In view of the 150th birth anniversary of great visionary, social reformer and source of inspiration for the youth, Swami Vivekananda and in accordance to the declaration of Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh, the free Bharat Darshan scheme has been launched for the youths of Chhattisgarh.
Dr Raman Singh, on the International literacy Day and on the pious occasion of Teeja, the main festival of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday afternoon, has inaugurated the Bharat Darshan scheme at Rajnandgaon district headquarters. Addressing the function, the chief minister said that with the Bharat Darshan Scheme, the youths of Chhattisgarh would get the opportunity to view and understand closely the different colours of the great Indian culture of unity in diversity and get familiarize with the broad image of India.
At the inaugural function, the Chief Minister, under the scheme, has seen-off 1,000 youths from Rajnandgaon district with his best wishes to Mumbai, Ajanta Ellora and Aurangabad for a weeklong Yatra. He said that under the scheme, about 20,000 youths of the state would be sent to different tourist places, archaeologically important places and main informative centres of the country this year.
The Chief Minister made the youths aware of that this scheme has been inaugurated on the occasion of the 15th birth anniversary of the great visionary, Swami Vivekananda, so the youths, during their tour, keeping in mind the vision and thoughts of Swami Vivekananda, should maintain discipline and the culture of the country.
At the inaugural function, sports and youth welfare minister lata Usendi, Chhattisgarh State Civil Supplies Corporation chairman leelaram Bhojwani, textbooks corporation chairman Ashok Sharma, 20-point programme committee vice-chairman Khoobchand Parakh, Dstrict Panchayat president Dinesh Gandhi, Vidhayak Kheduram Sahu, ex-MP Pradeep Gandhi and others were present.
For the smooth run of the Mukhyamantri Yuva Bharat Darshan Yojana, the state government has inked an agreement with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. Special train has been made available for the tour. Government officials will make arrangements for the Yatra. Along with doctors, security personnel have also been sent with the youths’ team. Travelling and food expenses of the youths would be free of cost.
Under the scheme, youths of the state in the age group of 18 to 35 years would be given an opportunity of free visit to the famous historical and tourism important places of the country. The scheme will be run by the sports and youth welfare department, with the assistance of school education, tribal and scheduled caste development and some other departments.
Ten group of places have been earmarked for the tour including Allahabad-Sarnath-Banaras, Gwalior-Agra-Fatehpursikri, Agra-Delhi-Jaipur-Jalianwallabag, Mumbai-Aurangabad-Ajanta-Ellora, Chitthodgarh-Udaipur-Maunt Abu, Banglore-Mysore-Srirangapattanam,Trivandrum-Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram, Sambalpur-Bhubaneshwar-Konark-Puri and Kolkata-Darjeeling-Gangtok. Under the scheme, the state government will spend Rs 18 thousand per beneficiary, that is about Rs 36 crore per year.