Under the aegis of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, the final round for an elocution competition for international students studying in India was organized at Mewar University Rajasthan on 20th February 2023.
Addressing the program, ICCR President Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said that “Speech is an art which proves to be very useful in increasing the self-confidence of the students. The presence of such activities on one platform among the students of foreign countries definitely binds the whole world as a family along with cultural unity.”
He said that with the aim of increasing cultural activities and removing linguistic diversity, he assured cooperation for opening a cultural center in Mewar International University located in Nigeria.
University Chancellor Dr. Ashok Kumar Gadia said that “the land of Mewar is the land of power and devotion. Here for centuries people have protected their self-respect through sacrifice to save the civilization and culture of their country. On this land, Mewar University is fulfilling its responsibility by spreading awareness about education.”
Pro Vice Chancellor Shree Anand Vardhan Shukla addressed the subject opening of the program. The theme of the speech competition was the role of the Indian freedom struggle in strengthening the global fight against colonialism in the middle of the 20th century. In the final round the participants of 9 countries including Bangladesh, Nigeria, America, Nepal, Angola, Malawi, Gambia, Malawi, Mozambique studying in various universities of India participated. The juries of the elocution competition were Dr Rizwan Kadri from Shree Swaminarayan Arts College Ahmedabad, Dr Gargi Saikai Mahanta from Guwahati College and Mr. Anand Vardhan Shukla Pro Vice Chancellor Mewar University.
While selecting the winners, the results of the contest were issued on the basis of relevance of the subject matter, systematization of ideas, control of expression, clarity of speech etc. Among the participants, winner was Mr. Michael Obinna of Nigeria was awarded a cash prize 51,000 INR, the first runner up were Mewar University student Naniji Clara from Nigeria and America's Indrakanti Shripada were awarded a cash prize of 30,000 INR, Second runner up were Prithula Mohini of Bangladesh and Yadav Prince of Nepal were awarded a cash prize of 20,000 INR. Also a certificate of participation was given to each participants by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. A cultural program was presented by the Mewar Abhivyakti. The programme was coordinated by Mr Dinesh Kumar, Deputy Head Mechanical Engineering Department and Idrees Ahmad from International Cell along with ICCR officials. On this occasion, Vice Chancellor of the University Dr. Alok Mishra, Member of the Board of Management Arpit Maheshwari, Director of Mewar Group of Institute Dr. Alka Aggarwal, Registrar Dr. R Raja, Dy Registrar Deepti Shastri, Director Academic DK Sharma, Director Training and Placement Harish Gurnani, Dean Fine Arts. Dr. Chitralekha Singh, Deputy Dean Engineering Kapil Nahar, Heads of various Departments and students were present, OSD H Widhani expressed vote of thanks at the end of programme.