NSS volunteers bag youth parliament contest award

lucknow: student volunteers of the national service scheme (nss) brought laurels to the lucknow university by bagging the coveted second prize in the fourth national youth parliament contest held recently in new delhi. the 15-member nss team was felicitated by vice-chancellor prof sb singh on their return to the city on saturday. the lu team secured 96 per cent marks losing the first position to the punjab university, which secured 96.3 per cent marks.over 170 universities from all over the country had taken part in the prestigious competition organised every year by the ministry of parliamentary affairs, government of india, with an aim to inculcate and popularise `parliamentary values' among students. "it also helps students to know how policies are framed under the parliamentary form of government," said dr an singh, the team leader and lu nss coordinator. minister of state for parliamentary affairs santosh gangawar felicitated the students at a function held at malwalankar hall. the lu team staged a mock parliament with members of the government and the opposition parties debating various issues of national and international importance while following parliamentary rules and regulations. prashant singh atal, who played leader of the opposition, told the times news network that the issues put up for debate included women's reservation bill, agricultural problems and wto pact. "while there are differences among our political parties over prevention of terrorism ordinance, the youth parliament unanimously resolved to have some stringent laws to curb the menace of terrorism," he said. the most severe debate, which was also liked the most by the judges, was witnessed in the `no-confidence motion', he added. the team members included shailendra sharma atal (played prime minister), shikha singh (lok sabha speaker), archana awasthi, menu gupta, akash pandey, alok pandey, rohit mishra, mamta singh, jeba zaidi, srishti tiwari, swadesh singh, vishwa bhushan mishra, smita khanijo and sumita singh.