NATIONAL YOUTH DAY: 12 JANUARY

NATIONAL YOUTH DAY: 12 JANUARY

Context:

Every year, on 12 January, National Youth Day is celebrated in India.

About the Day:

• The day commemorates Swami Vivekananda's birthday as he was born on 12 January 1863.
• The Government of India announced the day in 1984.
• National Youth Day was first celebrated in 1985.
• In 2022, we are celebrating the 159th birthday of Swami Vivekanand.

The theme for the 2022 National Youth Day:

• YUVAAH - Utsah Naye Bharat Ka (Youth- Excitement of New India)'.

Swami Vivekananda:

• Born into a noble family of Bengali Kayastha of Calcutta, Vivekananda was spiritually inclined.
• He was a Hindu monk and philosopher from India.
• He was a leading scholar of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. 
• Influenced by Western esotericism, he was instrumental in introducing the Indian darsanas (teachings, practices) of Vedanta and Yoga in Western lands.
• He is credited with raising awareness of various religions, making Hinduism the world's largest religion in the late 19th century.
• He was a significant figure in the Hindu revolutionaries of the day in India, and he contributed to the idea of ​​nationalism in colonial India.
• He founded Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.