YPARD India and ICAR-NDRI Jointly Celebrates the International Youth Day

As you know 12^th of August was an auspicious day as United Nations International Youth Day (IYD) was simultaneously been celebrated in 193 members country of the United Nations.

This year, the overall theme for IYD was “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production” and the leading role young people can play in that.

In line with celebrating the IYD, YPARD india and ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI) jointly organized an event at the National Dairy Institute. The event started with lighting the ceremonial lamp and a short video depicting the youth contributions throughout the world. Of particular focus was the YPARD contribution to developing the capacity of young professionals in agriculture. In addition, various activities on elocution competition on the topic ‘The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production' were held. Among them included the  poster-making competition on the topic ‘Youth for nation building’ and an open QUIZ competition for cementing the bond among the organizers and the hundreds of audience. Dozens of participants took part in each activity enthusiastically showing their extraordinary talent and valour, which was enough to mesmerize the audience. 

After the competition 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd prize certificate and trophy was awarded to the winners by the chief guest Dr. R.K. Malik, Joint Director Research of ICAR-NDRI. In his enlightening speech to the gathering, Dr. Malik emphasized that in order to bring transformational change in the country the youth has to play the pivotal role. He also emphasized that a country can only be great if the youth is strong both physically and mentally and  cited the quotation of Swami Vivakananda “My countrymen should have  nerves of steel, muscles of iron, minds like thunderbolt and memory of elephantine”.

Programme Coordinator Dr. Gopal Sankhala retaliated that in order to transform India, poverty is the foremost challenge that people need to tackle. According to one recent study, 43 percent of the Indians are poor and 22 percent is below poverty line (BPL). YPARD Working Group Member and one of the illustrious progressive farmers of India Mr. Vikas Chaudhary has shown the way to attract youth in Agriculture. He displayed his Climate Smart Villages (CSVs) model-an integrated community based approach for efficiency, resilience and livelihoods in front of all the audience though power point presentation, which acclaimed a lot of applaud from the majestic gathering. He also suggested his six-pronged strategy of Weather, Water, Carbon, Nutrient, Energy and Technology Smart agriculture in the erratic climate. The event was wrapped up by oath taking ceremony and the national anthem.

More photos on my Facebook profile.