Prez to attend concluding session of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav

New Delhi:President Pranab Mukherjee will attend the concluding session of the 10-day Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav on October 24 at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) here.

Inaugurated by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on October 15, the culture ministry event was attended by dignitaries and Union ministers, including M Venkaiah Naidu and Manohar Parrikar.

“The President’s office has accepted our request to attend the concluding session of the festival on October 24,” a Culture Ministry official said.

The second edition of the cultural festival is being attended by over 2,000 artists from across the country who are showcasing India’s cultural heritage through performances, arts and cuisines.

The festival aims at showcasing the rich cultural heritage of the country through handicrafts, cuisine, painting, sculpture, photography, documentation and performing arts like folk, tribal, classical and contemporary.

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav in Delhi is one of the five such festivals planned for this financial year which would be organised at multiple venues, including Varanasi, Bangalore and Jammu and Kashmir, between November 15 and 25.

The seven zonal cultural centres have been given slots to present their arts during the festival which would showcase an amalgamation of ‘Ek Bharat, Srestha Bharat’, ‘Hamaari Sanskriti, Hamaari Pahchaan’ and ‘Swachh India’.

In August, the government had organised a similar mega event — Bharat Parv — on the iconic Rajpath to celebrate Independence Day and promote the spirit of patriotism among citizens.