Youth meets to discuss peace

The first ever three days long South Asian Youth Peace Meet was organised by Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication to propagate the message of peace and harmony which has become a far cry in the sub-continent.

CJ: Rujuta Phadke

Mon, Sep 28, 2009 12:26:36 IST

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Youth Peace Meet :

SYMBIOSIS INSTITUTE of Media and Communication (SIMC), Pune under Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune organised the first ever three days long South Asian Youth Peace Meet (SAYPM) to propagate the message of peace and harmony which has become a far cry in the sub-continent considering the recent spate of terrorist activities and cross-border aggression in various parts of the region. With an eye on the future, the organisers of the event brought a myriad range of speakers from all across the political and cultural spectrum. In addition, SAYPM witnessed Model United Nations (MUN) sessions being conducted with students from all across the country with a few international participants to make the students comprehend the intricacies of international diplomacy.

The event was flagged of by imminent personalities like Rajlaxmi Bhonsale, Mayor of Pune; Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, principal director, Symbiosis International University; Prof Vishwanath Karad, founder director, MIT University; Dr Chandra Krishnamurthy, vice-chancellor, Mumbai University and Prof Ujjwal Kumar Choudhury, director of SIMC.

The theme for the first day of the mega event was Communal Harmony & Peace which saw a bevy of heavyweight speakers coming and gracing the dais with their illuminating presence including Asghar Ali Engineer, chairperson, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS); Romesh Bhandari, former foreign secretary and former governor, Uttar Pradesh; Dr Chandra Krishnamurthy, vice chancellor (VC), Mumbai University; Suresh Kopade, special inspector general, Mumbai; Jyoti Punwani, an Independent Journalist and Dr Nawal Paswan, professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Most of them delved on the importance of maintaining and nurturing communal harmony amongst all sections of the society by rejecting all the divisive forces at work in our society for achieving their own petty and selfish interests. Engineer was forthright in stating that most of the communal tensions which have been created in our society at different points in time in recent history are primarily because of the prevalence of a certain section of the society which has always harped on creating artificial tensions based on very trivial parameters. Kopade cited specific case studies to reinforce the fact that communal hatreds and conflicts only worsen the situation and inflict heavy burdens and sufferings on the society. The other speakers also spoke on similar lines with Dr Paswan giving a brief about the current demographic and ethnic profile of the country and analysed the causes for the eruption of a sectarian conflict.

The second day of the festivity saw one of the greatest proponents of peace and harmony illuminating the audience with her forceful and intense speech which had the capacity to inspire all and sundry. The person we are referring to is none but Dr Kiran Bedi, the first woman Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who redefined the way criminals are treated in a jail and propagated the concept of love and refinement in a very subtle and successful way. The other persons who came and spoke on youth affairs and politics, the theme for the day included Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, principal director, Symbiosis International University; Santosh Shah, president, Today’s Youth Asia, Nepal; Imran Khan, actor; Dushyant Singh, Madhya Pradesh, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajasthan; Vijay Pamarathi, founder, India First; Sudheendra Kulkarni, political journalist; Monika Trivedi, chairperson, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Young Indians, Pune and Maneck Kotwal, director, Games Village, Commonwealth Games, Delhi, 2010. Most of them emphasised on the importance of youth in today’s scheme of things while dealing with very sensitive issues such as peace, terrorism and globalisation. Imran Khan dwelled on the fact that films could be used as a very pertinent and strong medium via which peace could be propagated and it is already in the process of being used for the same across various channels. The other speakers also contributed their bit in convincing the audience about the all-encompassing significance of peace in today’s scheme of things.

The third day of the event was dedicated to a very critical issue which has impacted the world from Siberia to Antarctica and from Hawaii to Japan with equal force and is being touted to be one of the raging issues of the twenty-first century. The panel of the day deliberated on the theme Environment Sustainability and Energy Efficiency which according to the organisers occupied a very significant role in the overall scheme of things. The speakers in the panel included Rachit Mathur, project engineer – Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power; Chintamani Mahapatra, chairman of the Centre for Canada, US and Latin American Studies and professor at the School of International Studies of JNU; Sanjay Upadhyay, advocate, Supreme Court of India and managing partner, Enviro Legal Defense Firm; Janjri Jasani, Centre for Environment Research and Education, Mumbai and Indranath Mukherji, former professor, JNU, senior consultant, RIS. Most of the speakers emphasised on the significance of protecting our environment from the regular infringements that happen in our country and elsewhere. They stressed on the fact that we cannot transfer the responsibility to someone else by quoting facts and figures on the levels of green house emissions by various countries including the United States of America and Canada. Mathur actually went ahead and gave some very important pieces of information vis-à-vis the transmission of green house gases like Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Chlorofluorocarbons and Carbon Monoxide (CO). With a careful eye on future, all the speakers talked about the importance of individual awareness and affirmative actions to bring about a change in the world order.

One of the most important segments of SAYPM was the MUN proceedings which were held in consonance with the other components of the event. It had participants from all across the country coming and representing various countries with full enthusiasm. Even participants from other countries came and contributed to the entire exercise. The job was to devise a very comprehensive resolution which could pass the test and be forwarded to the actual General Assembly (GA) of the United Nations Organisation (UNO). The five committees which were the part of the MUN sessions were the Disarmament and International Security Council, the Economics and Financial Committee, Socio-Cultural and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM), Human Rights Commission and The Environments Council. All the committees tried to figure out a humanitarian and acceptable solution to solve the South-East Asia’s imbroglios which has seen blood drip like water on a sustained basis. At the end of the extremely productive sessions, all the committees were reasonably successful in finding a mutually acceptable resolution. Most of the committees actually came out with very innovative solution to tackle the problems vis-a vis the ones faced by the sub-continent. The members representing the world press were extremely efficient at handling the proceedings of the committees and came out with often funny reports which basically summarises the approach of the global press towards the GA sessions.

Apart from all the other categories, there were competitions like Dance A Peace, The Amazing Race events like Dandiya Night which captured the imagination of the general audience to a large extent. Over and above, the event was a tremendous success with all the speakers calling for a continuation of such initiatives at all level to stem the rot at the root.

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