PM to launch Swami Vivekananda's 150th birth anniversary celebrations

New Delhi, Jan 12 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will inaugurate the nationwide celebrations to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda here today.

A national committee has been formed with the Prime Minister as chairman to oversee the celebrations. Dr. Singh will also release a book "Awakening India" which contains the selected writings of Swami Vivekananda in which he addressed the youth.

A "Future Leader Discovery Contest" will be held this year for school students and 2012 for college students, which will involve an online competition all over the country to be conducted in three stages.

Celebrations spread over four years will be held across the country during which programmes would be conducted to help the youth connect to Swami Vivekananda's teachings.

The Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, is planning a series of programmes to commemorate the occasion, including a number of cultural programmes, essay writing competitions for college students and multimedia presentations on Swami Vivekananda's message to the youth. (ANI)