the jawaharlal nehru university jnu played host to the india youth forum organised by the international youth time movement which held its first international youth conference recently students and delegates from 34 countries including france italy latvia nepal hungary germany egypt qatar among others participated in the conference students from different disciplines from across the world took part in round table sessions and discussions on active youth participation in public life a large number of students from jnu too attended the conference the conference began with a speech by imran mukhtarov representative of the ministry of education azerbaijan in the opening session sam pitroda advisor to the prime minister on public information infrastructure and innovations vladimir yakunin president russian railways s k sopory vicechancellor jnu and petra matjakovic co founder youth time international movement discussed the relevance of open dialogues among youth to bring about awareness and change in key social and cultural aspects speaking on the role of youth in a changing society yakunin said it is crucial that the youth is provided with an environment that offers opportunities takes care of their health education and safety i believe india is a strong emerging country and it will grow in the way its youth competes with the rest of the world highlighting the challenges facing the youth in the country pitroda said i see india on its way of becoming one of the youngest countries but the youth today is confronted with challenges arising of changing job markets technological advances increasing influence of popular culture climate change and changing family and social structures hence it is our responsibility to empower the young with skills that help build flexibility to navigate their way through these challenges the forum also saw round tables on subjects like young family and values environment education social media and participation of youth in public life