11-day online quiz begins ahead of International Gita Fest in Kurukshetra

The 11-day ‘Gita Quiz’, an online competition being organised as part of the International Gita Mahotsav 2024 (IGM) celebrations, started on Sunday.

During the competition, five questions related to Gita, Mahabharat, and 48 kos will be asked daily, and so far over 40,000 people have registered for the competition, which will end on November 27.

Technical Director-cum-District Informatics Officer Vinod Singla said 40,000 people had registered for the online quiz, and more people were likely to get registrations done during the competition. Last year, around 70,000 people registered for the event, out of which 30,000–35,000 participated daily. This year we have set a target to achieve 1 lakh registrations and improve the daily participation for which people are being motivated. Besides different states of India, some people from abroad also join the competition, he said.

This year the number of daily winners has been doubled, but the prize money has been halved. There are two (public and student) categories, and every day 20 winners from each category will be selected, and they will get Rs 500 each. Besides these, at the end of the quiz, 25 winners from each category will get a reward of Rs 1,000 each. Of the 25 winners in each category, 10 winners each will be from Haryana and other states, while five from Odisha, the state partner of the International Gita Mahotsav this year. The top motivators will also get monetary rewards and certificates of excellence.

The official said, “A large number of the participants are generally school-going children. For the majority of the participants, the name on the winning list is what matters, not the prize money. Just to keep them motivated, the number of daily winners has been doubled, and we are also focusing on improving the quality of questions.”

The honorary secretary of the Kurukshetra Development Board said, “The competition is being organised from November 17 to 27 as part of the IGM. During the competition, 55 questions will be asked. The winners will get monetary rewards and appreciation certificates. The aim is to educate people, especially youngsters, about Gita and Mahabharata and make them discuss the same. We want to make people pick up the holy books and start reading in search of answers. It is like an orientation course for the devotees and pilgrims before the mahotsav beings.”