Youths of Kashmir seem quite intent on leading their state and India into a new age with renewed vigour. A success story from the Valley is now almost daily news. The latest among these young stars is Urfee Yousuf, a B. Sc. Final year student of AP College, Banihal, who has grabbed the prestigious National Youth Brilliance award.
The award was presented to her by Member Parliament, Manoj Tiwari at a Function held in New Delhi, where around 17 states across the country participated in the National Youth Exchange programme held from 18th to 20th August 2023.
Urfee Yousuf was selected for the award for tremendous work done as a social worker in the field of Education through her NGO “Living for Others Being Helpful Foundation”.
Urfee was also honoured by her college in the Valley. The principal of the SP College felicitated her for achieving such a great success and wished her good luck for future endeavours and the staff and students of the college congratulated her for doing such wonderful work.
Overall, 30 youths from all corners of India were conferred National Youth Brilliance award for their contributions in various fields. They all have worked in their region for the betterment of the society and nation to help in nation building. Navya (Jammu & Kashmir), Urfee Yousuf (Jammu & Kashmir), Shalinee Gupta (Chhattisgarh), Meghana Shantaram Bhalekar (Maharashtra), Anjali Taj (Uttar Pradesh), Chandan Kumar Dubey (Bihar), Angel’s Cultural Academy (Jammu & Kashmir), Arjun Singh (Chhattisgarh), Abhishek Gupta (Jammu & Kashmir), Amit Chaurasia (Madhya Pradesh), Omkar Sudam Pise (Maharashtra), Satyajit Balu Chavan (Maharashtra), Prakash Mahopatra (Odisha), Mohit Yadav (Rajasthan), Asmita Chaurasia (Madhya Pradesh), Adarsh Jain (Madhya Pradesh), Sachin Nandi (Jharkhand), Brijesh Singh (Maharashtra), Institute of Psychological Medicine Services (Chhattisgarh), Nitin Madan (Delhi), Himanshu Jonwal (Rajasthan), Hrithik Arora (Uttar Pradesh), Maroofa Shah (Jammu & Kashmir), Dr Nitika Singh Gaur (Uttar Pradesh), Shubham. S Gupta (Maharashtra) Kumar Foundation (Bihar), Uthasha Foundation (Madhya Pradesh), were honoured with the National Youth Brilliance Award 2023 in New Delhi in a programme helmed by the Kanyadan Foundation.
Kashmiri Women Winning National Laurels
In recent years, and if we say post-Article 370 period, the number of Kashmiri youths winning laurels on national and international stage is increasing at a rapid pace. Not only boys, but even girls are carving their own niche place and are shining in every field – be it education, sports, governance, social service or business.
According to a WION report, over 70 medals in various tournaments have been won by female athletes in the last two years.
“If we talk about the last two or three years, there has been a huge increase in the number of female participation in water sports. There have been around 110 medals won by water sports athletes and over 50 percent of these medals are taken by female athletes.
Earlier, everyone used to say that water sports are not for women. It was a challenging role for me also when I started.
There is a revolution in women participation in Kashmir and soon we will see these girls’ winning medals in national and international tournaments,” says Bilquis Mir, director of Water Sports, Jammu and Kashmir, highlighting women participation in nontraditional sports.
Interestingly, women from Kashmir have recently made their names in sports like cricket, boxing, taekwondo, weight-lifting, mountaineering, etc. All these achievements were unimagined a few years ago. However, now since girls have made them possible, inspiring a whole new generation to pursue them more passionately, a new whip of changing wind has swept through the scenic region that suffered a lot and is now celebrating a lot.