YSP makes youngsters understand rural India
Indian youth, being the largest demographic segment for any country in the world, has tremendous potential. NCRI intends to
provide a bridge between the idea of youth as a resource and Gandhian idea of self-reliance. In pursuit of this objective, NCRI held a Youth Sensitisation Programme from September 7 to 10, 2009. The YSP, which made youth understand the issues and
problems of rural India, was conducted for students of Graphic Era University(GEU), Dehradun with the support of Society for Integrated Development of Himalayas (SIDH), Uttarakhand, and for the students of Institute of Engineering and Emerging Technologies (IEET), Baddi, Solan district, Himachal Pradesh with the support of Society for Social Uplift Through Rural Action (SUTRA), Jagjit Nagar, Solan District of Himachal Pradesh. The team was accompanied by Dr. I. Sreenivasulu from NCRI. The programme gave meaningful insight to the students to get closer to the rural scenario. The experience of the youth during the interactions will go a long way in moulding their careers and serving the nation in an appropriate manner.
Learning from Nature
It was a two-day event designed by the National Council of Rural Institutes, Hyderabad, to provide the urban youth an awareness through direct interaction with the rural lives, under the Youth Sensitisation Programme. As many as 13 students pursuing technical education spent two whole days in the lap of nature, through institutional activities amidst the sobriety of the countryside. What did the students do in the villages? They were provided with an occasion to learn from the poverty amelioration schemes and those related to improvement of health, literacy, promotion of handicraft, micro-finance and self-help projects. This generated an opportunity for the youth to get a first hand knowledge of the rural lifestyle. The programme was conducted in collaboration with illustrious names such as Infosys Leadership Institute. Padmasri Dr. BV Raju Institute of Engineering and Technology at Narsapur (Medak district) took part in the pilot project. The Dangoria Charitable Trust at Narsapur (1981) which is engaged in rural education played the host for the major rural awareness programme. Dr. Mahtab S Bamji, former director grade scientist of the National Institute of Nutrition of Hyderabad, was the life force behind the success of the interactive programmes. She personally took the initiative of involving the students who seemed elated at the exposure and interaction they had in the villages with officials including Anganwadi workers, teachers, village representatives. The students had an occasion to visit villages such as Pedachintakunta, Mangapur, the famous Vali mango nursery and other serene locales in the district. What mattered to the youth was ultimately the discovery of the soul of India from close quarters - in the villages that taught them the basic art of learning from Nature. Interacting with the students, faculties and village elders, Shri G.V.V.S.D.S. Prasad, co-ordinator “The Wheel” initiated a discus-sion on their observation of village life, the panchayat, lifestyle and the problems faced by the villagers. He lamented over the kinds of exploitation that villagers are being exposed to. He explored possibilities of using modern technologies to solve the problem.
Sensitising youth is the essence of development – Youth Parliament
Keeping in mind of the existing challenges of the North East India (NEI) and the need to sensitise the youth to those challenges, a workshop was organised by Assam University Diphu Campus in collaboration with National Council of Rural Institutes (NCRI), Ministry of HRD, Government of India on ‘Youth Sensitisation to the Challenges of North East India, Local planning and Youth Parliament’.
The two-day seminar was convened by Mr. Bikash Chandra Dash, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Assam University on September 1 and 2, 2009. The objective of the workshop was to sensitise the youth to the challenges they face in their locality which primarily concerns the issue of development.
The workshop was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner of Diphu, Mr. M.C.Sahu, IAS, who was the Chief Guest at the function. Mr. Sahu highlighted the fact that youth sensitization, as a concept, is an innovative idea. Prof. Bhuleswar Mate, honourable Pro-Vice Chancellor of Assam University Diphu Campus (AUDC), was the Chairperson of the inaugural session. Delivering the welcome speech, he underlined that the workshop was innovative and was being organised for the first time in collaboration with NCRI. Prof. Tombi Singh, the former Vice Chancellor of the Manipur University, Manipur and presently working as the Head, Department. of Life Science, Assam University, Diphu Campus, joined the inaugural session as the Guest of Honour. Mr. Bikash Chandra Dash, the convener of the workshop, presented a panoramic picture of the challenges being faced by the mankind and the need of tapping the youth force to utilise it for successfully meeting those challenges. Mr. S. Satpathy, NCRI representative, requested AUDC to organise similar programmes to sensitise the youth as this would provide an opportunity to them to participate in a significant manner for the development process of the country. He informed that NCRI was interested to fund the programmes like this in a bigger scale involving several university students of the north east region. Dr. Khokan Chandra Das, Reader, Department of Political Science, Assam University, Diphu Campus proposed vote of thanks.
Best Youth parliamentarians
Honourable judges Mr. J.D. Thang, Head, Deprtment of Political Science, Diphu Government College and Dr. Binayak Dutta, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Assam University Diphu Campus evaluated the participation of the youth Parliamentarians and selected three of them as best participants. They are Mr. Hokdar Terang, participating as the Prime Minister secured first, Mr. Dhoniram Lekhe second and Mr. Debasish Das the third position in the parliamentary debates. The first, second and third participants received cash prizes of Rs. 150, Rs.100 and Rs.75 respectively.
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| Children from SIDH school with GEU students |
Students from IEET Baddi on YSP |
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| Women taking part in a folk dance with participants (Right) at Pedachintakunta (Medak) |
Women taking part in a folk dance with participants (Right) at Pedachintakunta (Medak) |
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| Participants of Youth Parliament organised by NCRI at Assam University Diphu Campus, Assam. |
Inaugural Song by Students, Department of Political Science AUDC |
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