Led by Mijwan Welfare Society (MWS), a leading NGO championing sustainable development and empowering women and girl children in rural India, this project was facilitated by the University India Centre in collaboration with GRD College of Science. Student interns participated in two live projects: Rozgar Dhaba, a community information hub for boosting job opportunities and mitigating unsafe migration in rural areas and Project Samridhi, aimed at developing digital infrastructure and e-commerce for supporting women entrepreneurs across villages in India.
This prestigious roundtable will feature a special address from the veteran award-winning Bollywood actor-activist and President of MWS, Shabana Azmi, together with keynote addresses from dignitaries including the Indian Deputy High Commissioner to UK, Charanjeet Singh, the British Deputy High Commissioner to India, Jan Thompson, Senior Director, Economic, Youth & Sustainable Development of the Commonwealth Secretariat Dr Ruth Kattumuri, and Director of UKRI India Rebecca Fairbairn.
One of the key highlights of the event will be the felicitation of Miss Aditi Subedi, a young girl born and educated in Mijwan village in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh, who recently made a successful debut into the Indian film industry. Baithak UK, a London-based not-for-profit organisation promoting the rich legacy of south Asian arts founded by Dr. Sangeeta Datta, in partnership with the University of Southampton India Centre, the India Business Group London and GRD College of Science in India will honour Subedi with the ‘2021 Most Inspiring Youth for Social Change’ award.
Shabana Azmi said, she was delighted to see Mijwan Welfare Society’s partnership with University of Southampton growing strongly and significantly over the years. “It is refreshing to see how a simple innovative model of a paired virtual internship programme, engaging a high calibre of talented students from Southampton and GRD College of Science, generated meaningful impact on ordinary lives and livelihood in rural communities. Kudos to India Centre for supporting our work at Mijwan Welfare Society and realising our aspirations to fruition.” She was also full of praise for Aditi Subedi from Mijwan (who brings a message of social change through Baba Azmi’s Mee Raqsam) for being honoured on International Womens Day. I want to thank Baithak for its commitment to art and culture as an instrument of social change.”
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