The Jharkhand Assembly will convene a special session on October 31 to host the first-ever Chhatra Sansad or students’ parliament of the state.

Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto said the event would be organised in association with PRS Legislative Research, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation.

“The intention is to create an awareness about legislative processes among the youths and also to give them a first- hand experience through a mock session,” the Speaker further said, adding the youths have potential that need to be encouraged.

Climate change is an important issue and some students have done remarkable job for creating awareness, he further said, adding the youths, if given the chance, they can also become good parliamentarians in future.

“The students have great potentials and some of them like Licipriya Kangujam of Manipur, Ridhima Pandey of Uttarakhand and Aditya Mukarji of Haryana have done remarkable job in creating awareness about environmental issues,” Speaker Mahto said, adding he was expecting the students to perform well in their upcoming Parliament.

“This would be a mock session when both the treasury bench and the Opposition, selected from among the participating students, will debate on a Bill that will be introduced in the House,” the Speaker further informed, adding the selected students would also be trained for the purpose at the new Assembly building the previous day (October 30).

Nodal officers who would help in selection process were already appointed in all the six universities of the state so that they could coordinate preliminary selection of participants from across the state.

“The interested students are required to submit write-ups between 500 and 700 words on any of the five given topics,” informed Assembly secretary Mahendra Prasad, adding the topics would cover issues related to climate change, mining and environment, protection of forest resources, legal provisions for such protection and 75 years of Indian democracy.

There will be an interview of selected candidates through video conferencing on October 27 when 24 students from as many districts would be short listed after they discussing their write-ups submitted b earlier, Prasad further informed, adding the students finally chosen by an expert panel would attend a workshop at the Assembly building on October 30 when they would be given a hands-on training before they participate in the event next day.

“All the MLAs will be invited to attend the students’ parliament and we all will sit in the gallery that day,” he added.