Manipur University to host Y20 India Summit

IMPHAL — Manipur University will host the Y20 Seminar on “Shared Future: Youth in Democracy and Governance” — one of the five themes of the Y20 India Summit on May 4.

“Although Manipur is a small state, it has immensely contributed to sports and culture. The youths have been performing considerably well in every aspect of their activities and because of such noble achievements of our students, the govt. of India is very kind enough to give us this assignment”, Manipur University’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. N Lokendra Singh said.

The seminar will focus on youth to make the G20 summit participative, cutting across all ranks. The government of India aims to reach out to all 16 districts of Manipur through this seminar. The University will host around 550 participants — 26 foreign panelists and delegates, 38 delegates and panelists from outside Manipur and 69 within Manipur. About 70 students from colleges affiliated with Manipur University will participate in the seminar.

Prof. Singh added that in the last one or two decades, there has been a tremendous expansion of India’s youth and student population in quantity and quality.

India is a young country with a potent youth force and has been taking up youth-centric policies, he said.

On the other hand, chairman of the Y20 Summit Prof. RK Hemakumar Singh said the youths of the state are “very talented in sports and culture”, so they should be talented in democracy and governance. The chairman added the programme will be streamed live on social media platforms to reach students residing in remote areas of the state.

Convener of the Summit Prof. W Chandbabu Singh said India is holding the 18th presidency of the G20, and since G20 countries control 85% of the global trade, decisions taken by G20 countries will have global acceptance in general.

He added that there are 11 engagement groups during India’s G20 Presidency, including the Y20.

Within Y20, there are five sub-themes, of which ‘Shared Future: Youth in Democracy and Governance’ is one of them.

“India is talking about one earth, one family and one future, and nobody should be left out in relation to building this nation. So participation of youth is extremely important,” the convener said.

The final G20 Summit, scheduled for September 2023, will deliberate on the seminar’s recommendations to provide information and make the voices and concerns of the Indian youth heard on domestic and global platforms.

Hemakumar Singh urged the organisations and public of the state not to cause any disturbance to the seminar in the form of agitations or bandhs in the interest of the future of the youths of the state.