the India. Schools and colleges are delightfully adorned to enthusiastically celebrate the event.
Swami Vivekananda was a great person who always believed in the youth power to lead and nourish the historical culture of the country and carry some advancement required by the country to be developed.
National Youth Day Theme
Following are the year wise themes of national youth day celebration in India:
> According to Ramakrishna Mission, the theme for 2019 is “Youth and Nation Building”
> The theme of 2018 was “Sankalp se Siddhi”.
> The theme of 2017 was “Youth for Digital India”.
> The theme of 2016 was “Indian Youth for Development, Skill and Harmony”.
> The theme of 2015 was “Youngmanch” and “Youth for Clean, Green and Progressive India” (and slogan was “hum se hai nayi shuruaat”).
> The theme of 2014 was “Youth for Drugs Free World”.
> The theme of 2013 was “Awakening the Youth Power”.
> The theme of 2012 was “Celebrating Diversity in Unity”.
> The theme of 2011 was “Sabse Pehle Bharat”.
National Youth Day Quotes
Following are some famous quotes on national youth day said by the Swami Vivekananda:
> “Choose the highest ideal and live your life upto that. Look at the “ocean” and not at the wave”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Struggle hard to get money, but don’t get attached to it”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “He who sees Shiva in the poor, in the weak, and in the diseased, really worships Shiva”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Each soul is potentially divine”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Talk to yourself once in a day…Otherwise you may miss meeting an EXCELLENT person in this World”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “My faith is in the younger generation, the modern generation, out of them will come my workers!”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Work, work, work – let this be your motto”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “The earth is enjoyed by heroes—this is the unfailing truth. Be a hero. Always say, “I have no fear””. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Feel that you are great and you become great”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “My hope of the future lies in the youths of character, intelligent, renouncing all for the service of others, and obedient – good to themselves and the country at large”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Death being so certain, it is better to die for a good cause”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Your country requires heroes; be heroes; your duty is to go on working, and then everything will follow of itself”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “It is best to work among the youth in whom lies our hope — patiently, steadily, and without noise”. – Swami Vivekananda
> “The child is father of the man.” Would it be right for an old man to say that childhood is a sin or youth a sin?” – Swami Vivekananda
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