Tapping and channelising the latent desire among the youth to serve society, a social initiative is reaching out to thousands of school children of Delhi in a bid to sensitize them towards the menace of smuggling and counterfeiting.
The idea is to inform children about the scale at which harm is being done to the national economy by smuggling and piracy. The programme, titled “Hum Kishore – Enabling the Gen-Next” would encourage students from about 100 schools to raise their voice against such issues and spread awareness.
The five-day event that started on April 30 has been organised in three centres in the National Capital Region -- UVNAC Bldg, Dwarka, St.Columba's School and Lancer's Convent. It has involved over 100 schools, including a large number of Kendriya Vidyalayas and Sarvodaya Schools including private schools like Delhi Public School, DAV Public School and Ryan International. “Various cultural and art competition events have been organised to create awareness about and prepare students against fake and pirated products. So, from counterfeit currency, to pirated music and videos, to fake medicines, the children in the age group of 13 to 19 years would be encouraged to remain on guard as also to caution others about how such products harm the economy,'' said Bhramar Chatterjee, chief convener of the festival.
The event has been organised by Urivi Vikram Charitable Trust (UVCT) in association with FICCI CASACADE (Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Committee on Anti Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying Economy) and Narayana Group of Educational Institutions.
On why the outreach programme is targeting adolescents, the organisers feel that it is necessary to empower youth through training and development programmes since they would be instrumental in “structuring and shaping the growth and development path”.
Moreover, it was felt that the stage of ‘adolescence' is a period of rapid development in youth during which they also experience an identity crisis. As such they require comprehensive psychological, social and economical support in order to develop a high sense of confidence to nurture their abilities and to become an asset of human resources.
“Over the last five years the Hum Kishore festival has grown manifold in popularity, stature and in participation of schools … through it we intend to make a significant dent on the twin malaise of smuggling and counterfeiting,'' Ms. Chatterjee said.
