Vishwarang 2020 Day 9: Twelve virtual sessions held with a focus on the future of healthcare and education in the Post-COVID

Vishwarang 2020 Day 9: Twelve virtual sessions held with a focus on the future of healthcare and education in the Post-COVID world and discussions with noted writers and poets

• Session on ‘Challenges in Literary Evolution of Emigrant Indian Literature’ with noted Hindi writers was held.
• A session on World Poetry with South African actress Lebo Mashile, Nepali poet Suman Pokharel and other International artists took place.
• Renowned Indian musician Ankur Tewari mesmerized the audience with his soulful music.

Bhopal, November 29, 2020: The penultimate day of the Tagore International Literature & Arts Festival ‘Vishwarang 2020’ witnessed 12 interactive virtual sessions. Discussions on the topics ‘The Post COVID World- Future of Healthcare’ and ‘The Post COVID World-Our Education System and Indian Perspective’ were held on this day, which put forward various critical points regarding the healthcare and education systems of the country and the need to revamp them for the welfare of the people, as post-COVID, the healthcare industry and digital learning will witness a further boom.

Speaking about the current situation of healthcare in India, Dr Urvashi Prasad, Public Policy Specialist, Niti Ayog said, “We need to invest in human resources, we need to invest in people. Many of you would know that the Government has taken several steps, several reforms to bring about changes in medical education, in Ayush education. We are also looking at nursing now, so we really need to build a strong cadre of medical professionals that goes beyond medical doctors. Of course doctors have a critical role to play but so do nurses, so do Ayush practitioners and in fact a lot of these practitioners provide very critical services in our remote and rural areas, where you might not find the MBBS doctors or specialists. So we must value, develop and nurture these cadre of professionals. Give them the proper skill sets, give them the proper incentives and career paths.”

Putting forward his point, Mr Amitabh Saxena, Vice Chancellor, Dr C.V. Raman University Khandwa, said, “Apart from farming, if we look at other avenues as opportunities, and inculcate them with technology and our culture, then it will be helpful to us. We have to check whether research is solving problems. The vision for research should be evolved in such a way that results and inferences of research should help the society. There needs to be new thinking in research to make sure there is an evolution. We have to also make sure that if there is an evolution, then we have to check whether it can be scaled from national to global level. Times are changing and employment is also witnessing changes that are beyond our thinking. Many avenues of employment are obsolete, but many other employment opportunities are being discovered. We have to create awareness among students about new employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.”

The ‘Meet the Author’ sessions with Ashwin Sanghi, who is the author of three best-selling novels and with the Director of Vishwarang Mr Santosh Choubey, who is an Indian social entrepreneur, educationist, poet and writer of Hindi literature, were other major highlights of the day.

During his address, author Ashwin Sanghi said, “My creative output as a writer has been higher during the COVID lockdown. If you have more time to be sitting at home, then automatically I would imagine that your own imagination and creative instincts should multiply. You will see far more literary output in the coming years because of this period or lull of almost one year. Also, for at least a person like me, it has given me a tremendous opportunity to introspect. I believe, this pandemic in a more diluted version has brought us all down to earth. You realise how humble and utterly irrelevant you are when you go through such times.”

Other major sessions that engaged the audience were on ‘Challenges in Literary Evaluation of Emigrant Indian Literature’ with noted Hindi writers including Sahitya Akademi awardee Narisa Sharma and on ‘World Poetry’ with South African actress Lebo Mashile, Nepali poet Suman Pokharel and other International artists.

Day 9 of Vishwarang 2020 started with a mesmerizing performance on Bharatnatyam by dancer Lata Munshi. As the day progressed, the audience got the opportunity to witness a folk music session, journey of poetry and a session showcasing the highlights of Vishwarang Trinidad, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan editions.

The second last day of the literary and cultural extravaganza ended with a soulful music session with Indian musician Ankur Tewari.

Organized by Bhopal-based Rabindranath Tagore University (RNTU), in collaboration with the Tagore International Centre for Arts and Culture Bhopal and the AISECT Group of Universities, Vishwarang 2020 was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the aim of promoting Indian literature, art and culture on a global scale via discussions, discourse and more.