19th National Youth Festival to kick start from January 8 in Guwahati

Over 2,500 youths from across the country have converged in Guwahati today to take part in the five-day 19th National Youth Festival that begins in the Assam capital on Thursday. The festival also coincides with the 152nd birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

While Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi will inaugurate the festival in the Nehru Stadium, union home minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to be present at the closing function on January 12. Held in Assam for the first time at the behest of Sarbananda Sonowal, union minister of state for youth affairs, the festival was initially supposed to be held in Majuli island, but was later shifted to Guwahai due to opposition by chief minister Gogoi.

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The five-day festival will showcase various shades of youth talent through Yuva Kriti, Food Festival, Young Artist Camp, Youth Convention, Suvichar and Adventure activities. Besides these there will be other competitive and non-competitive events which will reflect youth power from different states, an official press release said.

Held on the eve of Bhogali bihu, the harvest festival of Assam, participants of the National Youth Festival will also get a taste of traditional Assamese and other ethnic food of the state. Besides, Bollywood star singers like Alka Yagnik, Zubin Garg, Papon and several rock bands from the Northeastern will stage live performance in different cultural nites.