Vivekananda Swadhyaya Mandal, Pantnagar University
During 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda many events were organised across the world to reconnect to the thoughts of Vivekananda. Those events had their own impact, but the work of creating sensitivity towards the nation and the society by Vivekananda Swadhyaya Mandal (VSM) of Pantnagar Agriculture University, Uttarakhand, is like a revolution. The students who have come up with this process are now doing many great things in their lives.
Ashutosh Bhakuli, a gold medalist in computer engineering, is now working for people in Uttarakhand. He left his engineering and is doing masters in social entrepreneurship from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Similarly Pawan Bisht who is basically from information technology, is now doing his masters in rural development so that he could serve the rural people. Parit Gupta, an IITian, is working in a remote village of Rajasthan for the uplift of Vanvasis. These students could have earned much money through their professional life but have dedicated to the social cause. This internal transformation of youth is the biggest achievement of the VSM.
According to Shri Shivenda Kashyap, the man behind the movement, the VSM began in 1999 and prominently focus on imparting skills like value system, personality development, oratory skills, managerial skills that the present day youth want to adhere.
The experiment of youth awakening festivals also proved to be a big hit. Every year youth conferences are organised. Intellectuals who have really contributed something come together. Two years back Nivedita Didi from Vivekananda Kendra came. RSS Sahsarkaryavahs Shri Dattatreya Hosabale and Dr Krishan Gopal, Dr Pranav Pandya from Gayatri Parivar. Lt Gen SK Sinha, Jodinger Singh and Prakash Singh also joined on different issues. Apart from the University’s own students, about 400 students from 70 to 80 universities of the country come together in these conferences.
