“The Indian Navy attacked the Karachi harbour and devastated it on December 4, 1971, during the Indo-Pakistan war for liberation of Bangladesh. It has been celebrating the victory at sea every year,” said Rear Admiral T. Sudhakar after lighting a lamp to mark the launch of ‘Pratibimb-11', a painting contest for schoolchildren, as part of the Navy Week celebrations with civilian population on Sunday.
Talking to mediapersons on the occasion, he said the painting contest was the first and foremost event organised by the Eastern Naval Command for kick-starting the Navy Week Celebrations-2011. The event provided the Navy an opportunity to interact with civilian schoolchildren and their parents.
Nearly 1,400 schoolchildren from government and private schools, including Kendriya Vidyalayas, in the district participated.
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The competitions were held under three categories — senior, junior, and sub-junior. For the seniors, the subject was ‘Men in White: Defenders of Indian Seas and Coasts', for the juniors it was ‘Environment pollution and water conservation'. For sub-juniors, the themes given were ‘Sailboats at sea' and ‘Landscapes from sea'.
Fifty children from special schools also participated in the painting contest. The speech and hearing impaired children were asked to paint on the themes ‘Peace, Harmony, and Nature'. The differently-abled were free to paint on a topic of their choice.
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A panel of four eminent artists from the Naval community evaluated the paintings and short-listed five best paintings from each category. In all, 15 prizes will be given in all the three categories. Awards for the winners will be presented on board a Naval ship during the ‘Day at Sea' programme on November 22.
The month-long festivities, comprising over 18 activities, are scheduled to culminate with the Navy Day celebrations on December 4.