ONLINE ESSAY COMPETITION ON THE THEME 'AATMANIRBHAR BHARAT-SWATANTRA BHARAT'

INTRODUCTION

Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India is glad to announce an essay competition for school students at the secondary and senior secondary stages (classes IX, X, XI and XII) on the theme 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat - Swatantra Bharat', which envisions the emergence of a robust and strong nation committed to the welfare of all. It is a clarion call by the Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi for a strong, vibrant and self-reliant India for all and an India of all.

Aatmanirbhar and Swatantra Bharat campaign focuses on:

• ensuring health and wellbeing for all;
• achieving sustainable development with concerns of environment rooted in all initiatives;
• optimizing resource mobilization and develop quality indicators to map interventions,
• strengthening the efforts to bridge all forms of inequalities including social and economic divide for enabling each and every individual to enjoy the fruits of progress. 
• evolving multifarious approaches to address natural and human calamities with our own strength and reservoir of resources.
• develop scientific and technical knowledge for innovating strategies to overcome barriers to development.

The present pandemic, COVID-19, as our Honorable Prime Minister reminds us, has once again brought to the forefront with our commitment to address challenges of life with thrust on our own capabilities and abilities.

As the theme – Aatmanirbhar Bharat- Swatantra Bharat rightly reiterates our commitment for working towards achieving self-reliance in all sectors of our economy rooted in our own pillars of culture, heritage and knowledge for becoming a global force to reckon with.

The themes designed in the essay will help students to explore their ideas for translating the concept of Aatmanirbhar, self-reliance into achievable one.

THEMES OF THE ESSAY COMPETITION

1. Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Indian Constitution and Democracy are the biggest enablers
2. India at 75: A Nation Marching towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat
3. Aatmanirbhar Bharat through Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat: Innovation thrives when there is Unity in Diversity
4. Digital India for Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Opportunities on COVID-19 and Beyond
5. Aatmanirbhar Bharat - How can school children contribute to National Development?
6. Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Overcoming Gender, Caste and Ethnic biases
7. Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Making of a New India through Bio-diversity and Agricultural Prosperity
8. While I exercise my rights, I must not forget to undertake my duties to usher in an Aatmanirbhar Bharat
9. My physical fitness is my wealth that will build the Human Capital for Aatmanirbhar Bharat
10. Conserve Blue to Go Green for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat

GUIDELINES FOR THE PARTICIPANTS

1. The essay competition is meant for students of Secondary and Higher Secondary Stages from schools under CBSE, KVS, NVS, NIOS and All School boards/SCERTs at the State/UT Level.
   • IX to X (Secondary Stage)
   • XI to XII (Higher Secondary Stage)

Word Limits of Essay for each theme

1. • For the Secondary Stage (Class IX & X) the essay should be within 500* word limits
   • For the Higher Secondary Stage (Class XI &XII) the essay should be within 800* word limits
   *The essay should not exceed word limit. This would lead to disqualification

Mode of submission

1. • The participant should submit the write-up in PDF file format only.
   • Visit the website  www.MyGov.in to submit the essay.
   • Write-up text should be submitted in readable Font of Hindi/English.
   • Font size should be 12 for English and 14 for Hindi.
   • Line spacing should be 1.15 only.
   • Entries must be in either in English or Hindi

IMPORTANT DATES/TIMELINE

1. • Last Date of Submission: 14th August 2020; 11.59 PM.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. • • The Competition is open to all citizens of India only.
     • All entries must be submitted on MyGov.in. Entries submitted through any other medium/mode would not be considered for evaluation.
     • A participant can send one entry only. In case it is found that any participant has submitted more than one entry, all the entries will be considered as invalid.
     • The entry should be original. Copied entries will not be considered under the contest.
     • The participant must be the same person who has written the write-up and plagiarism would not be accepted.
     • Please note that the Essay must be original and should not violate any provision of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957.
     • Anyone found infringing on others’ copyright would be disqualified from the competition. Government of India does not bear any responsibility for copyright violations or infringements of intellectual property carried out by the participants.
     • Mention of the authors name/emails, etc. anywhere in the body of the essay will lead to disqualification.
     • Participant is to make sure that their MyGov profile is accurate and updated since MHRD would be using this for further communication. This includes details such as name, photo, complete postal address, email ID and phone number. Entries with incomplete profiles would not be considered.
     • MHRD reserves the right to cancel or amend all or any part of the Competition and/ or the Terms & Conditions/Technical Parameters/ Evaluation Criteria.
     However, any changes to the Terms and Conditions/Technical Parameters/Evaluation Criteria, or cancellation of the Contest, will be updated /posted on the MyGov. platform. It would be the responsibility of the participants to keep themselves informed of any changes in the Terms & Conditions/Technical Parameters/Evaluation Criteria stated for this Contest.

CRITERIA OF SELECTION

• Selection of the best essay will be taken up at two levels. Firstly, SCERTs may form a committee of experts to examine the entries at the state/UT level and select the 10 best entries.
• Next, the selected 10 essays from each state/UT will become a pool of selected essays for final selection at the national level by a team of experts selected by NCERT.
• All the entries received within the due date will be placed before a Selection Committee for final selection. The decision of the Selection Committee will be final and binding on all the contestants.
• Any legal proceedings arising out of the competition/its entries/ winners shall be subject to jurisdiction of Delhi only.

CRITERIA OF EVALUATION

The write-ups will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Central Theme – contextual (20%)
2. Coherence and organization in structure (20%)
3. Creativity (40%)
4. Clarity in language expression and Style (20%) 

CERTIFICATION AND AWARD

Attractive prizes shall be announced shortly for the national level entries. However, participation certificates shall be jointly issued by NCERT and My-Gov for all participants who submit their essays.

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