New Delhi: To commemorate 145th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel on 31 October 2020 as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will visit Kevadia in Gujarat to pay homage to the great leader at the Statue of Unity. The Prime Minister will participate at the Ekta Diwas Parade and administer the Rashtriya Ekta Pledge.

Police forces of Gujarat State and Central Reserve Armed Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Forces and National Security Guards will participate in the Parade. The Prime Minister will also witness a Rifle drill by female officers of CRPF. As part of Ekta Diwas celebrations a cultural show of tribal heritage is also being organized at Kevadia. To mark the solemn occasion, Indian Air Force will perform a Fly-past.

As a part of the Integrated Development of Kevadia the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate various projects on the  30^th and 31^st October 2020.

These include the flag-off of the Ekta Cruise Service to the Statue of Unity,  the inauguration of the Ekta Mall and Children Nutrition Park there. Shri Narendra Modi will also unveil the website of Statue of Unity in all the UN official languages and will launch the Kevadia App, at the Unity Glow Garden.

The Prime Minister will also launch the seaplane service connecting Statue of Unity in Kevadia with Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad.

Ekta Cruise Service

Through the Ekta Cruise Service one can experience the viewing of Statue of Unity through the Ferry Boat Service from Shrestha Bharat Bhavan to Statue of Unity by covering a distance of 6 km. The 40 min ride can be covered by a boat which can ferry 200 passengers at a time. New Gora Bridge is built especially for the operation of the ferry service. Boating Channel is constructed to provide boating services to tourists visiting the Statue of Unity.

Ekta Mall

The Mall displays a diverse range of handicrafts and traditional items from all over India symbolizing unity in diversity and is spread over 35000 sq ft. The mall consists of 20 Emporia each representing a specific state in India and is built in just 110 days.

Children Nutrition Park

It is the world’s first ever technology driven nutrition park for children and is spread over an area of 35000 sq ft. A Nutri Train runs across the park to various exciting theme based stations namely ‘Phalshaka Griham’, ‘Payonagari’, ‘Annapoorna’, ‘Poshan Puran’, and ‘Swastha Bharatam’. It will raise nutritional awareness through various edutainment activities like Mirror Maze, 5D Virtual reality theatre and Augmented reality games.

Aarambh 2020

Aarambh is an initiative to bring all the probationers of All India Service, Group-A Central Service and Foreign Service together for a Common Foundation Course (CFC) with the vision to break the silos of departments and services from the very beginning of the career of a civil servant. Aarambh aims at making the civil servants capable of leading the transformation and work seamlessly across departments and fields.

“Aarambh” was started as part of the 94^th Foundation Course in 2019 where Officer Trainees(OTs) from 20 Services participated in a week-long programme at the Statue of Unity, Kevadia, Gujarat.  It culminated into a presentation to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, an interaction with him followed by his address to the Officer Trainees.

This year, the second edition of Aarambh 2020 is taking place in LBSNAA from 14^th to 31^st October, 2020,  in which 428 Officers Trainees from eighteen Services and three Royal Bhutan Services are participating.  However, due to the prevailing pandemic situation, this year the Aarambh 2020 is a virtual one, with the focus on cultural diversity and synergy in India as an influencer, economic diversity and oneness as strength, Atmanirbhar in Energy, Health, Building large systems for Black Swan events, Research and Innovation in Education, Industry and Administration.

Prime Minister will interact with and address 428 Officer Trainees belonging to various Civil Services currently undergoing the 95th Foundation Course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie through videoconference as a culmination of Aarambh 2020.

The theme of Aarambh 2020 is “Governance in India @ 100” with three sub-themes –

1. Ek Bharat – Shresth Bharat: Cultural diversity and synergy in India as an Influencer; Economic diversity and oneness as strength
2. Atma Nirbhar Bharat : in Energy, Health and building large systems for handling black swan events
3. Naveen Bharat: Research & Innovation in Education, Industry and Administration.

Intense deliberations were held from 14th October 2020 during which National and international experts shared their thoughts and experiences. Mr. Axel Van Trotsenberg, MD, World Bank is slated to address the officer trainees before their interaction with the Prime Minister. The officer trainees will share their learnings during Aarambh 2020 with the Prime Minister. A special Volume of ‘Administrator’- a publication of LBSNAA will be released during the program.