Indian association takes part in 67th Republic Day of India |26 January 2016

Seychelles joins celebrations to mark the 67th Republic Day of India today, an event which honours the date on which the constitution of India came into force in 1950.

To commemorate that day, the Indian Association of Seychelles in collaboration with the High Commission of India and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations are organising a reception followed by a kathak dance performance, aside from the usual flag raising ceremony.

The constitution, which was adopted by the India Constituent Assembly, replaced the Government of India Act (1935) as the governing document of India.

It is one of the three national days in India, the two others being Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti.

In an interview, the chairman of the Indian Association of Seychelles Ramu Pillay said it is the first time that the association celebrates this event and it plans to add it to its annual calendar.

“It makes us proud to celebrate these Indian activities like the 67th Republic Day as the association is already involved in various other activities such as Seychelles India Day and community work especially with children and the elderly,” he said.

He is urging every Indian and Seychellois to attend the dance performance which will take place this evening from 7pm to 8pm at the International Conference Centre of Seychelles (ICCS).

“This time we are bringing one remarkable Kathak dancer, Emelee Ghosh, to take part in India’s Republic Day celebrations and it will be very enjoyable to watch, not only for the Indians but also for Seychellois.

Kathak is a very famous dance form in India, in which Emelee works with two important Gharans of Kathak dance form, Lucknow and Jaipur.

Lucknow Gharana is where nazakat (delicacy), khubsurti (beauty) and abhinaya (acting) work and Jaipur Gharana is where strong rhythmic elements and different talas are used.

He commended the relationship that exists between the two great nations and said he wants to bring us closer together by helping the Indian High Commission in any way to benefit Seychelles educationally, culturally and economically.

“The Indian association will be a bridge between Seychelles and India so that there is better cooperation. India is a big country and we have a lot of opportunities which can be useful for our young Seychellois and these opportunities need to be used just as we need to take care of those who provide us with the opportunities,” he said.

Starting from next year the association will add the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (non-resident Indian Day) to their annual cultural calendar.

It is celebrated on January 9 each year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India.

Mr Pillay said last year the association did a good job as the Seychelles-India Day was a success but this year it will be taking on more responsibilities, cultural and social.

“I think last year was a good year for the association but now our challenge is to beat last year’s target and be better as we have more responsibilities,” he said

He said the reason the association focuses on helping mostly children and the elderly is because they need to groom the young ones who will lead Seychelles in the future and also take care of the elderly people who contributed to making Seychelles what it is today.

“We are helping out the young ones through adopting the primary schools and whoever contributed to Seychelles and now can no longer do so, are staying at the elderly homes which we try our best to help,” he said.

The association has adopted four schools so far and the most recent one is Anse Etoile primary school and the agreement to adopt the Anse Boileau clinic was signed last year where the association promised to bring in two specialists.

“According to our calendar we should have already adopted the clinic in January but we are facing a small delay for which we apologise but we have already allocated R3 million for this project and it should happen anytime soon,” he said.

He announced that this year the Seychelles-India Day will be celebrated from September 30 to October 2.

He took the opportunity to congratulate every Seychellois and Indians on Republic Day and welcomed them to the non-paying function at ICCS this evening.