Gandhinagar: It’s the biggest festival of Gujarati people during the year today. It’s a new year day as per Gujarati Hindu Vikram Samvat calendar.

While Vikram Samvat calendar is also used by the people in several north Indian states and it is also the national calendar of neighboring country Nepal, the Gujarati Vikram Samvat calendar is different from others. The new year in Gujarati calendar is celebrated a day after Diwali. This year however it is on the second day after Diwali.

One can see footfalls in temples increased by 10-fold or even more on the new year day which is popularly called ‘Bestu Varsh’ in Gujarati. People do clean their houses and decorate with Rangoli art on the side of the entrance to welcome the guests on Bestu Varsh.

Relatives, friends dress well and visit places of one another to convey greetings of ‘Happy New Year’ or ‘Saal Mubarak’ or ‘Nutan Varsha Abhinandan’.

While in other states, Diwali festival is celebrated for just one day, in Gujarat the festivities of Diwali festival continue for five days for sure and even more. It starts with Dhan Teras and ends at Bhai Beej(Bhai Duj).

The markets are mostly closed during this period. They reopen on ‘Labh Pancham’, the fifth day of Gujarati new year. ‘Labh Pancham’ is considered auspicious mahurat to reopen the business after Diwali break. Gujarati tourists can be spotted at all major tourist destinations across the world during this period.

At each Gujarati home, Diwali special sweets and shacks are cooked and served to guests. The people wear new dresses. Houses are decorated with Asopalav torans (made of Asopalav leafs) and marigold flowers. Some of the Diwali linked traditional food items include Mathiya, Ghughra, Chevdo, Suvali among others.

The new Gujarati Vikram Samvat calendar year 2080 will be full of lot of new developments for Gujarat. The year will see heightened political activities in connection with upcoming national general elections of Lok Sabha. The year will see further progress in the works for Surat Metro rail project and Ahmedabad Metro rail project phase-2 realizing long-pending Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar connectivity. A new diamond bourse in Surat is going to open this year. The Statue of Unity tourist site will have further more addition of tourist attractions. It may also see operations of hydrogen run buses fro Vadodara.

More Ropax ferry service routes are expected to start this year. All works on flyovers on Ahmedabad – Gandhinagar route at SG highway are likely to complete this year. Similarly few other highway works including that of Ghaduli – Santalpur, Ahmedabad – Rajkot widening and Mota Chiloda – Shamlaji are likely to complete this year. A journey from Ahmedabad to Udaipur is likely to be smoother and speedier with completion of electrification of railway line and launching of express trains.

Works for All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital in Rajkot are going to complete this year. The campus of the Indian Institute of Skills may be readied this year at Nasmed near Ahmedabad. Operations of more Vande Bharat express are likely this year along with Vande Bharat Metro and Vande Bharat sleeper and Vande Sadharan trains. A hydrogen run train is likely to be operationalized in South Gujarat. The Vibrant Gujarat Summit will shine further with Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi himself as a guiding force.

Ahmedabad city may find some benefits of extended Riverfront, as phase-2 works are ongoing speedily. The city may also see closure of the portion of Ashram road due to ongoing Gandhi Ashram development works. Science City in Ahmedabad will see works for new galleries already announced by the Chief Minister. Surat airport will have a new terminal, which is likely to be inaugurated in December 2023. Works on Tapi riverfront are likely to start on the ground this year.

The works of construction of lot of stations and bridges of Ahmedabad – Mumbai High Speed Rail project (bullet train project) are likely to complete this year. A major task of building Western Dedicated Freight Corridor will complete this year. It will transform the rail operation scenario in the State. Ahmeadbad-Dholera expressway project is going to complete this year. It is expected that most works on Gujarat stretch of Delhi-Mumbai expressway project will complete this year. So far Vadodara-Ankleshwar stretch is done. Its inauguration is likely to take place soon. The stretch will provide expressway road connectivity from Madhya Pradesh border to Godhra to Vadodara – Bharuch – Ankleshwar – Kim – Surat upto Vapi and then to Mumbai.

A new iconic sea bridge connecting Okha to Bet Dwarka will be inaugurated this year. With this, the ancient pilgrim island Bet Dwarka will for the first time get road connectivity. The works on Deesa forward airbase of Indian Air Force(IAF) will start this year. Naliya on North Western corner of Kutch will get rail connectivity. Works on Shri Devbhumi Dwarka corridor are likely to start this year. Phase-1 of National Maritime Museum at Lothal is likely to get complete this year.

Pavagadh Mandir may see upto the top ropeway connectivity this year. Google may foray at GIFT city with its Fintech centre this year. Reliance’s green energy foray through its Jamnagar plant may see further momentum this year. Works on proposed aircraft manufacturing plant of Tata-Airbus may achieve advance status on the ground this year in Vadodara. If court battle paves a way, works on Chotila ropeway project may start this year. Completion of ring road around Surat is likely this year. Reconstruction of Ahmedabad’s railway station is likely to kick off this year. A new airport in Rajkot will get its permanent terminal by middle of this year.

India is expected to bid for hosting Olympic games in Ahmedabad in year 2036 this year. Rollout of Project Lion is expected this year for Gir lions. India’s first semiconductor plant by Micron is expected to be operational this year in Sanand.

Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi will mark the Gujarati new year at the national capital New Delhi.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, following the same routine established by Shri Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister – would visit Panchdev Mandir in Gandhinagar and perform puja on new year day. He will then visit Nagar Devi (the Goddess of the city) Bhadrakali Mandir in Ahmedabad and have darshan.

Union minister Amitbhai Shah will exchange greetings with citizens at his Thaltej based residence in Ahmedabad.

Ravishankar Maharaj, who inaugurated Gujarat state in 1960 had penned down how the festival of Diwali and Gujarati New Year was celebrated over 100 years back.

Ravishankar Maharaj writes: As Diwali is considered the last day of the year, people would rest, and pause their routine activities. Even poor person would cook good dishes of food. Laddu was cooked very commonly at every home. Businessmen would rope in Brahmins to worship their account books of new year. Ink pot, account book and pen (kalam in those days) were worshiped. Businessmen would take pledge before Brahmins, that they would never enter anything wrong in the account book using the ink and pen they worshipped. On the new-year-day, everyone would wake up early in the morning and hug one another to convey heartily good wishes. One would consume sweets and visit temple in new year morning. In the evening all villagers would gather at one place where Brahmin would read ‘Saar patrika’ in which review of the last year and forecast of the next year would be read out. On this day, younger ones would serve the elders. There was a general feeling that if the first day of a new year passes well, the entire year would be equally good. Ethics and dharma were very much the part of routine life of people. DeshGujarat