New Delhi
Lights and colours of Diwali, a festival that commemorates the return of Lord Rama, his wife Sita, and brother Laxman to their Kingdom after 14 years of exile to honour their father’s wish, have come after a long period of despair and muted celebrations because of Covid pandemic.
Today as India and people in many parts of the world celebrate the festival of lights, Indians were greeted with two major developments: the government announcing moves that will make petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 5-10 and the WHO approving India made Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin.
Both these moves will rev up the economy and help in quicker recovery from the impact of Covid-19 induced prolonged lockdown.
Generally, Diwali has come as a whiff of relief for people as India’s vaccine coverage has reached the milestone of 100 crore and yet the government is pushing for universal coverage and due to the very low prevalence of the viral disease, it is after a long time a festival is being celebrated in the post-Corona era.
In a way, Diwali may be the beginning of normalization in India.
Over the past two years, festivals like Diwali, Holi, and Eid have seen subdued celebrations due to the Covid pandemic. However, the government asked the people to continue preventive measures even during the celebrations.
Diwali is being celebrated uniquely at the native place of Rama, Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Wednesday night Ayodhya’s witnessed the fifth edition of Deepotsav (festival of lights) and set a world record of 954,000 burning lamps at one place. The fact was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The Guinness Book of World Records presented a provisional certificate to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The mesmerizing spectacle was created with 9.51 lakh lamps lit simultaneously at 32 ghats of Ganga on the Saryu river.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi jhas again reached in Jammu's border areas where he will celebrate Diwali with the army personnel deployed on the line of control. He was received by Commander at the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district.
In 1947, on the orders of Pakistan, the tribesmen attacked Rajouri district on the day of Diwali, killing hundreds of people. The locals and the army bravely faced the attack. In an operation that lasted until April 12, 1948, the army drove the tribesmen back to Rajouri.
Every year on Diwali, Rajouri pays homage to the martyrs of tribal attacks.
Modi will spend his day in the Nowshera Brigade that is responsible for the security of the LOC. Young townsfolk are also very excited about the arrival of the PM. Strict security arrangements have been made.
The sector has recently seen one of the longest counter-terror operations in the jungles along the Line of Control in Rajouri. A group of Pakistani terrorists had been stayed put inside the Bhatta-dholiyan jungles for a month and the Army launched a 20 days operation to flush them out.
During this clash, 9 soldiers were martyred. In the last four months, 14 soldiers have been martyred while fighting terrorists in Rajouri Poonch districts.
Along with India, Diwali is celebrated by Indians living in every country, but it is celebrated in at least more than 10 countries. These include Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, Tobago, Suriname, Singapore, Fiji, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
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.webp "Defence Minister Rajnath Singh")
.webp "NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma")
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