Jaipur: Arunachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker PD Sona on Thursday addressed an Indian Youth Parliament, a large assembly of students and youth from various universities and the corporate sector, in Jaipur.
The event was organised by the Media Foundation to mark the International Day of Democracy. The national session of the youth parliament is being held from September 15-17.
The foundation has been organising the Indian Youth Parliament to inculcate social and political awareness among the youth.
The theme of this year’s conclave was “Strengthening democratic resilience in the face of future crisis”.
Addressing the gathering, Sona urged the youth to emulate Swami Vivekananda, the Indian youth icon, who is known for his lifelong selfless service, high ideals, and vision for the nation.
He emphasised that as social beings, it is every human’s responsibility to establish a peaceful, just, and egalitarian polity. Public discourse, he said, should be decent and dignified, adding that mutual respect, tolerance and dialogue are prerequisites for a healthy functioning democracy.
He further told the young audience to have self-belief and confidence in their ability.
Sona said, “Our constitutional rights and freedoms are not absolute. Freedom of speech must be used with caution. There are reasonable restrictions such as security, sovereignty and integrity of the country, public order, decency and morality, hate speech, defamation, contempt of court, and so on.”
Freedom of speech is more purposeful if coupled with responsibility. Awareness of our duties to the nation is as important as our rights, Sona added.
The Speaker, who attended as the chief guest on the first day, said modern technology should be used for strengthening democratic resilience in our society, like the use of information and communication technology. Parliament, assemblies and their members are adopting information technology for more efficient and effective discharge of their functions, he said.
“The citizens and their representatives and other stakeholders could use this medium to connect with each other. Besides ensuring that the voices and needs of the people are heard in the Parliament and the Assembly, the legislature could oversee that the policies and programmes of the government address the needs of the people,” said Sona.
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