Young India Challenge: Tapping Youth For Sustainable World

Young India Challenge: Tapping Youth For Sustainable World

The two-day Young India Challenge event in Bhubaneswar engaged youth in a workshop on sustainability, entrepreneurship, leadership, talent, passion and personal growth among other life skills.

The 11th edition of the flagship event saw 120 participants from 42 cities across the country and abroad coming together for lively interactive sessions and group-task activities. Trending with the hashtags #DoWhatYouLove and #YouthForSustainibility, Young India Challenge aimed to motivate the participants to make life simpler and happening rather than losing self in chaos.

Several eminent speakers graced the event to pep up the youth with their insights and advice. These included Bhubaneswar and Cuttack Police Commissioner Dr Sudhansu Sarangi, founder of Human Circle Kamal Seth, co-founder Wioletta Burdzy Seth, founder of Bakul Foundation Sujit Mohapatra and food blogger and founder of Food Findo Rohit Srivastav among others.

The Young India Challenge initiative is held under the umbrella foundation of Human Circle. From #DoWhatYouLove, it has evolved into a platform to explore what the world needs today, especially response from the youth. 

“We are making the workshop a really friendly one because classroom teaching and learning process are boring. Here, sessions are more like collective wisdom. It’s a two-way learning process,” said Kamal Seth.

“We believe that at present, the world is in a big crisis that needs a lot of courage and a lot of dedication to get out of. Being in a job and doing regular things will not solve the problem. So, youth is the biggest strength. One has to engage time, effort and invest his ideas with passion. If we are into something because of some peer pressure, eventually we will get detached from it,” averred Wioletta Burdzy Seth.

On their part, the participating teams came up with innovative project plans to find solutions related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 12 and 13 — specifically the challenge India faces related to air pollution, water pollution, plastic pollution, food wastage, over-consumption, waste management, renewable energy and several others. 

Raja Anastassia Lahyani, a participant from Morocco, said, “I loved Bhubaneswar for its greenery and fresh air. Besides, Young India Challenge provided a platform where every individual could project their ideas for sustainability. I am a scientist and I can clearly visualize the outcomes of every odd human action. In that case, we as youth have to take a step forward.”

All the participants were trained through workshops, speaker sessions, panel discussions, and mentorship. The teams got the opportunity to present their project plans to tackle one or more of the issues. These plans were then judged by a panel of jury comprising thought leaders from various fields. 

The winning teams will continue to receive support and tutorship by chosen mentors to execute their ideas as well as to apply for seed funds provided by the sponsors of Young India Challenge.

For Anika, a participant from Kerala, the event was all about self-discovery. “Being a part of this entire event and forum, I feel elated by discovering many aspects of me as a person. I communicated with a number of people including students, the founders and speakers. It was a great experience altogether.”

Lipsa Beura, a local participant, said, “It’s a different experience altogether which gave us a reality check that it’s time to think about a sustainable world and the role of youth in this regard.”