And the show goes on – with Modi on WCF dais

AoL extravaganza begins amid heavy showers

GN Bureau | March 11, 2016


#NGT   #religion   #culture   #environment   #Yamuna   #Delhi   #World Culture Festival   #Art of Living   #Narendra Modi   #Sri Sri Ravi Shankar  
Sri Sri Ravishankar and PM Narendra Modi at the inaugation of the World Culture Festival
Sri Sri Ravishankar and PM Narendra Modi at the inaugation of the World Culture Festival

Activists, courts, and finally even the rain could not stop Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s World Culture Festival. Prime minister Narendra Modi too ignored alerts about its rickety dais and attended the inauguration of the three-day event in the Yamuna flood plains

In a symbolic development open to interpretation, an unseasonal drizzle started in the afternoon, developing into heavy showers just when the show was scheduled for the start at 5 pm Friday afternoon, but the organisers bravely went on, participating artists covered themselves with polythene sheets, and the dignitaries on the dais – including justice RC Lahoti who delivered the welcome – too were given protection against weather.

Rains and thunderstorms unsettled quite a few people at the venue. The Indian meteorological department (IMD) had predicted heavy rain and thunderstorm for this weekend. A brief spell of shower failed to dampen the spirit of the participants who ran looking for shade. Heavy gusts of winds also blew away some plastic furniture.

Meanwhile, protests continue over the venue chosen for hosting the festival. The national green tribunal (NGT) had fined Rs AoL 5 crore for not adhering to guidelines issued by Delhi development authority (DDA). It had asked AoL to deposit the fine by Friday 4 pm. But it relaxed its rules and has allowed them to deposit Rs 25 lakh by Friday. The remaining amount can be deposit within the next four weeks.






 

Comments

 

Other News

India gets the first hydrogen train

Prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation various development projects worth around ₹14,700 crore in Jind, Haryana.   The PM positioned the city as a shining reflection of the good governance model. Emphasizing that the entire Haryana

Climate change is stealing sleep

Climate change has at least doubled the temperature-related sleep loss across 1,338 major cities worldwide over the past five decades, highlighting an emerging but often overlooked public health consequence of rising global temperatures. A new study by Climate Central estimates that between 2020 and

Cabinet approves Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme

The union cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi has approved the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) with a budgetary outlay of Rs 62,500 crore. It aims to further scale up the production, deepen domestic value addition, strengthen supply chain resilience, enhance global competitiveness. It

Building infrastructure is only half the job

Recent stories of stolen railway wires, disappearing communication towers and missing public infrastructure are often treated as bizarre law-and-order failures of India. Yet they raise a more fundamental question. Why does the State often discover the disappearance of a public asset only after it has alrea

New Delhi’s Indo-Pacific strategy enters a new phase

India appears to be investing fresh dynamism in its Indo-Pacific strategy. At the time when the US, under president Donald Trump, has adopted a conciliatory approach towards China and has changed the name of America’s Indo-Pacific Command to just Pacific Command, India has quietly moved towards con

CAG flags major fiscal lapses in Maharashtra

Maharashtra`s fiscal management has come under sharp scrutiny after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its State Finances Audit Report for 2024-25, flagged significant budgetary inefficiencies, accounting irregularities, understatement of key fiscal indicators and widespread governanc

Upcoming Conferences





Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter