NETRA members contribute in special T20 meeting
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, January 22 2023: An eleven-member team of North Eastern Training, Research and Advocacy (NETRA) Foundation representing the eight states of North East India participated in a two-day Special Ihink-Tank (T20) programme on 'Global Governance with LiFE, Values and Wellbeing: Fostering Cooperation in Framework, Finance and Technology' held on January 16 and 17, at Kushabhau Thakre International Convention Centre (KTICC), Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Think-tank (T20) discourse is a part of the G20 process in India, which brings together T20 task force members, subject experts, policymakers, diplomats, international organisations, the private sector, foundations and civil society.

Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) in collaboration with T20, U20, government of Madhya Pradesh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis (AIGGPA), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Global Development Centre (GDC) at RIS and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) organised the event which was participated by around 400 delegates from 43 countries.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated the programme.

RIS DG, AIGGPA vice-chairman and Madhya Pradesh NITI Aayog vice-chairman professor Sachin Chaturvedi made the opening remarks.

Harsh Vardhan Shringla, G-20 chief coordinator, Government of India; Dr Slamet Soedarsono, deputy minister of political affairs, law, security and defense, Ministry of National Development Planning/ Bappenas, Indonesia; and Suman Bery, vice-chairperson, NITI Aayog, Government of India made the special remarks in the inaugural session.

Professor Kesang Degi of Department of Education, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh; professor Polly Vauquline, Department of Women's Studies, Gauhati University; professor Durga Prasad Chetri, Department of Political Science, Sikkim University; Dr N Surjitkumar, assistant professor, Department of Political Science, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (RC), Manipur; Ivyreen Warjri, assistant director (Good Governance), Meghalaya Administrative Training Institute; professor Lalnilawma, Head, Department of Extension Education and Rural Development, Mizoram University; Dr Moameren Pongen, assistant professor, Department of Political Science, St Joseph University, Nagaland; Dr Jayanta Choudhury, assistant professor & Head-in-Charge, Department of Rural Studies, Tripura University; professor Subhrabaran Das, Department of Economics, Tripura University; Dr Harsh Chaturvedi, associate professor, School of Energy Sciences and Engineering, IIT, Guwahati; and Garen Warjri Panor, news editor, Meghalaya Legislative Assembly channel, Meghalaya represented NETRA Foundation in the prestigious event.

In a special interactive session with the delegates, NETRA Foundation secretary general Dr Jayanta Choudhury shared various activities of NETRA Foundation especially on localisation of SDGs in North East India.

He emphasised on importance of capacity building of different stakeholders, strengthening of existing local level institutes of the North East India.

He also highlighted importance of collaboration between various agencies and institutes at different levels for the development of North East India.

Professor Subhrabaran Das also highlighted different strengths and weaknesses of North East region in the special session.

Professor Polly Vauquline participated as a panelist in the parallel session on 'Women and Youth led Development', where she raised the importance of the issues of gender inequality in the country, gender based violence and the need to generate data on women.

She also emphasised that it is important to incorporate gender perspectives and look through gender lenses into every task that India intend to take along in the G20 summit in its presidency term.

Ivyreen Warjri participated as a panelist in the parallel session on 'One Health, Wellness and Traditional Medicine' and mentioned that traditional medicine is knowledge developed over generations.

However, there are issues with certification and registration of practitioners in the country.

The panelist explained that scientific research and trials need to be an important criterion for registration and certification and to ensure knowledge of traditional medicine is passed for future generations, there is a need for proper documentation.

In another parallel session on 'Green Energy and Logistics', Dr Harsh Chaturvedi as one of the panelists emphasised on collaborative mechanism for joint technology development and IP sharing and development of technologically viable, economically feasible and ecologically responsible methods for implementation of SDGs.

He also suggested for joint programmes of capacity building connecting higher education institutes with grassroots and database development and sharing of best practices.

NETRA Foundation also selected as knowledge partners to coordinate G20 University Connect programmes in 8 North Eastern Universities as identified by Ministry of External Affairs - Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh; Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati; Dibrugarh University, Assam; Manipur University, Imphal; North Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya; Mizoram University, Aizawl; St Joseph University, Nagaland; and Tripura University, Agartala.

The valedictory session was chaired by ambassador ST Devare, chairman of Research Advisory Council of RIS, India while professor Sachin Chaturvedi, DG of RIS presented the conference report.

The Bhopal Declaration was also brought out as outcome of the two-day special T20 meeting.

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