A two-day national workshop on “Sustainable Development and Nation Building” organized by the National Association of Psychological Science (NAPS) in association with Vibha Vani India was held at Zirakpur (Punjab), recently.
The workshop was inaugurated by N.P. Rajiv, Executive Director of Vibha Vani India, while Akash Pandey, Regional Head of Vigyan Bharti, and Prof. Roshan Lal, President of NAPS and a professor at the University of Delhi, were special guests in the workshop.
Over 100 NGOs representing Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, working at the grassroots level across critical sectors including health, education, environment, agriculture, women’s empowerment, youth upliftment, human rights, skill development, and implementation of the National Education Policy, participated in the workshop.
NGOs from each participating state presented their unique and impactful initiatives. Noteworthy efforts included:
- Uttarakhand-based NGOs empowering rural women by training them in jute bag manufacturing, enabling home-based livelihood generation.
- Punjab and Chandigarh NGOs offering training in sanitary pad production to support financial independence among underprivileged women.
- Punjab NGOs also highlighted their campaigns against drug abuse and brain drain, along with efforts in naturopathy and Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS).
- Himachal Pradesh NGOs are working towards the revival of traditional crops like millets and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources.
Beyond grassroots sharing, the event featured expert talks. Dr. Dharamvir Vir, from the ENT Department at PGIMER, talked about the impact of hearing loss among elderly people.
Dr. Renu Thakur, a freelance psychologist, speaking in the workshop emphasized the influence of digital gadgets on parenting gaps and urgent need to channelize youth energy for a Viksit Bharat (Developed India). She also underlined the rising social and emotional deficiencies among children due to lack of cultural grounding.
In his address Prof. Roshan Lal stressed that childhood development is incomplete without emotional and cultural nurturing, and urged NGOs to integrate these values in their outreach.
Vibha Vani India announced the expansion of its state-level network and appointed Rajbahadur Saini of Dehradun as State Coordinator for Uttarakhand and Manmohan Singh from Yamuna Nagar as Regional Coordinator for Haryana.
