Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission, unveiled a statue of Swami Vivekananda at Baranagar Mission Ashrama on 12 January.

The National Youth Day (12th January) was celebrated with great enthusiasm and in an impressive way by many of our centres.

The following centres and the Headquarters (along with Saradapitha) celebrated the Day with various programmes such as processions, speeches, recitations, cultural competitions, etc:

Aalo (Along), Agartala, Allahabad, Almora, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bankura, Baranagar Mission, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chapra, Coimbatore Math, Dehradun (Kishanpur), Deoghar, Garbeta, Hyderabad, Kadapa, Kanchipuram, Kanpur, Kozhikode (Calicut), Limbdi, Lucknow, Madurai, Malda, Manasadwip, Mangalore, Mumbai, Muzaffarpur, Nagpur, Narainpur, Narendrapur, Nattarampalli, Ponnampet, Porbandar, Port Blair, Puri Mission, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi Morabadi, Ranchi Sanatorium, Sargachhi, Shillong, Swamiji’s House, Thrissur, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Vishakhapatnam and Vrindaban.

Chennai Math organized a public meeting, and quiz and essay competitions on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda in which more than 2,00,000 students from all over Tamil Nadu participated.

On 12 January, Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, formally inaugurated at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, the service programmes the Math and Mission would be conducting at different places to commemorate Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary during the next three years.  Swami Prabhanandaji, General Secretary, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission, gave the welcome address.  The Prime Minister also released two books, ‘Awakening India’ in English and ‘Bharat Jagaran’ in Hindi, brought out by Delhi centre for free distribution to school and college students.

Delhi Doordarshan telecast live the programme, a video clip of which is available here :

Kanpur centre held a youth convention at IIT Kanpur on 15 and 16 January.

On 23 January, Dr Shrimati Kamla, Governor of Gujarat, inaugurated the programmes the Rajkot Ashrama would be conducting to commemorate the event during the next three years.

Delhi centre organized a Hindustani vocal (classical) concert by the renowned artiste Pandit Jasraj on 23 January and an essay competition for college students on 30 January.

On 26 January, Ranchi Morabadi Ashrama launched Naren Eye Care Programme under which free eye check-up and treatment of school children, mainly of rural areas, would be arranged.

Nagpur Math conducted a youth convention on 30 January.

The birthday (tithi-puja) of Swami Vivekananda was celebrated at Belur Math on Wednesday, 26 January.  Thousands of devotees attended the celebration throughout the day.  Cooked prasad was served to about 25,000 devotees.  Swami Shivamayanandaji presided over the public meeting held in the afternoon.

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Kankurgachhi (Kolkata) centre conducted a devotees’ convention on 23 January, which was attended by about 1300 devotees.

Ms Mamata Banerjee, Railway Minister of India, flagged off at Howrah Railway Station “Vivek Express”, a special train with two air-conditioned coaches exhibiting pictures and write-ups on the life and message of Swami Vivekananda, on 12 January.  The train will cover important stations of the country during the next three years.

On the occasion of Gangasagar Mela, Manasadwip centre organized a camp at the Mela area from 11 to 17 January, in which free board and lodging were provided to 1600 pilgrims and free meals were served to about 1000 non-resident pilgrims.  Besides, discourses and devotional songs were also arranged in the camp.

Ponnampet Ashrama conducted a free multi-specialty medical camp on 27 January in which 91 cardiac patients, 66 neurology patients, 7 cancer patients and 161 eye patients were treated.

Computer Centre of Shilpamandira (a unit of Saradapitha) held a seminar on Global Warming and Our Lifestyle on 11 January in which Dr R K Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was the chief speaker.

A student of Chengalpattu English Medium Higher Secondary School was adjudged the best player in sub-junior National Ball Badminton Championship 2010-2011.

On 26 January, Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, the first floor of the monks’ quarters building at Ootacamund centre was inaugurated and the book “A Journey of Eight and a Half Decades (1926-2010) – A Brief History of Ramakrishna Math, Ootacamund” was released.

The following centres conducted free eye camps:

Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission, was admitted to Seva Pratishthan hospital, Kolkata, on 31 January owing to urinary tract complication.

Swami Gitanandaji, Vice-President, is staying at Kankurgachhi Math.  He visited Belur Math for three days in this month.

Swami Smarananandaji, Vice-President, will be visiting Belgaum, Bangalore and Mysore from 3 to 26 February.  He is in good health.

Vice-President Swami Prameyanandaji, who had not been keeping well lately, was admitted to Seva Pratishthan hospital, Kolkata, on 31 January for medical investigation and treatment.

Seva Pratishthan organized a round-the-clock medical camp during Makar Sankranti Mela at Sagar Island in South 24‑Parganas district from 10 to 16 January.  In all, 5103 patients were treated, out of which 24 received indoor medical care.  Besides, 150 blankets and 245 pieces of clothing were distributed to poor pilgrims and monks.

Porbandar centre conducted a dental camp at the Ashrama premises on 14 January, in which 25 patients were treated.

Kadapa centre conducted a three-day devotees’ convention from 8 to 10 January as a part of its programmes to commemorate the centenary of Ramakrishna Movement in Kadapa.  About 3000 devotees, including monks from different centres, attended the programme.

Bankura centre organized a national level seminar on ‘value-based education’ at Khatra Adivasi Degree College, Bankura, on 21 and 22 January.

A fourth year student of the five-year Integrated MA course in Sanskrit at Vivekananda University stood all-India first and won the Gold Medal in the specialized field of Vedanta at the 48th All-India Sanskrit Elocution Contest conducted by Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi.

Mangalore Ashrama launched Jnana Vahini (mobile bookstall) on 26 January

Communication Addresses

Email Addresses: Barisha Math has got an additional email ID <barishamath@gmail.com>.

The following centres have changed their email IDs:

Tiruvalla centre and the Headquarters’ Bhava Prachar Parishad Office have got email facility; their email IDs are <rkmtvla@gmail.com> and <rkmhqbpp@gmail.com> respectively.

Shillong centre has discontinued its email ID <rkmshilong@rediffmail.com>.

Website: Delhi centre has launched a website exclusively for its programmes concerning Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary; its address is <www.awakeningindia.org>.