The month-long summer internship of the NHRC, India for university-level students begins

Press Release

National Human Rights Commission

New Delhi, 11th June, 2024

The month-long summer internship of the NHRC, India for university-level students begins

In the inaugural address, Mr. Bharat Lal, Secretary General, NHRC appealed the interns to imbibe the Indian ethos of empathy and compassion to protect and promote human rights

80 university-level students out of over 1,400 applicants from diverse academic backgrounds attending the programme

The month-long highly coveted Summer Internship Programme of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) began yesterday in New Delhi. For this highly sought after programme, out of more than 1,400 applicants, 80 students from diverse academic backgrounds across the country got the opportunity to attend the programme.

While inaugurating the programme Mr. Bharat Lal, Secretary General, NHRC encouraged the students to embrace the Indian ethos of empathy and compassion to protect and promote human rights for which sensitivity and responsiveness are most crucial. He said that we all must draw inspirations from the lives and works of people like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and others who evolved and dedicated their entire life in the task of improving the lives of others.

He further said that today we all are enjoying the fruits of hard work put by our earlier generations. It is our sacred duty to make this planet Earth and society, a better place for coming generations. We all are living in an inter-connected world and there are certain universal values. We must imbibe those values and do everything possible to promote and uphold those human values.

He said that the Preamble of our Constitution shows the vision of India. We must internalize these cherished principles – equality, justice, liberty and fraternity, and make meaningful contributions. We must contribute in making of a better society and a developed India. Every person must have an improved quality of life and is able to live with dignity. We must internalize the essence of the Fundamental Rights and Duties enshrined in our Constitution.

Secretary General, NHRC also highlighted India's robust human rights protection framework, which includes Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution, powers to the Supreme Court and High Courts to protect the Fundamental Rights of people, various National level constitutional and statutory Commissions and their state counterparts, the National Human Rights Commission, and 27 State Human Rights Commissions. He stated that the NHRC collaborates with all these institutions as well as with over 30 Special Rapporteurs and Special Monitors, and 12 Core Groups comprising experts from NGOs, civil society, academia and human rights defenders. These groups as well as Special Rapporteurs and Special Monitors work as eyes and ears of the Commission and suggest measures to the Commission to protect the human rights of all human beings in the country.

He expressed the hope that the interns will make the best use of this opportunity to understand the spirit behind the fundamental rights and duties as enshrined in our Constitution. The interns should understand the significance of human rights and help in generating awareness.

Earlier, NHRC Joint Secretary, Mr. Devendra Kumar Nim gave an overview of the internship programme. He said that besides the sessions by experts on various aspects and thematic areas of human rights, the students will be taken out on field visits to jails, police stations, and government/ NGO shelter homes to have a first-hand understanding of their functioning. Director, Lt Col Virender Singh and other senior officers were present.

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