New Delhi: The Kala Utsav 2016, an annual festival to celebrate the talent of school children all over the country, concluded on November 18, 2016 evening with the presentation of the first, second and third prizes in four segments of music, dance, theatre and visual arts to the schools teams representing their States and Union Territories at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. The first prize comprised of a golden trophy shield with a cash prize of Rs. 1.25 lakhs, second prize a silver trophy with Rs. 75,000 and third prize a bronze trophy with Rs. 50,000. The prizes were awarded by Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, the Minister of State for Human Resource Development. The 3-day Utsav was earlier inaugurated on November 15 by The Union HRD Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar and Shri Upendra Kushwaha, MoS Ministry of HRD.
Speaking on the occasion Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey appreciated the initiative of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar to bring out the latent talent of our school children in various forms of art. It is a serious attempt at uniting the country emotionally and culturally. It has provided a forum to the students of different parts of the country to know and understand each other.
Dr. Pandey said that despite the diversity of language, attire and eating habit the country remains a united entity. This reality looks puzzling to the world community. Eulogizing the performance of the children, and in particular of divyang students, as of a very high order, the minister said the country had a great tradition of honoring such rare talent. He cited the instance of the great Surdas who is still held in high esteem in every corner of the country.
The Minister also honored the members of jury by presenting a shawl and a memento to each. The Minister also visited the prize-winning State/UT entries in the visual art category. He appreciated the presentation and interacted with the school children who prepared it. Some of the best entries in music and dance were performed at the closing ceremony.
Students from Leh-Ladakh region of J&K participated for the first time. Their dance performance was a great entertainment and eye-catching. This Kala Utsav attracted school students from every corner of the country with all States and Union Territories except Lakshdweep making their presence felt. The number of participants too was about three hundred more than last year.
Another highlight was the song performance of Kajari Art-form (which also won second prize) by the Kumharar Girls High School Patna Team which was comprised of all divyang blind girls with only one male who was an instrument player.
In the Visual Arts form Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Body Ornaments of the Tribes) presented by Govt. Model Senior Secondary School, Aberdeen Bazaar, South Andaman won the first prize, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (Traditional Bronze Craft) presented by Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Canacona, South Goa received the second and Team Haryana (Traditional Visual Arts) from GHS, Durjanpur, District Bhawani won the third prize.
In Dance segment, the first place went to West Bengal (Ranpaa Dance presented by Somruk Shital Chandra Institution, P.O Somruk, P.S Uluberia, Howrah), second to Himachal Pradesh (Laaldi Dance presented by Govt. Senior Secondary School (Girls) Sultanpur, District Kullu) and third to Andaman & Nicobar Islands for Life & Culture of Jarawa Tribes presented by Govt. Model Senior Secondary School, Aberdeen Bazaar, South Andaman).
In Music the first honour went to Goa (Shree Brahmadurga High School, Paz-Shiroda), second to Bihar (Antrijyoti Girls High School, Kumharar, Patna) and third to Jammu & Kashmir Bilawar).
In Theatre, Karnataka (Government High School, Kyalakonda, Tq: Shiggaon, District Haveri) went away with the first prize, Kerala (Vivekodayam Boys HSS Thrissur) with the second and Tamil Nadu (Govt. Higher Secondary School, Elachipalayam Post, Tiruchengode Taluk, Namakkal) with the third.
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