15th August 2021
Independence Day
&
Foundation Day Celebration
To celebrate Independence Day and the Foundation Day of our organization Youth for Good Governance Foundation we conducted a virtual event on 15th August 2021. The event began with the virtual flag hoisting and a pledge the event was divided into various sessions dedicated to specific topics like Role of Youth in Participatory Democracy, Role of Youth in the fight against the social evil of Drugs Abuse and Legal Aid and Awareness Session.
To grace the event we had with us various eminent personalities such as Hon'ble Dr. Amar Patnaik Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Swami Bodhamayananda Maharaj Director of Vivekananda Institute of Human Institute Excellence, Hon'ble Mr. Justice Aravind Kumar and Civil Servant Dr. Satyapal Singh Meena (IRS).
PRESENTATION BY OUR CO-FOUNDER,
SOURAV MUKHERJEE
SESSION -1
For the first session, the keynote speakers were Hon'ble Dr. Amar Patnaik Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), and Swami Bodhamayananda Maharaj Director of Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence.
Hon'ble Dr. Amar Patnaik
The session began with an address from Hon'ble Dr. Amar Patnaik where he talked about the role of youth in ushering changes in the society and governance and about his book project Institutional Change and Power Asymmetry in the context of Rural India he talked about how to reduce a power-asymmetry-based framework, arguing that a champion with the necessary traits and the 'capacity' to 'convene' people around a social issue may only succeed if he or she can address or diminish the community's deep-seated societal power imbalances. By resolving power imbalances in a rural environment in India, he also discussed how to bring about institutional change and create new institutional structures (institution building). He also talked about how selflessness is important to bring about a change in society. According to him, to create balance in society the most important thing is to reduce the power-asymmetry in every sphere whether it is economic-based or gender-based.
Swami Bodhamayananda Maharaj
After the address from Hon'ble Dr. Amar Patnaik, we had an address from
Swami Bodhamayananda Maharaj. He talked about three things that make a person and a nation great which are as follows:
Conviction in the Power of Goodness.
Absence of Jealousy and Suspicion.
Mutual Cooperation.
He also talked about three concepts to solve the problems of this country:
Head to think.
Heart to feel.
Hands to Work.
He said that these three should be the policy of every youth at the personal and service level. He gave an example of how the motherland is suffering and how everyone should work together to lessen the pain of the motherland.
In this session, we also released the Annual Report of the
Youth for Good Governance Foundation.
The session ended with a Vote of thanks from Mr. Ankit Singh.
Gallery of Session -1
SESSION -2
The second session began with the unveiling of our keystone project the LAAAG Team.
This team works to create awareness among the marginalized and poor sections of society. They teach them about their legal rights and they also work towards promoting equal justice to all. This team aims to provide legal assistance to those people who are unaware of their legal rights. In this session, we had a lawyer panel discussion on the topic of the Importance of Legal Aid and Education.
Our first panelist was Advocate Shri Prasad who addressed the audience on the importance of the need for Legal Aid camps and Paralegal electives in a law student’s life. The second panelist was Advocate Anvita Harish who addressed the audience on the topic of The Necessity of including the subject Legal Aid in the very first year of law school. Our third panelist was Advocate Pushkar Keshavmurthy he addressed the audience on the topic of How to Utilize Litigation Internship opportunities in imbibing the principles of Legal Aid and Awareness. Our fourth panelist was Advocate Gowri M Belwadi who addressed the audience on the role of Law Graduates in Spreading Legal Awareness and the Importance of Social Awareness. Our 5th and panelist was Advocate Adithya V Gujjar. He addressed the audience on the topic of Law Students being the link between Legal Service Authorities and the mass and their role in Legal Awareness.
After the lawyer panel discussion, we were privileged to have an address from
Hon'ble Mr. Justice Aravind Kumar. He addressed the audience on the concept of Legal Aid Awareness and Action. He talked about the origin days of legal aid during the
French Revolution.
He told that the concept of aid in India was introduced by Justice P.N Bhagwati under the legal aid committee formed in the year 1971 he quoted Justice P.N Bhagwati “The poor and the illiterate should be able to approach the courts and the ignorance and poverty should not be an impediment in obtaining justice from the courts”. He said Legal Aid means providing legal service to those who can’t afford legal representations and access to the legal court system free legal aid is necessary to provide access to justice to all. He also talked about the four objectives of Karnataka State Legal Services Authority which are as follows:
Providing free and competent legal aid.
Create legal awareness.
Conducting Lok Adalats.
Dispersal of compensation to victims as per NALSA schemes.
He then put emphasis on the concept of Lok Adalats he said it is a mixture of Arbitration, Mediation, Conciliation, and Negotiation. Access to justice to all is the vision of legal services Karnataka State Legal Services Authority was established with the objective of providing free legal aid and ensuring that justice is not delayed to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. Lok Adalats have become an important instrument for deciding the disputes cases with a sense of finality. He then put emphasis on promoting legal awareness in villages to ensure that people living in the remote villages should know about their legal rights. He suggested various ways on how to create legal awareness in villages.
In this session, we also launched YfGG two key projects:
"The LAAAG Team" and "The Drugs Abuse Campaign"
then we discussed our one year Project for the LAAAG Group.
It was addressed by Mr. Amruth Anand.
The Vote of thanks for this session was delivered by Nisha Harish.
Gallery of Session -2
SESSION -3
The Session-3 of the event was dedicated to the flagship program of the organization Campaign against Drugs Abuse the keynote speakers of this session were
Mr. Hritik Gupta and Ms. Soumya Dubey.
The session began with an address from Soumya Dubey on the topic of the ill effects of drug abuse and how it is having a bad effect on society and how it is affecting the youth of India.
Our next speaker for this session was Mr. Hritik Gupta he is one of the core members of the organization and also the in-charge of the Drugs Abuse Campaign.
He talked about the ways through which the organization is going to tackle the problem of drugs abuse in the upcoming year. He also discussed our aim of 3Es which is to educate society on the ill effects of drugs abuse, emphasize a network of available resources to get help and support and Eradicate the social evil of drugs abuse from society and the nation at large.
SESSION -4
Session -4 was the last and final session of the event for this session.
The keynotes speakers were Mr. Pradip Sawalkar, Co-Founder of Youth for Good Governance Foundation, and an Eminent Civil Servant Dr. Satyapal Singh Meena (IRS).
The session began with a presentation from Mr. Pradip Sawalkar on one of the most important projects of our organization the Soil and Water Conservation Project in which he discussed the problems which the people of Mahimangad village are facing and how the organization is working tirelessly to eliminate the various problems of Mahimangad village by using scientific ways like to conserve the little amount of rain which happens there every year and to use it in the farming process.
He also discussed the plan which the organization is making for the upcoming year for this Soil and Water Conservation Project the plan is as follows:
Participatory Development Model.
Reaching up to three villages to do the project.
Train 100 people of the village about Soil and Water Conservation.
Train 100 youth NSS/NCC volunteers.
Our next speaker for this session was Dr. Satyapal Singh Meena (IRS).
He addressed the audience on the topic of the Role of Youth in Promoting Good Governance and Participatory Democracy he also discussed the Smart village
Dhanora Project which was conducted under his leadership.
He emphasized how important it is for people, particularly youth, to take part in the development practices of the nation because young people have a lot to give society in terms of invention, creativity, and fresh ways of thinking.
Their participation in democratic processes and institutions encourages active citizenship, improves social responsibility, and can improve democratic processes and institutions. And tomorrow's leaders and decision-makers are today's youthful citizens.
Gallery of Session -4
