With an aim to make India a better country with the involvement of youth, National Youth Day is celebrated across the country on 12th January every year.
The day is observed to motivate the youth of India through the life and ideas of Swami Vivekanand.
National Youth Day commemorates the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.
National Youth Day commemorates the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.
Background of National Youth Day
In 1984, the Government of India declared 12th January as National Youth Day to mark the birth anniversary of social reformer and thinker Swami Vivekanand. Since then, this day is celebrated with great pomp and show in educational institutes and other government organisations.
Who was Swami Vivekanand?
Born on 12th January 1863, originally named Narendra Nath Datta was born in an aristocratic family of Kolkata. When he was in college he became spiritual. He heard about Sri Ramakrishna and was influenced by his spiritual intelligence. He became a pupil of Sri. Ramakrishna. He visited abroad to give lectures about his views on Hinduism and life. He founded, on 1 May 1897, Ramakrishna Mission, in which monks and lay people would jointly undertake propagation of Practical Vedanta, and various forms of social service, such as running hospitals, schools, colleges, hostels, rural development centres etc, and conducting massive relief and rehabilitation work for victims of earthquakes, cyclones and other calamities, in different parts of India and other countries.