IIT Roorkee hosts annual social festival ‘National Social Summit-2020’ 

Roorkee: The NSS-IIT Roorkee Team presented the 4th edition of its annual social festival and flagship event, 'The National Social Summit 2020', which was held from 14th to 16th February 2020 at the IIT Roorkee Campus. The summit was based on the theme of 'Rebuilding Nature Through Innovation.’
 
The opening ceremony took place on 14th February 2020 at the MAC Auditorium of the campus, where Chief Guest Sonam Wangchuk, Founder SEMCOL, gave the keynote speech, and the Guest of Honor was Mr. Krishna Kumar Gupta, Founder Volunteer, NSS. The event commenced with the "Kulgeet" followed by lamp lighting ceremony. Following presentation of a brief background on the NSS-IITR activities and aims of the Social Summit presentation by the Joint Secretary of NSS and Convener of National Social Summit the faculty advisor Prof. Pranita Sarangi started the guest presentation with a warm welcome to all and congratulated all delegates for becoming a part of this social and unique event which brings like-minded NSS volunteers to discuss socially relevant issues to fulfill the objective "Not for me but for the nation".
 
Prof. Manoranjan Parida applauded the energetic volunteers of NSS volunteers and mentioned about their contribution in Road safety. Mr. Krishan Kumar Gupta, the founding member of NSS,  then poured some light on the objective behind the formation of NSS And the real meaning of community service. The students received a golden opportunity to get inspiration from none other than Mr. Sonam Wangchuk, who is known for his inventiveness, finesse, and brilliance, enlightening them on "Transcending The Traditions". Mr. Wangchuk emphasized the contribution of everyone towards rebuilding nature by changing our current lifestyle. He appreciated the uniqueness of the event and motivated everyone to be independent thinkers and work for the development of India. During the Summit, expressing his views about IIT Roorkee, Mr. Wangchuk also tweeted, ”THERE'S SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT IIT ROORKEE...Perhaps the humility and simplicity everyone wears naturally at this pioneer Institute... Asia's first engineering college!”.
 
Before attending the opening ceremony at the National Social Summit, Mr. Wangchuk and the Director IIT Roorkee, had also inagurated the launching of the “Vigyan Jyoti” scheme to bring gender parity in STEM (Science,  Technology Engineering Mathematics) through Vigyan Jyoti Scheme. The launch event of the scheme happened on February 13, 2020.

During the summit, motivating and informative lectures were presented by eminent personalities who are working in the areas of protecting nature and sustainable development. While the Impact series lectures provided a picture of current critical issues and their possible solution, the Interactive sessions of Socio-Conseil were able to provide a platform to brainstorm and discuss nature-friendly and innovative and sustainable ideas. Day1 included keynote sessions by Padma Shree Dr. Lalit Pande, the founder of Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan (USNPSS), and Mr. Ajay Shankar, Distinguished fellow, Director-General’s Office, TERI (The Energy and Research Institute). Mr. Lalit Pandey emphasized that the students should do self-analysis to find the areas where they would enjoy working and that will help them to be more creative in defining and solving the practical issues of the society and environment. He also explained the role the females could play in building sustainable environmental solution in rural community. While addressing the delegates, Mr. Ajay Shankar, said that our climate changes are about to reach their tipping point, which is a major challenge in sustainable development. The new generation of youth has the ability to come up with out of the box ideas and innovative solutions that are indigenous and carbon neutral and could replace the existing systems. Day2 speakers included Mr. The Managing editor of Logical India Ms. Shweta Kothari was also present at the session and said the media need to spread awareness among people on the issues of environment and climate change which is severely impacting farmers and rural people. Abhishek Jain, IIT Roorkee Alumni & Senior Programme Lead, Council on Energy.
 
Various events such as Social Conclave, Case Studies, Sociothon, Workshops, Nukkad Natak, Model United Nations, Work Presentations, Policy Case Competitions, Action Plan, and Roundtable Conferences were conducted during the summit. These events not only provided a more in-depth insight into various social problems but also extended a unique platform to develop an ecosystem of organizations (NGOs), Companies (Investors), and college students working with the same goal.
 
The entire event was conceived and coordinated by General Secretary Mr. Rahul Singh, Convener Mr. Yash Aggrawal, and Mr. Parag Mittal, and other NSS volunteers under the supervision of Faculty Advisor, NSS-IIT Roorkee, Prof. Pranita P. Sarangi. The National Social Summit 2020 was successfully organized  with full enthusiasm and wholehearted participation from the guests and participating delegates.