New Delhi, India (CU)_ Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his Holi greetings to citizens today, hoping that the festival instills new strength and spirit in people’s lives. Prime Minister Modi took to Twitter and wished in Hindi. He wrote, “Wishing you all a very happy Holi. This festival of joy, happiness, laughter and glee should infuse new vigor and new energy into everyone’s life”.
While Holi is mainly a Hindu festival, it is also observed by people of other faiths. It indicates the beginning of country’s spring harvest season. It is the festival of color and people celebrate it with color powder and colored water. However, this year, because of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases, public celebrations have been banned in most states around the nation.
Following a spike in coronavirus cases in India, many states have announced a ban on public Holi celebrations. In view of pandemic surveillance, the Centre directed states and union territories to plan on enforcing local restrictions to avoid celebrations in public places, as well as limiting or eliminating mass gatherings. Arti Ahuja, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Health, wrote a letter to the states.
The letter read, “…in view of upcoming festivals such as Holi, Shab-e-Barat, Bihu, Easter and Eid-ul-Fitr, etc., it is strongly advised that states may consider imposing local restrictions in public observance of these festivals and limit/do away with mass gatherings in the exercise of the powers conferred under Section 22 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005”. Maharashtra and Gujarat have outlawed gatherings and public celebrations, and Delhi has put restrictions in place.
India is celebrating the Holi festival today, despite a recent increase in Covid-19 cases across the nation. According to the Union health ministry’s report on Sunday, in the past 24 hours, India recorded 62,714 new Covid-19 cases, raising the count to 11,971,624. The country saw 312 new Covid-19-related deaths in the weekends, bringing the total death count to 161,552.
