CHANDIGARH, Nov 14: The 5th edition of North East Youth Fest (NEYF), Chandigarh has concluded here in a colourful late evening function on Wednesday. The chief guest Manoj Kr Parida, who is Advisor to the Governor of Punjab and Administrator of Chandigarh, congratulated the organizers for conceptualizing and executing the very innovative Fest which centered around the theme “Peaceful India, Prosperous India”.
Parida also called upon NE youths to be proud of themselves and have the qualities of honesty and integrity.
The educational and socio-cultural extravaganza had a mammoth gathering of about 1800 North East youths from all the eight NE states and ten motivational speakers taking sessions on themes such as Peace, National Integration, Personal Responsibility, Life in the Metros, Social Media Responsibility and a panel discussion on the theme of the Fest.
The young participants presented dances and songs and a traditional costume show, all depicting the rich cultural heritage of the region. One representative from every State showcased the respective state in a brief AV presentation to enable the gathering to know more about Northeast and its people.
Speaking at an interactive session, Vina Arora, the brand ambassador of ‘Betti Padhao, Beti Bachao’ for Punjab and Haryana called upon the participants to promote peace and progress, to have respect for others and to join hands with the vision of PM Modi in creating a new India wherein progress will be a natural consequence of peace. Don Bosco Navjeevan, Chandigarh, Director and organizing secretary of NEYF, Fr Reji Tom, in his exhortation expressed great happiness in working with NE youth at Chandigarh. Shilpa Das in her session extended invitation to all NEYF participants to join hands with her three-year old initiative of Chandigarh Urban Festival which promotes connect and builds bridges between people living in Chandigarh. Basanta Raj Kumar, IFS hailing from Manipur, while giving a motivational talk advised NE youth to be proud of their culture and uniqueness and preserve it.
Fr Cyriac, Director, Don Bosco Youth Centre, Itanagar who is the organizing chairman of NEYF also spoke on the occasion. The event, an initiative of DBYC Itanagar and DBNS Chandigarh is organized annually with three core concepts in focus that the fest be educative, entertaining and morally good and to showcase and promote Northeast youth and their talents and to bring them to the national mainstream in participating in building up of a peaceful and progressive India.