Culture2 min
Nauni hosts 28 young speakers in Viksit Bharat One Nation, One Election debate
Students from across Solan district made their case in three-minute speeches, and three of them now move on to the state round.
Twenty-eight students stepped up to the microphone at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry in Nauni, Solan, to argue their views on One Nation, One Election. The district round of the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue 2027 drew speakers from several colleges, and each one had three minutes to make a case.
MY Bharat Solan ran the event under the Youth Parliament initiative, with the university as host. Speakers could choose Hindi, English or Sanskrit. Their brief was to link the proposal to the country's democratic and governance system and to the larger goal of a developed India by 2047.
Isha took first place and will represent Solan at the state round. Shrishti Chauhan finished second, and Tushar Anand placed third. Their names now head to the next stage, where they will face top speakers from other districts.
Suresh Kashyap, the Member of Parliament for Shimla, was chief guest. He pointed to a striking figure: close to 65 per cent of India's population is under 35. In his view, that makes young people central to any plan for the future, and a developed nation has to offer equal chances and shared prosperity to every group.
UHF Vice-Chancellor Prof Harminder Singh Baweja, the guest of honour, pushed the students to see themselves as drivers of growth rather than passive beneficiaries. He called One Nation, One Election a live national question and urged participants to study policy closely before forming an opinion, then speak about it with confidence.
Bhupender Gill, District Youth Officer at MY Bharat Solan, walked students through how the winners were picked and confirmed that the state round will bring together the strongest voices from each district. Local leaders, including Zila Parishad Chairperson Sheila Kumari and Mayor Sushma Sharma, also attended.
Why it matters: the event gives students a rare chance to test their ideas in public, and the sheer size of the youth population means their views on how India is governed will carry weight. For anyone following the debate, this is a useful snapshot of how the next generation is thinking about the question.
Read the full report at The Tribune.
