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Sameep Shastri, Vice Chairman BRICS CCI and President, BRICS CCI Young Leaders

New Delhi [India], August 14: On the occasion of World Youth Day 2021, Mr. Sameep Shastri, Vice Chairman BRICS CCI and President, BRICS CCI Young Leaders, said, “We should celebrate the voices and action of youth that has helped us to overcome this pandemic. It is said that change in society can only be achieved by empowering youth. The continued efforts by various stakeholders in empowering youth had materialised during the pandemic, which was evident from the countless numbers of stories across the globe of youth who have put society before themselves. Youth has played a crucial role in adopting the change in society which was caused due to pandemic and in future will also play a crucial role in returning to normal.”

He also highlighted that even through the pandemic, nothing could stop BRICS CCI Young Leaders from achieving its objectives. He said, “The forum organised various events in online mode and provided numerous opportunities to its member and youth participants. The program has made successful efforts to achieve its objectives of empowering, engage and enrich the youth, and will continue to achieve them in future with unique events and initiatives.”

In conclusion, he enumerated how this technologically advanced young generation has developed new technologies that have led to the development of society and have also affected every individual in a positive, very positive manner. He stated, “The young generation will play a vital role in developing new technologies by leveraging the AI, machine learning and robotics which will solve global problems and make this world a better place to live for future generations.”

Aug 14: Today, we are catching up with a person who doesn’t have a million-dollar smile but gives a million-dollar effort to change people’s lives. Yes, you might have guessed it, it is Aditya Tikku. Read up on my encounter: –

Would you mind telling us something about yourself that we don’t know?

There is nothing to share just that I am in to textile business and writing, which is my passion.

You are a textile businessman, app developer, editor, and social worker; you are into counselling and organise spiritual shivers. Where do you get the motivation of doing so many things?

Ha! Ha! You are more updated on me than myself. Well, you are already aware of what I am doing. The only motivation behind it is good karma. Do your work and let the universe take its course.

Where do you see the position of India in the world after freedom of 75 years?

We are in an excellent position. The world has started listening to us. The world has started seeing us hoping that peace and humanity can come only through India. On the first day, we have got what other countries struggled with for centuries; the women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy. Chinese are still dreaming of getting democracy. So, we have achieved a lot, and yes, there is still scope for many improvements.

Then why you have established your family abroad?

I have established my family!! My brother is struggling to get me established; I hope one day he will. Magazine to apps anything that I have ever done was just due to the support of my family. Moreover, my brother is working in Sri Lanka, but we all are Indian citizens and will always be.

Being a Kashmiri, what do you think about the removal of Article 370 & 35 A?

As an Indian and Kashmiri pandit, I will say this was one of the best things in 75 years of independence; it would have been great if it had been done earlier. The Centre paved the way for people outside Jammu and Kashmir to buy land in the union territory. In a gazette notification, the central government omitted the phrase “permanent resident of the state” from Section 17 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act that deals with land disposal in the union territory. However, the amendment did not allow the transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturists except in few cases.

In July this year, the rules were changed to allow domicile certificates to be granted to the husbands of local women married to people from outside Jammu and Kashmir. The move will enable them to buy land or property in the Union territory or apply for government jobs. All people having resided in the UT for 15 years or studied for seven years and appeared in Class 10 or 12 examinations in an educational institution in the region are eligible for grant of domicile status along with their children.

After the abrogation of Article 370, the civil secretariat in Srinagar hoisted the Indian Tricolour while the state’s flag was missing. The rectangular flag – red background with three white vertical stripes alongside a white plough in the middle with the handle facing the stripes – fluttered next to the Indian national flag on the secretariat for more than six decades.

The CID wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police has ordered the denial of security clearance required for passport and other government services to all those involved in stone-pelting or subversive activities. The order was issued on July 31 and directed all the fields to ensure that the person’s involvement in law and order, stone-pelting cases, and other crime prejudicial to the state’s security be looked explicitly into during verification related to passport service and other government schemes.

In the early hours of August 5, hundreds of political leaders and workers – including three former chief ministers Mufti, Omar Abdullah and his father Farooq Abdullah – were detained. The Abdullahs were released in March 2020, and Mufti was freed in the second week of October last year. Since then, the leaders have come together – along with four other parties in Kashmir – to forge an informal alliance that aims to restore the region’s special status. It’s a Beginning

Sometimes, or I will say mostly, you support women blindly. Is it because you are a feminist?

Nothing as such, but yes, I try to stand with them. We need to be respectful towards women. We can claim anything we want, but the ground reality is women are still treated as second class citizens in many parts. We are narrow-minded people. Forget the outside world; in our homes, we send a girl to school and start feeling how great it is that we are educating girls. There is nothing extraordinary about that; it is the girl’s right as much as anyone else to get an education. Hardly do we support girls to choose their subject/career. We allow her to do a job till she gets married; after marriage, she can do what her husband and in-laws say. Girl can’t also cry for fear that family members will feel bad. Just imagine how much they do for us and how much we owe them; only then you will understand why it is necessary to stand with them.

A Farmers Plight in an Agrarian Nation

Dehradun, Aug 14: “Jai jawan, Jai Kisan” These words set forth by Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1965, our then Prime Minister, have been like a consistent echo throughout the nation. With the descent of time, the significance of farmers has continued to grow. From being dependent on foreign countries for food to being self-sufficient, everything has resulted from the fervour and endurance of farmers.

