PUDUCHERRY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the National Youth Festival at 11am on January 12 virtually.

Union youth affairs, sports and information and broadcasting minister Anurag Singh Thakur, Puducherry lieutenant governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, chief minister N Rangasamy and home minister A Namassivayam will participate in the virtual programme.

The Union youth affairs and sports ministry decided to cancel the event in Puducherry and hold it in virtual mode on January 12 and 13 due to rising Covid-19 cases in the Union territory.

The Union ministry has developed the platform nyf2022. org with a capacity to host about five lakh users.

The participants must register to access it.

The festival includes a series of conferences on a wide range of topics like environment, climate and nation building. It will also include recorded capsules on Puducherry, Auroville, an international township in the making, indigenous sports games, folk dances an d live music performances. It will conclude with sessions with Olympians and Paralympians from across the country.

Modi will also dedicate a Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises technology centre in Puducherry to the nation virtually in the presence of Union MSME minister Narayan Rane, minister of state for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma and others.