Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary to be observed globally

MUMBAI - Mahatma Gandhi’s 141st birth anniversary will be celebrated around the world Saturday with a series of programmes, an official said.

Head of the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal T.R.K. Somaiya said that Canada’s McMaster University will organise the 18th Annual Gandhi Peace Festival at Hamilton City Hall on “The Power of Non-violence”.

Various public programmes will also be organised by the Gandhi Centre, Australia and Gandhi International Institute for Peace, Honolulu, US. The Gandhi Library, Houston, US will also organise various programmes on Gandhi Jayanti, he said.

At home, over 250 universities all over the country would organise several events to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti.

The National Social Service (NSS) cell of the University of Mumbai Friday completed a week-long creative arts competition in which 25,000 students from 180 colleges participated.

University Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar will inaugurate a day-long programme Saturday on “Preservation of Environment”. Over 500 NSS volunteers will also take a pledge to work for peace at the Vidyapeeth Vidyarthi Bhavan at a function to be presided over by former Mumbai Police Commissioner M.N. Singh.

“Engineering and management students of the National Institute of Training in Industrial Engineering will go to various educational institutions, corporate houses and malls and sell 15,000 copies of Gandhi’s autobiography ‘My Experiments With Truth,’” said Somaiya.

Students from 490 schools in Keralas Thrissur district and students from Maharasthra, and 200 jail inmates from six jails will appear in the Gandhi Peace Examination to be held later this month.

Similarly, the five-day-long fifth International Youth Peace Festival, organised by the Yuvsatta in Chandigarh will conclude Saturday, Somaiya said.

A Channai-based NGO, Voice For The Deprived, will conduct a quiz competition among secondary school students Saturday on the life and teachings of Gandhi.