Pune: Students of VIIT University Rehearse Upcoming G-20 Summit

Sharveya Parasnis

Pune, 10th December 2023: In anticipation of the upcoming G-20 First Infrastructure Working Group Meeting in Pune, six educational institutions across Pune held student interaction sessions and seminars. At the Vishwakarma Institute of Information Technology (VIIT), Pune, a mock conference was held where students represented various G-20 member nations and discussed pertinent issues such as food and energy security, changing digital infrastructure and climate change.

The session was opened by Prof. Suvarna Shinde, who welcomed everyone and introduced the first speaker Dr V. A. Patil, who spoke about the need to ensure food and energy security across the world. This was followed by statements by the students on the topic. Each student was representing a particular country. They described the steps their country had taken to resolve the problem.

The second speaker was Dr P. N. Mahalle, who spoke about the future of digital public infrastructure. Focusing on the Internet of Things (IoT), he described how human lives would become increasingly intertwined with technology, with applications from home appliances to military technology. Students followed this with a similar series of speeches.

The third speaker was Anjali Kulkarni, Coordinator of Kalmadi Shamrao High School. The topic of her speech was climate change. She argued that all nations must come together to fight climate change and that this change must begin at an individual level. Following more student statements, the session was wrapped up with a vote of thanks.

Shreyan Rathod, a student of Vishwakarma Junior College who represented the United Kingdom, said, “It was a privilege to be part of this session in a world forum which seeks the betterment of each country.”