Nitish Kumar to launch Gandhi Smriti Yatra in April

Patna March 18 (IANS) Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is set to launch a Gandhi Smriti Yatra from Champaran next month to mark the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi s first major Satyagraha against British rule in the district.

The Yatra will be followed by series of programmes officials said on Saturday.

Kumar will launch the Yatra from Champaran on April 15 to mark the day Mahatma Gandhi had arrived in Motihari (now district headquarters of Champaran) from Muzaffarpur by train in 1917.

Official functions on a large scale marking the centenary of Satyagraha year will start five days ahead of the proposed Yatra.

The year-long celebrations would commence with an international seminar on the life of Mahatma Gandhi in the newly-built International Convention Centre in Patna.

Mahatma Gandhi launched his Satyagraha -- nonviolent agitation -- against the forced cultivation of indigo by British rulers in Champaran district on April 10 1917.

The state education department along with tourism art culture and youth affairs departments have been roped in to ensure smooth arrangements for the centenary celebrations.

Officials said a series of lectures will be organised on the Champaran Satyagraha in which experts and well-known faces from around the world would take part.

--IANS
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