Jharkhand Yuva Sadan 3.0: The Start-up Promotion Bill, 2022
What went wrong?
Ironically, the acts suggested by the speakers for the aspiring politicians to not get indulged in, is what the org itself demonstrated by their acts…
I had participated in Jharkhand Yuva Sadan 3.0 which was organised from 14th to 16th May, 2022 in JUT Ranchi. Version 4.0 is to be organised soon.
Yuva Sadan’s agenda is to help young students understand the basic mechanism and working methodology of the State Legislature while enhancing their knowledge of the parliamentary democratic process that is mentioned in our constitution.
Sounds exciting, Right! I travelled from Bangalore to Ranchi to participate in the event.
Selection process
Out of applications from all 24 districts, 481 applicants were selected for 2nd round after filling a form with set of 3–5 questions with a registration fees of Rs.100 per person. Shortlisted candidates were then asked to submit a video capturing themselves discussing about any social issue in their respective districts. 145 candidates out of 481 were shortlisted for final round who were expected to pay Rs.1200–2000 per candidate (depending on requirement of lodging) to confirm their participation.
Here is what I talked about during the 2nd round of selection: “The issue of communal riots in Lohardaga”
The event
The event was inaugurated by 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝐸𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐽ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑘ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐢 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐁𝐚𝐢𝐬.
Present were Smt Dipika Pandey Singh, Congress MLA; Mr. Hafeezul Hasan, Hon’ble Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports; Miss Amba Prasad, MLA Badkagaon; Shri Binay Sarawgi, Director of Swastik Group; Shri Alakh Nath Pandey, Ex Vice Chairman, Garhwa Nagar Parishad cum BJP Pradesh Karyasamiti Sadasya Leader & Director, R K Educational Trust; Shri K L Agrawal, Director Airport Authority; Shri Himanshu Mishra, President, Chatra Chetna Parisad, Dumka; Shri Mukesh Pandey, Real Estate Devloper and Co Founder, Triveni Infrastructure; Shri Rathin Bhadra, Chairman, Indian Start-up Association; Shri Umesh Prasad Shah, GM BSNL; Shri Upkar Kedia, Chief Vigilance Officer, MECON; Mrs Pushpa Devi Bhuvalka, Deputy director of Children welfare council; Dr. Meenakshi Munda, President Asia Young Indigenous Peoples Network Phillipines, UN Indigenous Peoples representative; Prof Vijay Pandey, Vice Chancellor, JUT; Prof Amar Kumar Choudhary, Registrar JUT; Dr. Neha Kaur, Assistant Professor, Ranchi Women’s College.
On day one, participants were explained about Zero hour, Question hour, No confidence motion, etc. Adv. Shubham Saket, Associate Partner Vera Causa Lagal acted as the ‘Chair’.
From day two started the debate on the topic. During the event, I was assigned the role of Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and presented the Jharkhand Start-up Promotion Bill in the Sadan. The bill got passed and I got 5th rank.
Well, actual achievement was meeting a lot of amazing people from all across the state whom I am still in touch with.
The issue
In mid July, after requesting I was asked to collect the certificate from a volunteer in Ranchi. And regarding the prize money of 1 Lakh which was supposed to be distributed among rank 1 to 5, the participants were informed that the org shall reach out to us themselves.
After getting no information, I enquired about the same to the Org Director Adv Krishanu Anand on Oct 24th, 2022 and got the following message in response.
A similar message was received by Rank 1 on the same day.
We instantly created a group of 5 rank holders and decided to seek consultation from other participants and volunteers whom we were in touch with. Soon the news spread out. Some of our politically active friends from the student union called the org to enquire about the case. By now Yuva Sadan seemed to be in panic.
Interaction with the org
I got a call from a volunteer at 11pm whom I had myself forwarded the screenshots to seek help. I thought he was there to understand what the case was but as soon as I started talking about the issue, he started the call recording (which was fine) but he immediately cut the call, called back and said he cut it by mistake. By now I understood his intentions.
Not sure how successful he was but with all my past experiences with the MoSJW (click to view) and Kyoorius (plus few others), I knew how easily people deny their own words. So, there was no way I would have not recorded the call.
Here is the call recording (click to listen).
Soon after I cut the call, he sent me few messages trying to cover up their errors. This will be clear from the call recording. Nice attempt!!
The story did not end here.
First cut of the story
In approximately I see a new message n Yuva sadan Alumini Whatsapp group from Adv Akash Pandey, the Founder cum Chairman YS with a new story line!
I was immediately removed from the group. Next day I received a message in the afternoon about a call scheduled at 4pm by the org with the five rank holders. Since I was in office and had official meetings scheduled, I dropped them an email (probably a better grievance redressal channel) informing about the same.
During the meeting, the participants were also informed that they had to put in Lakhs from their own pocket in booking the Venue, hostel, food, event promotion, etc. They mentioned that our of 1 Lakh, Rs.35,000 was spent by the org in venue and Rs.40,000 was paid to the event moderator. So, remaining Rs.25,000 shall be distributed among the five rank holders.
Fun fact:
A student of JUT, Ranchi who also participated in YS 3.0 informed us that the campus was given for the good cause for no cost to Yuva Sadan. This included the event hall, 2 hostel building for volunteers and participants as well as mess. The org probably paid for the raw ingredients.Well, here comes into question the 2000 rupees that each student paid in the name of #Registration fee that included lodging and food.
Other participants also informed me that the prize money shall be given during the alumni meet around 24th-26th December, 2022 to the other four participants except me (for not being #loyal, for spreading #propaganda, for not following proper #grievance redressal, etc etc). Fine!
2nd cut
By now I had received enough calls and messages from my friends from Yuva Sadan 3.0. Next day, a friend (participant) dropped me a text informing that a screenshot was shared in the alumni group (which I was no more part of) with a long explanation. Here it is…
Too much of masala! This had to stop. Since Danish and Akash Sir did not receive my call, I dropped them an email again.
It is disheartening to see such unprofessionalism from an organisation like Yuva Sadan which has the potential to empower youth of Jharkhand by providing them a platform. Ironically, the acts suggested by the speakers for the aspiring politicians to not get indulged in, is what the org itself demonstrated by their acts.
Well, waiting for December 2022.
Twitter link (Nov 7, 2022): https://twitter.com/Sakshik85956106/status/1589501652633276418
An Update:
https://medium.com/@sakshikumari204/yuva-sadan-an-update-6c65ccb6cdb2
To reach out to me, drop an email at krisakshi3@gmail.com or DM on Instagram @sakshikumari204.
