Following is the latest article written by me for my newspaper:
Calcutta, July 10: Meeting the Prime Minister was a dream but Sanjukta Pangi, 16, stayed cool — she had a mission to accomplish.
The tribal teen had come all the way to L’Aquila, Italy, from one of Orissa’s most backward districts to tell Manmohan Singh what he could do to transform the education scene in her village, Semiliguda.
She won a promise from Singh, during the G8 summit yesterday afternoon, that his government would lay stress on rural education in the country.
The student of Government Girls’ High School in Pottangi, Koraput district, had been selected by Unicef to represent India at the J8 (Junior 8) summit in Rome along with 53 others from 14 countries, including all the G8 ones.
Fourteen of the children — one from each participating country — were picked to meet their respective leaders at L’Aquila.
“I told the Prime Minister about the J8 declaration on free and qualitative education in developing countries,” Sanjukta told The Telegraph from L’Aquila.
“Initially, I was quite tense talking to him…. I requested him to improve the transport sector in rural areas so students like me don’t have to stay in school hostels.”
After the 15-minute meeting, Singh introduced Sanjukta to world leaders, including US President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Two other Indian teenagers had been selected to attend the J8 summit: Narendra Kumar, 15, from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Samuel Venkatesan, 17, from Dam Kottapalla, Tamil Nadu.
Sanjukta made the team of 14 to L’Aquila on the strength of her performances in the discussions and debates at the J8.
Sanjukta, who comes from a village near Daman Jodi, Orissa’s highest peak, said the J8 summit had made her more confident than ever about talking on child rights, especially on education for girls.
“In my village, girls are married off at an early age. I had to fight with my parents to continue to study,” she said.
At both the G8 and J8 summits, the delegates — the world leaders and their younger counterparts — were looking for an answer to climate change and carbon emission.
Sanjukta calmly told the Prime Minister: “Youths like us are the future of the world. Together we can change it into a better place for the next generations to live. My father is a farmer; he has to wait for the rains every year because industries have come up near our village and trees have been felled randomly. Are we going to a world where there’ll be no greens? We should focus on plantation and the green drive.”
Mission accomplished, she returns to her village, about 500km from state capital Bhubaneswar, next week. She promises it will be “a new Sanjukta going back to India” with a “changed mindset” for a better tomorrow.
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link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090711/jsp/frontpage/story_11223141.jsp
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