International Youth Day
at USTM

Young people are critical
actors in preventing conflicts and supporting peace – Mr.
Nilotpal Deka, Advocate & Columnist, the Assam Tribune
August 12, 2017, USTM : Today on the day of International
Youth Day, University of Science and Technology Meghalaya
recalled the utility and importance of maintaining peace and
harmony and youth as a catalyst to that end. North East
Region being generally misconstrued as a stronghold of
militancy, USTM students were inspired to be a harbinger of
peace of peace and harmony in the region. The department of
English, USTM had observed International Youth Day on 12th
August, 2017. This year as charted out by United Nations,
the theme of International Youth Day 2017 is "Youth Building
Peace". In keeping with the UN Resolution, the department of
English had taken up an initiative to commemorate the day
through a debate competition on the topic " Youth and
Social Media : harbinger of peace ?" where a total
number of 23 students of USTM from various departments took
part so enthusiastically. The contestants while being judged
by Mr. Nilotpal Deka, Advocate and Columnist, The Assam
Tribune and Dr. Amit Choudhury, Dean, School of Business
Sciences had appreciated the spirit of the youngsters, their
positive attitude towards o contribute some way or the other
for bringing a social change, equality, peace and harmony.
Dr. Dayanand Pathak, HoD, English had moderated the debate
proceedings and in his opening address he stressed on the
need of the youth to innovate in fields that will bring
about peace. The winners of the competition are as follows,
first prize went to Kanak Kharbongkar from Dept. of law, 2nd
prize went to Madhurjya Kalita from Dept. of Civil
Engineering, RIST, 3rd prize was bagged by Mahasweta
Chakrabarty from Dept. of English, most promising Debater
award had gone to Rambo Regan from Dept. of English.
Meanwhile, it should be mentioned that International
Youth Day 2017 is dedicated to celebrating young
people’s contributions to conflict prevention and
transformation as well as inclusion, social justice, and
sustainable peace. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development committed to fostering peaceful and inclusive
societies and affirmed that “Sustainable development cannot
be realized without peace and security”. Goal 16 aims to
ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and
representative decision-making at all levels. The World
Programme of Action for Youth, which provides a policy
framework and practical guidelines to improve the situation
of young people, also encourages “promoting the active
involvement of youth in maintaining peace and security”.
On the other hand, the department, the department of Library
Science and Information, USTM had observed National
Librarian Day to mark 126th birth anniversary of Dr. S
Ranganathan, father of library science. The program was
started off with the lighting of the lamps and speeches by
Dr. P K Barooah, retired technical official, CSIR, NIST who
highlighted the contribution of Dr. S Ranganathan and the
emerging importance of librarianship as a profession for
career development. Other speakers were Dr. Amit Choudhury,
Dean, School of Business Sciences, Dr. R K Sharma, Pro VC,
USTM, Dr. Ajmal Borbhuyan, Registrar, RIST and others,
followed by an audio visual presentation by the students of
Library Science and Information, on the life and works of
Dr. Ranganathan.
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