Pune to host first ever summit of student council leaders

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar, UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani and actor Aamir Khan are among those scheduled to address the first 'Parliament of student council leaders' being held in Pune.

Over 10,000 student leaders will attend the 'Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad' conference, being organised by MAEER’s MIT School of Government and Maharashtra government's ministry of higher and technical education, which will be held from January 12 to 14 at MIT Campus in Pune.

The event will have deliberations on topics related to national and political significance, with emphasis on more active participation from today's educated youth towards nation building, Rahul Karad, chief initiator and dean, MIT School of Government, said.

The participants will be student council leaders, general secretaries and joint general secretaries of colleges from universities from across the nation.

The summit is aimed at giving an extended platform to young students, to bring to fore and highlight the views, aspirations and decisions of young leaders, Karad said.

The Sansad will also act as a catalyst for future leaders to raise the bar and apply themselves to the issues having social, regional, national and global impact, he said.

"The event will help the student leaders to build bonds of friendship amongst themselves early in life as they are probable leaders of tomorrow," Karad said.

Those attending include young MPs, senior political leaders and bureaucrats, media and film personalities, well known academicians, social workers and activists and corporate leaders.

These include Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, home minister RR Patil, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh.

Young leaders Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Supriya Sule, Deepender Singh Hooda, journalists Barkha Dutt, Arnab Goswami, P Sainath, social activists Swami Agnivesh, Arundhati Roy, Jaiprakash Narayan, Anna Hazare and actor Nana Patekar are also expected to attend the event, Karad said.

Issues like Indian democracy and its structure, role of caste in politics, student movements, socio political issues in Maharashtra, terrorism, women empowerment, voluntary actions in civil society, and policies having direct impacts on lives and livelihoods of rural population like NREGA and RTI will be discussed.

"The resolutions passed in the Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad will be submitted to prime minister, the UNESCO and the ministry of youth affairs," Vishwanath Karad, founder executive president of the  World Peace Centre, MAEER’s MIT, said.