While the election atmosphere across the nation is hot ahead of the General Elections, Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) Mesra students are making it a point to spread political awareness in their premises through discussion on important laws in their Youth Parliament. Contemporary issues including foreign relations and Criminal law (Amendment) act 2013 were issues discussed by the students.
The youth parliament resembling the real set up of a parliament was started at BIT seminar hall on Saturday as an event of their annual literary fest ‘Rostra’. The fest too was unveiled on Saturday. Anurag Gupta, IG (Provision and Budget), Franc Gastler, Founder of Yuwa and Ishan Basu (Retd Colonel) were the chief guests on this occasion.
The chief guests took part in a panel discussion on the topic ‘Gender Inequality’ which was moderated by Shambhawi, a final year student of BIT, Mesra. Discussion was centered about the discrimination that women were facing in the modern day society and about the necessary measures that are to be taken to enable them to break the gender stereotypes.
“Women are still not given scope in armed forces. However, in Police the situation has changed in the last few years wherein women are being recruited from constable to officer ranks,” Gupta said. He engaged the audience with tales about the grit and determination shown by women in the police force. Frank spoke about his motivation for coming to India and the thought process that enabled him to form a foundation ‘Yuwa’.
Basu spoke about the services that women were involved in the armed forces and their mental and physical endurance. The panelists discussed ways in which the enrolment of women in the defence and police could be increased. The fest will conclude on Sunday.