![Winners of Silver Rolling Trophy at Declamation Contest posing alongwith Governor N N Vohra and other dignitaries in Jammu on Friday. Winners of Silver Rolling Trophy at Declamation Contest posing alongwith Governor N N Vohra and other dignitaries in Jammu on Friday.](https://cdndailyexcelsior.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/page16-32.jpg)
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
Jammu, Nov 25: At the 7th Annual Inter-State (Northern Zone) Declamation Contest, organized by the Department of Higher Education at the Government P.G. College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, the team comprising Seerat Baji of Government P.G. College for Women Gandhi Nagar and Parul Oberoi of Government College for Women, Udhampur, won the Silver Rolling Trophy which has been instituted by Governor N. N. Vohra.
The topic of the Declamation Contest was “Is Practice of Liberal Values the Only Way to End the Politics of Hate and Harm.” The Runner-Up Trophy was bagged by the team comprising Niharika Gyawali of Lovely Professional University, Jallandhar and Zahid Farooq of Government Degree College Budhal.
Governor N N Vohra, and Usha Vohra, First Lady, participated in the concluding programme which was presided by Priya Sethi, Minister of State for Education.
The Governor appreciated the speakers for their clarity of thought and impressive articulation and observed that this year’s Declamation Contest is noteworthy as it has secured the participation of students from all the three regions of J&K- Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, and significant participation from the colleges in the Northern States.
The Governor lauded the role of the Principal Dr. Kiran Bakshi and all her predecessors in the past 7 years, for progressively enlarging and improving the contest in every manner. He also appreciated the positive interest taken by the Director Colleges Higher Education Department, Prof. Renu Goswami and her predecessors for supporting this annual event. He complimented Ms. Priya Sethi, Minister of State for Education, for her strong support to women’s education.
Noting that India is a country which is rightly proud of its rich diversity and pluralistic traditions which are deeply embedded in thousands of years of our socio-religious and social cultural traditions the Governor pointed to the need of fostering communal harmony among our diverse communities and ensuring against any encouragement to the politics of hate and harm in the society.
The Governor presented the Rolling Trophy to the winning team and also gave prizes to the other winners. He presented a cheque of Rs. 11,000 to Ms. Seerat Baji of Government P.G. College for Women, Gandhi Nagar for being adjudged first. A cheque of Rs. 7500 to Niharika Gyawali of Lovely Professional University, Jallandhar for being adjudged 2nd and a Cheque of Rs. 5000 to Parul Oberai of Government College for Women Udhampur for being adjudged 3rd. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Consolation prizes were won by Zahid Farooq of Governemnt Degree College Budhal; Piyush of Lovely Professional University, Jallan-dhar and Tarunika Rajesh of Law College Dehradun, respectively. A Cheque of Rs 2500 each was given to consolation prize winners.
Governor also presented mementos to Prof. V.K. Anand, Former HoD Botany & Dean Life Sciences, University of Jammu; Prof. Arti Bakshi, HoD, Deptt. of Psychology, Jammu University; Prof. Varun Tripathi, Associate Professor Department of Philosophy, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Dr. Monika Sethi, Deptt. of English, Jammu University; who were the Jury Members and Prof. Mohd. Aslam Baba, Nodal principal Amar Singh College, Srinagar; Prof. Z.A. Chat, Chairman JKBOSE and Dhananter Singh, Deputy Secretary, Governor’s Secretariat who were the Observers of the Declamation Contest.
The Governor and the First Lady were presented mementos.
Dr. Kiran Bakshi, Principal, of the College, in her welcome address gave details about the Declamation Contest and stated that a total of 40 students from Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir had participated in this contest.
Dr. Ajeet Angral, Nodal Principal, GGM Science College, Jammu presented a formal Vote of Thanks.
Earlier, students of the College presented a captivating cultural programme.
Principals of various colleges, college teachers and students were present on the occasion.
Earlier, the contest was declared open by Kavinder Gupta, Speaker Legislative Assembly, J&K.