Govt plans Gita Circuit to promote K’shetra

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, December 9

Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma on Friday said that the state government would soon promote Gita Circuit to attract more visitors to the holy city of Kurukshetra.

After inaugurating the Crafts and Saras Mela, which is part of the International Gita Mahotsav, Sharma said the state authorities were working to identify various ancient sites associated with the Bhagavad Gita.

As per popular belief, Kurukshetra was spread over a 48-kos radius covering parts of Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Karnal and Panipat districts and various places are being maintained by the Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB).

Ram Bilas Sharma said the state government was working to identify the temples and other places associated with the epic Mahabharata for their conservation.

He said the Gita had been accepted globally as a spiritual text and it should not be taken as a religious book.

“When the BJP government introduced Bhagavad Gita in the school syllabus, a section of society had raised doubts over it. But it has been taken in a very positive spirit. We have nothing to react to the charges of saffronising the education system as the colour is associated with the Tricolour and Indian culture,” he said.

Sharma said diplomats from eight countries were attending the annual Gita Jayanti festivities and the efforts to promote it at an international scale were yielding results. He said artists and artisans from 22 states were participating in the Crafts and Saras Mela.

Ram Bilas Sharma announced financial compensation to the families of Kaithal-based journalists Sushil Rathi and Jolly Deband who died of electrocution.