Keekli Bureau, 26th November, 2019, Shimla
Schools and Colleges across the Country observe Constitution Day, undertake activities to create mass awareness about Fundamental Duties
Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched the kartavya.ugc.ac.in portal on the occasion of ‘Constitution Day, as a part of year long Nagrik Kartavya Paalan Abhiyan being observed throughout the country. The portal will be used primarily for holding monthly essay competitions for students as well as other activities like quizzes, debates, poster making, etc., pertaining to Nagrik Kartavya Paalan Abhiyan. Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre; Secretary, Higher education, MHRD R. Subrahmanyam; Chairperson AICTE Anil Sahasrabudhe, Secretary UGC, Rajnish Jain and Director IISER Kolkata, Sourav Pal and senior officials of the ministry were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that today we are laying the foundation of a great mission because the Nagrik Kartavya Paalan Abhiyan will give direction to the youth of the country. This will make them aware that rights are automatically realized when we follow our duties religiously, he added. This principle will help the students to channelize their talents and capabilities in the right direction which will help them realize their mission with ease, the Minister explained.
Pokhriyal said that observing the Constitution Day is one of its kind in the world. It is an incredible Constitution that offers inspiration and opportunity to us to create a New India, the Minister added. He informed that the Department of Higher Education will be holding eleven rounds of National Essay Competitions during the year and the topics of the essay will be based on one Fundamental Duty every month.
While addressing the gathering Sanjay Dhotre said that all of us are conscious of our rights guaranteed by the Constitution, but duties enshrined in the Constitution do not get the same attention. Therefore, this awareness campaign is for sensitising people regarding their duties towards the society and the nation has been launched on the occasion of Constitution Day. Dhotre further exhorted the students that while building their careers they should also be able to develop a sincere concern for the society. In this way only, they can contribute towards the collective well-being of the society and the nation.
He also added that Fundamental Duties should become an integral part of their moral selves. During the occasion Pokhriyal also launched the portal ‘Abhiyanta’ of AICTE. The portal hosts e-contents in important emerging areas like Artificial Intelligence, Cloud computing, Big data, Augmented Reality etc. Prof Anil Sahasarbudhe informed that this portal has been developed free of cost by the students of Graphic Era Deemed University, Dehradun, under an internship project of AICTE in a record time, and will be of immense use in making authentic and quality learning resources in emerging areas available to the student community free of cost. Describing the efforts of the students as an example of ‘Kartyavya’, the Minister appreciated the initiative of AICTE and outstanding contribution of the students.
Details of the National Essay Competition are as follows: The competition will be held online through the infrastructure and testing centres of National Testing Agency and will be open for every student registered in any higher education institution in the country. Registration for the essay competitions can be done through the Kartavya portal. The choice of centres for writing the essays will be made available to contestants when they do the online registration. The essays can be written in Hindi or English. There will be four prizes worth Rs 15000, Rs 12,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 7500.
The current year 2019 marks the 70th year of the adoption of the Indian Constitution. It has been decided by the Government to run a Nagrik Kartavya Palan Abhiyan from 26th November 2019 to 26th November 2020, to create mass awareness about the Fundamental Duties as enshrined in our Constitution. As part of the celebrations of Constitution Day today, students, staff and faculty of universities and colleges across the country got together to watch the live telecast of proceedings from the Parliament.
Students of Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country as well as students of Higher Educational Institutions also took part in the reading of the Preamble to the Constitution in their respective institutions. Pledge taking ceremony to mark the occasion, debates, essay competitions, cultural programmes, quiz competitions, seminars and lectures, mock parliaments among others were also organized in schools and colleges in the country. As part of year long celebrations, each institution of higher education will be holding activities like, workshops, guest lectures by eminent jurists in association with Law Colleges, poster making and slogan writing competitions and street plays. UGC and AICTE are taking the campaign forward, and National Law University, Delhi is the national coordinating university. In addition to this, 25 state coordinating universities have been identified to run the campaign through affiliated colleges in their states. Law colleges in the state will also be involved in the campaign through the state coordinating institutions.
