Look who has been selected as an Influencer MP in the UNESCO's World Teen Parliament, 17-year-old Annapurna Krishnavat from Lunda village in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
How the world can be improved — this was the theme for applications announced in July last year and guess how many teenagers applied from around the world? Over 72,000! Out of which, first, 300 were selected and then 200, via zonal line voting. Going forward, 100 MPs and 100 Influencer MPs have the chance to present their views in the Teen Parliament and debate on issues just like any parliament around the world would. Annapurna, who is one of the participants, advocated for digital working and paperless work in her 59-second video.
"Digital meetings of ministers and leaders will save money and time spent on lodging and commuting in hotels. This money can be used for the right cause," said Annapurna, as reported by IANS. She questioned how ministers were selected in the cabinet and suggested that a department's knowledge should be the basis of selection because it is her belief that a minister who holds a post in a particular department should know all about it.
"Today's education policy says — study and get a degree. Start doing some work and earn money. But education should not mean earning money, but earning knowledge" argued Annapurna while talking about changing the education policy. It was on the basis of her views on Indian politics and education that she was shortlisted by the UNESCO team.
Annapurna, whose father is a farmer and mother, a housewife, said that, "Every person should have a place to live. Citizens should feel safe in the country."
In the first Parliamentary Session of the World Teen Parliament, in which the first 100 teen members of the Parliament were shortlisted, it was the Speaker of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly CP Joshi who took a masterclass. The topic was Parliamentary Ethics for Teen MPs.
How can Teens Influence Global Policies — this was the topic that Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited (YuWaah - UNICEF), Youth Development and Partnerships and Purushottam Kaushik, Head of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network (INDIA), World Economic Forum, spoke on Economics of Democracy for Teens.
