'Bihar day' to be celebrated on a grand scale this year: Nitish

Describing the 'Bihar day' as a platform to showcase its glorious history, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that the event this year should be organized not as a routine government function, but as a grand festival.

"The Bihar day on March 22 next must be celebrated at a grand scale and the orgnizers should host functions like culture programmes, sports and extra curricular activities, painting exhibitions, handicraft exhibitions, etc" he said while presiding over at an official meeting convened to discuss the Bihar day celebrations this year.

The events will be held round the year in 2012 throughout the state to mark the centenary year of the foundation of Bihar, Kumar said.

The chief minister also called for composition of a theme song besides a prayer song for all schools in Bihar to imbibe a sense of pride in the mind of the people of state as 'Biharis'. During the function this year, at the historic Gandhi Maidan from March 22-24, an airshow of three helicopters will be the highlight.

A national level Volleyball tournament and a cricket tournament for handicapped people (deaf and dumb) will be held in the state capital as well as events extolling culinaries, arts, culture and others facets.