By Ashapradeep Bureau:

More than 150 students of Ravenshaw University, Cuttack came together in support of National Agenda Forum (NAF), a nation-wide youth campaign launched by the Indian Political Action Committee to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi. At an event organized by Part Time Associates of the forum, the Ravenshaw students and professors showed their unwavering support to the campaign.

The burgeoning unemployment in the country was the foremost focus during the discussions and the students wanted this issue to be the most important agenda of the forum. 

Launched on June 29, 2018, NAF was launched by the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary year. NAF is a pan-India initiative to resurrect the conversation around Gandhiji’s 18-point Constructive Programme and use it to re-imagine and co-create India’s priorities to formulate an actionable agenda for contemporary India.

Till date–75,000+ youth associates from over 4,000 colleges, 273 distinguished personalities from 6 countries and 20 states, and 332 civil society organizations spread across 346 districts have joined the ever-growing NAF ecosystem.

The National Agenda Forum has garnered support from a diverse group of people and organizations, which includes:

• UNESCO–MGIEP supports NAF’s effort promoting peace and sustainable development based on Gandhiji’s 18-point Constructive Programme

• Arun Manilal Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson), Tushar Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson), and Neelam Parekh (Mahatma Gandhi’s great-granddaughter)

• Gandhians, such as, Prof. Ramjee Singh (Freedom fighter and a pioneer in study of Gandhian thought in India), Dr. Ravindra Kumar (Padma Shri Awardee, Sardar Patel National Awardee), Natwar Thakkar (Padma Shri awardee, Jamnalal Bajaj awardee), Dr. D Chelladurai (Dean, Gandhi Research Foundation), Baji Mohammad (Freedom fighter), Prakash Amte (Baba Amte’s son)

• Gandhian organizations, such as, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Sarvodaya Ashram, Gandhi Mission International Society of India, etc.

• Recipients of civilian honors, such as Kailash Satyarthi (Social Activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner) Shrimati Teejan Bai (Artist, Padma Bhushan awardee), Rajan Mishra (Indian classical singer, Padma Bhushan awardee), Dr. Brahm Dutt (Padma Shri Awardee for working for lepers) Dr. Usha Kiran Khan (Padma Shri awardee and Sahitya Academy Award winner), etc.

• Eminent public servants, such as, Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary (Ex-Governor of Meghalaya), Justice N N Mathur (Former Judge, Rajasthan and Gujarat High Courts), etc.

• Sports personalities, such as, Mary Kom (Boxer, Olympic Medalist), Babita Phogat (Wrestler, Commonwealth Games Medalist), P T Usha (Track Athlete, Asian Games Medalist), I M Vijayan (Former Captain, Indian Football Team), Mohit Sharma (Cricketer) Ishwwar Pandey (Cricketer), etc.

• Entertainment personalities, such as, R. Madhavan (Actor), Raza Murad (Actor), etc.

The voting is still open; citizens can continue to become a part of NAF by logging on to http://www.indianpac.com/naf/and voting on the agenda and the leader.

For the full list please visit:

https://res.cloudinary.com/indianpac/image/upload/v1532624966/naf/support_for_naf.pdf

Also, please check out our Twitter handle https://twitter.com/IndianPAC for NAF updates.