Thousands of Indian expats in UAE run for Viksit Bharat at Dubai's Zabeel Park

Dubai: Thousands of Indian expats in the UAE turned out at Zabeel Park, Dubai, on Sunday morning for the second edition of the Viksit Bharat Run, held this year as part of the Seva Pakhwada service campaign of the Indian government.

The run was organised by the Indian Consulate in Dubai in association with the Indian People's Forum (IPF), a registered community organisation of Indian expats in the UAE.

Consul General of India in Dubai Dr E. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy flagged off the fitness run, which brought the community together in what the consulate described as a spirit of unity, seva (service) and participation towards the vision of a Viksit Bharat or developed India.

With around 3,000 registrations, the run witnessed enthusiastic participation from the Indian community, the mission said.

Collective commitment

In his address, the Consul General urged Indian expats to work towards fulfilling the vision of a developed India, a goal the Government of India has set for the country's 100th independence anniversary in 2047.

Jitendra Vaidya, President of IPF, described the run as a non-competitive community fitness event held to promote unity, national pride and a collective commitment toward Viksit Bharat.

"Viksit Bharat is the vision of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is not just a dream, but a reality we are working towards by 2047," he said.

He added that it was "more than a run" and represented the spirit of the Indian diaspora and its collective commitment to the cause and called it “a run for unity and a run for Bharat.”

From celebration to service

The Dubai run made its debut in September 2025, when more than 2,000 Indian expats gathered in what organisers at the time called the largest Viksit Bharat Run among 150 locations held across 91 countries worldwide.

This year's run took a different shape. It has been folded into Seva Pakhwada campaign, positioning it as a community service initiative while keeping the core message of Viksit Bharat unchanged.

A fortnight of service

Seva Pakhwada is a nationwide service campaign observed in India from September 17, Modi's birthday, to October 2, which marks the birth anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and India's second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri.

During this period, service-oriented activities such as cleanliness drives, health camps, blood donation initiatives and tree plantation programmes are organised across India and at Indian missions abroad, including in the UAE.

Among the other Seva Pakhwada initiatives held by the consulate this month was a free Legal Counselling Camp on Monday, September 21, offering pro-bono advice to Indian nationals in Dubai and the Northern Emirates on cybercrime, banking and financial fraud, and misuse of the Emirates ID.