After successfully hosting the 30th North-Zone Inter-University Youth Festival at the University of Jammu in the third week of January, it was an opportunity for me to accompany our winning team as manager to the 30th Inter-University National Youth Festival 2015 held at Devi Ahilya Vishvavidhalaya in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where the winners from all the other zones — East, West, South and Central — competed and showcased a mini-India for five days from 12 February. Entitled “Pravah-2015”, it was sponsored by the Union ministry of youth affairs and sports, conducted under the aegis of the Association on Indian Universities and 74 universities and 1,350 students from across the country participated.

As expected, the Indore show turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for youth to showcase their talents in some very competitive activities at a festival that focussed on cultural aspects reflecting the spirit of friendship, peace and development. Besides all this, this festival provided a nation-wide exposure to the youth for the expression and fulfilment of their cultural talent and aspirations.

Given the huge participation, Professor Pankaj K Srivastava, dean, Students’ Welfare, University of Jammu, was quick to admit that the level of competition was very tough and of a high standard. Every team had been preparing for this feastival for the past five months after making the grade at the inter-college “Display Your Talent” competitions organised by their respective universities.

Each year, about 8,000 university students are projected through these festivals countrywide. Prior to the InterUniversity Zonal Youth Festival, the respective universities hold their inter-college youth festivals on the guidelines and rules of the AIU Unifests, during which about 200,000 students participate. These meets have come to resemble a sort of evolution, making it possible to generate in young people the values of emotional integration, cooperation, leadership qualities, truth, liberty, justice, compassion, sportsman spirit, fellowship, self-reliance and mutual respect. These festivals are celebrated each year to mark and commemorate the birth anniversary of youth icon Swami Vivekananda.

At Pravah-2015, dance and music performances as well as a cultural procession were some of the highlights, the occasion serving to allow for students to showcase the respective cultures of their states through a variety of acts. The participating universities included Jadavpur, Jammu, Mumbai, Visva-Bharati, Benaras Hindu University, Manipur, Punjab, Kurukshetra, Chandigarh, MDU Rohtak and Andhra Pradesh.

The events included light vocals, classical vocals, skits, mimicry and a quiz along with spot painting, poster making, cartooning, folk music, a folk orchestra and classical solo dance — a grand total of 25 events.

David Sampson, AIU joint secretary, said the Unifests had been playing a pivotal role in promoting youth and stood as a beacon for Indian culture and nationalism. Considered perhaps the most thrilling youth activity for university students, he said these festivals had showcased the talents of numerous known personalities that included actors Ashutosh Rana, Mukesh Tiwari and Gul Panag, comedians Kapil Sharma and Bharti and dancers Rulali Walia and Madhukar Anand, who were now big names in India.

This too was the first time after 1993 that the University of Jammu participated with a 28- member contingent after winning the first two positions in seven events at the North Zone Youth Festival that was organised by Jammu University in January this year, said Professor Srivastava. At Indore, it enthralled the audience with its power packed performance in seven events that included Indian group song, Western group song, Western vocal (solo), a skit and a debate, an Indian classical solo and installation. The JU team won first prize in the installation category.

Through skill and hard work, it presented a very creative image of ants and their struggle for survival while most other participants came up with stereotypical images. In the Indian group song segment, a piece composed by Kuldeep Raina amalgamating the patriotism and folk essence of Jammu and Kashmir left the audience spellbound, forcing them to dance. It secured the third position. Working out a very different combination, Mukteshi Sharma performed a Indian classical vocal solo, a Western vocal solo and featured in a Western group song and won third place in two of the events.

“Tension Hai Bhai tension” was the name of the skit performed by Mridul Anand, Sunidhi Sharma, Deepika, Pallavi Kunwar, Sameeta Rana and Sanyam Pandoh and portrayed distracted youth, complete with some local slang and humour.

“Privatisation of Higher Education is a threat to the quality of Education in India” was the topic of the debate and the contribution by Jammu University&’s Zain ul Abdeen Bandey and Sahil Mehta was highly appreciated. In Western group song, the JU team did two English songs, Michael Jackson&’s Earth song and Shakira&’s Hips Don’t Lie, and the “What about us” refrain of the first had the auditorium reverberating, much to performer Raghav Gupta&’s delight. The team was accompanied on synthesiser by Sunil Sharma and secured the fourth position.

Professor RD Sharma, vice-chancellor of Jammu University, complimented the team for achieving the rare distinction of winning positions in all the seven events in which the university participated.

With the maximum number of titles in various events, the University of Mumbai was adjudged over-all champion of the festival, followed by runners-up Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.