The 12th North India Regional Conference

TOPIC: Innovative Practices to Mitigate Poverty and Climate Change in India
Date: February 21-22, 2023

International School of Informatics & Management, Jaipur in collaboration with India Development Coalition of America, organized 12th North India CInternational School of Informatics & Management, Jaipur in collaboration with India Development Coalition of America, organized 12th North India Conference on February 21-22, 2023. The theme for the two days conference was “Innovative Practices to Mitigate Poverty and Climate Change in India”. In the inaugural session Dr. Ashok Gupta, Director, ISIM welcomed the participants of the conference. In his address he focused on the prime aim of the conference that is to provide platform to social entrepreneurs, activists, academicians, researchers and the stakeholders to take action over the issue of curbing poverty and mitigating climate change. Dr. Mohan Jain, Founder and Trustee, IDCA, USA provided impetus to the conference and suggested ways that can bring positive change in the society.

The chief guest for the inaugural function was Mr. Himanshu Singh, Founder, AgrEco Technologies, Jaipur. He emphasized on the importance of digitalization for rural development and the well-being of rural citizens and policy responses needed to make the most of future opportunities that may emerge. He also shared about the trends and impacts of digitalization in rural communities and identified the need to examine the policies needed to harness the benefits brought by technological change. The Guest of Honour was Major General Alok Raj, Co-founder, Uniglobe Development Foundation emphasized the significance of planting trees and strongly focused that it helps to combat global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide, removing and storing carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air. The Keynote speaker for the event was Mr. Sumit Singh, Advisor, Strategy & Cooperation, National Cooperative Union of India. The inaugural ceremony ended with the National Anthem.

The first day of the conference had two sessions related to “Emerging Practices in Climate Change and Water”, and “Innovative Practices in Education”. The day witnessed expert talks by eminent personalities such as Mr. Krishan Gaur, Project Manager, Jalbhagirathi Foundation, Mr. Tejaram Ji, Coordinator, Manthan, Farmers Ganga Maa & Narayan ji from Kotri village, Mr. Akshay Bohra, Program Manager, Moinee Foundation, Mr. Akhilesh Maheshwari, Founder, Naya Sawera, Mr. Jaspal Godara, Founder & CEO, Prayaas Corps, Ms.Usha Bhaskar Shedge, US Kids 4 Water, Chicago, Ms. Ipshita Sharma, Program Coordinator, Pravah, Delhi.

The second day of the conference had sessions related to “Emerging Prospects in Education and Livelihood”. The speakers for these sessions were Mr. Swapnil Dubey, Principal Consultant, Insight Development Consulting Group, New Delhi, Ms. Saroj Khan, Founder, Centre for Human Rights & Social Welfare, Jaipur, Mr. Dhananjay Sahay, Human Centered Change (HCC), Salesforce, Ms. Neema Pant, Senior Project Coordinator, Save the Children, Jaipur, Mr. Prashant Pal, Founder & CEO, Pure India.

The concluding session had NGO Field project presentations by the students of ISIM on “Citizenship & Social Entrepreneurship” through which they showcased their hands-on experience with the voluntary sector. Among the twelve selected presentations, the top three were rewarded with cash prizes of Rs. 6000/-, Rs. 4000/- and Rs. 3000/- respectively. The winners were Sachin Saini, Punit Agarwal, Neelesh Jain, Deshna Jain and Deepa Singhal who completed their internship from 'Robinhood Army'.

Aman Agarwal, Pragya Parnami, Hiteshna Sharma, Jaideep Saini & Prachi Parnami stood second for their project with ‘Aatmnirbhar’.

And third position was grabbed by Siddhika Prajapat, Divanshi Natani, Shobhit Nagar & Shrikant Sharma for their project with 'Satya Bal Ashram'.

Ms. Usha Bhaskar Shedge, US Kids 4 Water, Chicago & Mr. Akshay Bohra, Program Manager, Moinee Foundation were the judges for the competition. The conference culminated with conference report by Dr. Mohan Jain. He encouraged the students to contribute to society by lifelong learning and helping others live a better life. He quoted examples of Mahatma Gandhi & Swami Vivekananda and said that they did well to people not for their selfish aims but for the good of the society.

Around 200 students along with faculty and 27 NGOs from across Rajasthan participated in the two days conference.