The government of India has approved ₹400 crore for India’s participation in World Expo 2025, a mega event that is to be held for 184 days at Osaka, Japan, between April 13 and October 13, 2025.
Toward this, the Budget has allocated ₹300 crore for this year. In a footnote, the expenditure budget mentions that the other ₹100 crore will come in 2025-26.
World Expos, officially known as International Registered Exhibitions, are global gatherings of nations addressing universal challenges of our time.
They are held by Bureau International des Expositions, which is an intergovernmental organization in charge of overseeing expos that run for long periods.
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The previous expo was held in Dubai and ended on March 31, 2022. The Osaka expo, according to its website, to be held at Yumeshima, a man-made island in the Osaka bay.
It will feature initiatives aimed at creating a future society for our lives presented by 150 countries and 25 international organisations, as well as companies, NGOs, NPOs, citizens’ groups, and others from around the world, to provide a vision of achieving the SDGs and the future beyond that.”
“Participation in the mega event will reflect India achievement capacities as well as strategic engagement with the region and the world, and also send a message that India will also have access to truly global platform to build new connections with the very best the world has to offer,” says a footnote in the Expenditure Budget.
“The multibillion-dollar projects associate with the expo will generate significant opportunities for various sections in India,” it says. India Trade Promotion Organization has been appointed as the nodal agency for the event.
The Indian pavilion, called Sanjivini or The Healing Mountain, is expected to be a grand, hi-tech affair, with halls depicting motifs of the five elements—earth, water, air, fire and space. It will also feature a hall of colous (Rang De), an Aakash auditorium, a market (Lotus bazar) and Sheesh Mahal, a restaurant, apart from a tunnel called Sutra Surang and a bridge ramp called Chakra Sutra.
Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai will provide the world with an opportunity to come together in one place to explore the theme of ‘life’. Its website observes that it would “facilitate interactions between people with diverse values from around the world, resulting in new human networks and creative endeavors.
Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai will share hopes for a brighter future with the world by overcoming the current global crisis, protecting people’s lives, and reflecting on life and lifestyles.”