Youth in Guwahati Discuss #DemocracyInEverydayLife

The YnD campaign engaged with students from various departments of Guwahati University and other colleges in the city of Guwahati. The campaign salutes the spirit, enthusiasm and alertness of the nearly 150 university students who participated in the YnD session on October 16, 2017, making it a lively and active event.

The nearly 4 hour event was planned entirely by the youth, with required facilitation by the YnD team. The experience comprised three sessions – an introduction to the vision and objective of the YnD campaign, followed by Focussed Group Discussions and role-plays. Under the overall umbrella of Democracy in Everyday Lives (#DIEL), the groups chose to discuss issues of liberal thinking and tolerance; sexuality and transgenders; dowry and violence against women. After intense discussions on these chosen topics, the group nominated four members to present a role-play on their respective themes and perform it in a competition. The role-plays highlighted the positions of stakeholders on the concerned issue and what actions can be taken to resolve them. Some groups chose to communicate their messages through skits, while others chose silent action (mime) and narrations. The best performance was chosen by the students themselves. The entire process was democratic and inclusive.

The event ended on a high note. Students praised the campaign and expressed their desire to engage more deeply in such conversations. The students buzzed social media, with posts and comments about the session on the campaigns Facebook group.

With this heart-warming response in Guwahati, the YnD campaign is all set to make it a larger impact in Assam. The campaign will soon be coming to other colleges in Assam and other states. If you are interested in holding a YnD campaign event in your college/university, write to Pooja Pandey (pooja.pandey@pria.org), Kaustuv Chakrabarti (kaustuv.chakrabarti@pria.org) or  Wafa Singh (wafa.singh@pria.org)

Youth and Democracy (YnD) is a nationwide campaign, launched in early 2017, and it aims to engage 1 million Indian youth in conversations around Democracy in Everyday Life. Presently, half the Indian population is under 25 years of age. Such a large number of youth and the drastically changing socio-economic realities of Indian society has been the driving force behind the conception of the YnD campaign. The campaign engages with youth in meaningful and creative dialogue around this theme.