Port Blair, Sept 9: The 12th National Youth Parliament Competition was held in JNRM Auditorium on Wednesday. The Principal Secretary, Education, Mr Raajiv Yaduvanshi, was the chief guest, while Dr Satya Prakash, Joint Secretary to Ministry of Parliamentary affairs, GOI, New Delhi, Mr Harikesh Bahadur, Ex-MP (Lok Sabha) and Mr Jagmohan Sundriyal, OSD to the Ministry for Parliamentary Affairs, New Delhi were Observers and Judges for the competition.
In his address, Mr Raajiv Yaduvanshi stated that the National Youth Parliamentary Competition is a step to create awareness about parliamentary democracy and democratic values. Dwelling on the parliamentary system, he told the gathering that two more organisations are important for Indian democracy namely the Election Commission of India and the Supreme Court. He complimented the Election Commission for conducting the Elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislature at regular intervals in a fair and free atmosphere. He also described how the parliament passes laws, frames the budget and sees that important issues are resolved based on the majority opinion.
Dr.Satya Prakash, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary affairs, GOI described the role of Ministry of Parliamentary affairs and the history of conducting the Youth parliaments in schools and colleges. Mr Harikesh Bahadur, Ex-Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) described how he was inspired by his visit to the National Memorial Cellular Jail. He presented his observations on the sitting of the Youth Parliament session presented by the students. Mr Anil Kumar, Section Officer, Ministry of Parliamentary affairs gave a detailed account of the working of the parliaments. Mr Jagmohan Sundriyal, OSD to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, GOI complimented the students on their performance.
The Principal, JNRM described how Indian democracy emerged strong in spite of apprehensions in some quarters at the time of Independence. Holding youth Parliament in Andamans has a special significance as the Islands are popularly known as Mini India, he opined.
Dr.R.N. Rath, Ex-Principal, MGG College, Mayabunder was one of the judges described the youth parliament session presented by the JNRM students as a momentous event.
The students of JNRM enacted the activities of a regular parliamentary session before the audiences. The Youth Parliamentarians discussed the issues like trafficking in human organs, cyber security, right to education act and acid attacks on women. They also observed parliamentary procedures like breach of privileges, passing of bills etc.
The Head of Department, Political Science, Dr SS Sreekumar welcomed the gathering. Mr K. Venkatesan, HOD, Home Science and coordinator of the Youth Parliament competition proposed the vote of thanks.
