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Bhubaneswar, Jan 12: City-based social groups collaborated for an event to observe National Youth Day and mark 155th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
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A conference was organised at Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), Thursday, where 150 students and volunteers from various educational institutes participated.
“The productive, creative, imaginative and bold mind of a youth has the potential to challenge old traditions. Their efforts and energy should be channelised for the development of our nation,” said Bhagbanprakash, Senior Advisor with Election Commission of India.
Encouraging the youth to vote during elections, he said that voting turnout at the last Lok Sabha election was low because voters consider the day as a “holiday.”
The groups which collaborated for the conference were: CYSD, Committee for Legal AID for the Poor (CLAP), National Youth Project (NYP), Institute for Social Development (ISD), Niyatee Foundation and Nisha Mukti Yuba Sankalpa (NMYS).
Apart from the official from the election commission, other guests present on the occasion were Bikash Das, executive president of CLAP, Nirmal Kumar Panda, chairman of Niyatee, Subashree Das, director of ISD, Madhusudha Das, convener of NYP and Md Imran Ali from NMYS.
Many social activists of these groups from across the state were awarded for their works at the venue. Satyananda Patra and Meena Bhagabat of ISD, Chinmayee Senapati, Shitash Praveen and Hinapani Satpathy from CLAP, Shradhanjali Nayak, Deepal Kumar Nayak and Satyananda Mullick of NYP, Trilokananda Das and Bapi Nayak of NMYS, and Kuni Soren and Sukanta Tudu of CYSD were the recipients.
Md Imran Ali suggested the youth to get far away from politics related to caste and religion. “Parents should make their children understand the subtle differences between good and bad while he is still young. It will be difficult to change his perception about religions when he/she is a grown up.”
Bikash Das from CLAP said that any nation can grow if they realise and unleash the potential of their youth. India, which has a large population of youngsters, has an advantage over many countries. “Every young professional must realise that the country is counting on their work,” he said.
“Swami Vivekananda is a youth icon and has always emphasised the importance of the young population to build a nation. He believed that a youth should not only have a strong mind, but also a strong physique,” added Bhagabanprakash.
