KHANAPARA, RI BHOI: A spectacular view of the rich cultural mosaic of the North-east has been showcased by thousands of youths from different colleges of the eight states of the region at the playground of the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) on Saturday kickstarting the 7th North East Graduate Congress (NEGC)-2023.
More than 10,000 students from different colleges have gathered at USTM to participate in various sports, cultural, literary and start-up competitions, as well as sessions on competitive examinations, personality development and a job fair.
On the same occasion, the North East Principal & Faculty Meet-2023 was also organized by USTM, where principals from more than 200 colleges participated.
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Addressing the gathering, Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor of USTM, said, “We have been organizing NEGC to benefit the region’s youths by helping them set their vision so that they can shoulder responsibilities and contribute to nation-building”.
NEGC is the most acclaimed flagship programme of USTM that aims to inculcate the spirit of competitiveness, regional integrity, social harmony and brotherhood among the youths, he added.
During the inaugural session of the event, the welcome address was made by Pro GD Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of USTM, while the vote of thanks was offered by Dr Balendra Kumar Das, Pro Vice-Chancellor USTM.
Jayanta Malla Baruah, Minister of Public Health Engineering, Assam was a special guest at the event, apart from other dignitaries.
The inaugural ceremony of NEGC-2023 was witnessed by a galaxy of prominent personalities ranging from youth icons, academia, politicians, cultural and sports icons, motivational speakers, principals of various colleges, faculty members and many students.
Attractive awards, including two-wheelers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and cash prizes will be given to the winners of different competitions.
Special attractions in the award category are: ‘Best Performing College-2023’ and ‘Best Magazine Award-2023’.
Certificates of participation would be given to all the participants.
Prizes worth Rs 50 lakh will be awarded to the winners of various competitions in the event.
In the NE Principal & Faculty Meet, Academic Leadership Award-2023 was handed over to principals of selected colleges by Jayanta Malla Baruah, Minister of Public Health Engineering, Assam.
Renowned motivational speaker Thomas John Rose took a session on ‘Leadership in Academics’ at the principal’s meet, besides his energetic session with the participating students of the NEGC.
The colleges also signed MoUs with USTM on the same day.
In this 7th edition of NEGC, various co-curricular activities have been organized.
The cultural competitions include cultural showcasing, skit, group song, group dance, on-the-spot painting, mehendi, cartooning, photography and rongoli.
The sports competitions are volleyball, kabaddi, chess, arm wrestling, powerlifting, badminton, basketball, and horse riding.
The literary competitions include debate and quiz. Topic for the debate competition is “Globalization has posed a threat to the economy”.