India is an agrarian country, meaning a majority of its population makes income through agriculture, which is why almost 70% of the Indian economy is backed by agriculture. It will be a grave understatement if Indian farmers are called anything but “the spine of the Indian economy.”

And although Shastri’s phrase has a ring to it even today, its truth has somewhat been lost.

Farmer’s issue:

The farmers are our sole food providers. They had carried us out of the clutches of food scarcity before, and they continue to do so. Yet, even after 75 years of Independence, they haven’t been able to receive anything monumental in return. Instead, they live a life filled with hardships and farmer issues don’t seem to have a full stop yet. Around 80% of Indian farmers lead marginalized lives with less than a hectare of land. The lack of plentiful harvests and sufficient return from their crops has led to rising in farmer suicides. A 2021 report by the State of India’s Environment (SoE) highlighted that 5763 farmers from 20 states (including the Union Territories) & 4586 farm labourers from 21 states had committed suicides in 2018. This number was bumped up in 2019 to 5957 farmers from 17 states.

Although crop failure is a major contributor to these fatalities, the lack of financial aid tops the list. The farmers put all their capital on the line in order to grow quality crops. To sell their crop & food products to the consumers, the farmers go through numerous middlemen who snatch the majority of the return. It leaves the farmers with little to nothing.

While the government provides the farmers with a Minimum Support Price (MSP), it doesn’t even come as close as half of the input. The markets are often down in the aftermath of harvests; this forces the farmers to sell their produce for meagre costs and drowns them into debt. A 2016 survey called “The Economic Survey” states that a farmer’s average annual income only goes as far as ₹20,000 & less.

Current scenario – Farmers Amendment Bill:

In the recent months, India has witnessed mass farmers’ protests against the Farm Bills passed in the parliament, namely:

• Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020;
• Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and
• Farm Services Act 2020 and
• Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020

The farmers have been in complete disagreement with the bills owning to the understanding that the bills will end MSP. It means they will be stripped from whatever guaranteed amount they were receiving against their crops. The demands from farmers include the abolition of these three laws & sustainability for MSP.

A ray of hope:

One cannot solve the problems faced by farmers in a fortnight. The road to making farmers capable is extensive. Amidst the rising farmer issues, many companies have come forward to the aid of farmers. One such company is Kiwi Kisan Window. A health & wellness startup based in Dehradun, Kiwi Kisan Window deals in organic & healthy conscious food. The startup was initiated in 2017 by social entrepreneurs Abhinav Ahluwalia & Nupur Agarwal to aid farmers in their agricultural pursuits. Kiwi works at the grassroots level with marginalized farmers from across the country. They acquire the products from the farmers & package them in their warehouse. From there, the products are distributed throughout the country. Kiwi acts as a direct window between the farmers & consumers. This elimination of middlemen provides farmers with fair trade opportunities.

In the span of 4 years, Kiwi has gotten approximately 10,000 farmers onboard. Along with it, the startup has also generated a stable income for about 10,000 farmers. The company has helped farmers indulge in organic farming by familiarizing them with its technical know-how. Through the entirety of lockdowns imposed in 2020 due to covid-19, Kiwi mobilized the food produced by these farmers in order to save them from getting ruined due to weather conditions. Kiwi wishes to bring a ripple effect in the market through their initiative & encourage the consumers to support the farmers.

Our true independence lies in uplifting & walking shoulder to shoulder with everyone. The country is developing & moving forward every day; the farmers shouldn’t be exempt from this growth. If anything, the farmers should be at the forefront of the changing times.

“When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.” – Daniel Webster

Connect with Kiwi on their social media handles for further information: Google My Business, Instagram,

Surat, Aug 13: The Hearts at Work Foundation, led by Greenman Viral Desai, celebrated Independence Day by tree plantation at the Sultania Gymkhana in Rander. The tree planting event was specially attended by about a hundred employees of internationally renowned architect firm International Service Partners. They took guidance on tree planting from Greenman Viral Desai.

It may be mentioned that the young architects, as well as engineers of International Service Partners (ISP) of Surat, had specially invited Greenman Viral Desai to plant trees with Hearts at Work Foundation as part of the Independence Day celebrations. So that the youngest employees working in their organization get more awareness about tree plantations, and they also get a chance to interact with the environment.

The director of ISP, Hiren Patel, shares that,

“We were impressed with the Hearts at Work Foundation’s environmental work, so we wanted our entire team to plant trees with them. After this tree planting, our staff was very happy to care for and serve nature, and they got useful information about the environment from Viral Bhai. ‘

On the other hand, Greenman Viral Desai said, “It is a matter of great hope and joy for an environmentalist like me that more than 100 employees of a corporate organization like ISP come for vigorous tree planting under our Satyagraha Against Pollution Campaign. And this happens at a time when the youth are becoming alienated from nature and the environment.”

ISP’s Dhara Upadhyay said on this occasion, “On the one hand, some people have only been involved in fundraising and agenda activities in the name of NGO’s. At such time, Hearts at Work Foundation sets a unique benchmark and precedence as an organization from south Gujarat, which works for the environment and serves the country, despite several challenges.

It may be mentioned that during this tree planting program, Viral Desai shared many innovative and informative stories about the environment and tree plantation with the youth. As a result, many young architects and engineers were extremely excited and keen to volunteer as environmentalists in Viral Desai’s Foundation.