September 22, 2009, Pune: The second day of South Asian Youth Peace Meet 2009, or SAYPM, at the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, (SIMC) saw a flurry of activity on its picturesque Lavale campus. SAYPM is an initiative towards initiating social interaction and liberal dialogue amongst the youth - the one's that can truly make a difference. The three daylong event started on Monday, the 21st of September and will end on Wednesday, the 23rd of September.
The highlights of Day 2 of SAYPM were the presence of Dr. Kiran Bedi, ex IPS officer and prominent Social Activist and Mr. Imran Khan, popular Bollywood actor and Youth Icon.
The first panel of the day saw Mr. Santosh Shah, anchor and director of Image Channel and SCOLA TV in Nepal, Mr. Vijay Pamarathi, the creator of the Jaago-Re campaign and Mr. Maneck Kotwal, the Director of Games Village, Organizing Committee, Commonwealth Games 2010, share the dias.
Mr. Santosh Shah gave, the example of 9/11 where the victims were mainly young people while explaining that the youth had immense power, and could achieve anything if they put their minds to it. Mr. Vijay Pamarathi, the mastermind behind the immensely successful Jaago-Re campaign, spoke about the 6.25 lakh people who were mobilised to vote through just one such movement. Mr. Maneck Kotwal spoke about how sports had always brought people from various cultures and countries together, irrespective of the conflicts and problems between them.
In the second panel was present Dr. Kiran Bedi, actor Imran Khan. Dr. Bedi elaborated on how we miss things we don’t have and we miss peace because we don’t have it. We can only understand peace if we know what ‘non – peace’ is. Non peace is any kind of criminal activity and verbal abuse is most harmful as tongue is the sharpest and most important organ in the body and it is hidden. Dr. Bedi went on to saying that peace is the middle path between non violence and non existence. She ended her address to the students by saying, “we all are volunteers of peace.”
Imran Khan in his address explained the power that that movies have in mobilizing youth and initiating a debate and discussion amongst them. For example, a movie like Rang De Basanti started a discussion about corruption. Commenting on the event, he said, that the event was very well organized and that he was very impressed with the enthusiasm and a spirit of inquisitiveness that the students at SIMC showed. He said that the students here liked to disagree and “sniff out” the issues rather than just accepting what was told to them and that he appreciated such an attitude. In his message to the students he said, “ Keep doing exactly what you are doing. You are doing a good job, keep it up.”
Other speakers present were Muhammad Sheikh Shatful Islam, consultant with World Bank and Associate Professor in Bangladesh, who spoke about youth and politics in Bangladesh and a “visa-free South Asia”. Mr. Dushyant Singh, Member of Parliament, BJP, Rajasthan who elaborated on how tourism brings people together and enables cultural intermingling. Ms. Monque Trivedi, Confederation of Indian Industries, Young Indians, Pune, spoke about how passion is the key to being good at what you do. Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni, eminent Political Journalist who said that, “youth should make themselves heard more through forums like citizen journalism.” Ms. Ishita Choudhary from the YP Foundation moderated the session.
Other fulfilled activities on Day 2 of SAYPM were face painting competition , ‘You(TH) Speak’, a paper presentation competition. The second phase of Model United Nations was held today. A rock Show featuring bands, Something Relevant and Radio also performed at SAYPM.
The third and final day of SAYPM will see the issue of Energy Efficiency and Conservation being discussed by eminent speakers.
