Dance and song contests to mark Republic Day

THE EVENTS WILL ALSO INCLUDE A SEMINAR AND AN INTERACTION ON THE THEME OF DEMOCRACY TO BE ADDRESSED BY KEJRIWAL OR SISODIA

NEW DELHI : This Republic Day, the Delhi government is organising a series of dance and song competitions to celebrate the “spirit of democracy and deepen its understanding among youths” of the national Capital.

Termed ‘Delhi for Democracy’, the 280 programmes — primarily competitions — will start with mohalla-level events and culminate with a grand finale at Central Park in Connaught Place.

To kick start the festivities, local level artists will perform from the weekend before Republic Day in open venues across municipal wards. The best performers in each ward would participate in a similar event organised at the assembly-level, followed by a district-level event before the finale by January-end.

Delhi’s art, culture and languages minister, Manish Sisodia presided over a meeting to finalise the modalities of the events on Tuesday.

From among several proposals, ‘Delhi for Democracy’ was finalised as the title of the events. Sisodia is expected to make an official announcement on Thursday.

“The initial performances will start from January 20. There will be a break between January 23 and 28 due to secu- rity reasons. The final will be held probably by the end of January or first week of February,” said an official of art, culture and l anguages department, which will anchor the event along with a private firm. The events also include an interaction and a seminar on the theme of democracy in which chief minister Arvind Kejriwal or the deputy CM Sisodia will address the gathering at the Central Park.

“The events will be adjudged by teachers. Three to four best performers will be felicitated in the grand finale. The events are being organised at open air venues to ensure maximum participation of the common people,” the official said.

Last month, the Delhi government started ‘Dastak’-- a series of cultural programmes held at local venues such as community parks across the city.

The idea behind the initiative, Sisodia had said, was to break the norm of restricting cultural programmes to Lutyens’ Delhi, and instead take it to residential neighbourhoods.