Minister for Information Technology Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and the Administrative Judge of Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court Justice S.S. Sundar felicitated students who successfully completed a one-year certificate course 'Promoting Inclusive Democracy for Young Leaders' at the SOCO Trust here on Saturday.

U.S. Consulate General Chennai and Justice Shivaraj V. Patil Academy for Democratic Values (a unit of SOCO Trust) organised the event. A manual for Human Rights Defenders was released at the event.

Mr. Thiaga Rajan told the students that it was their duty to learn, analyse, debate, discuss and arrive at the core understanding. They must apply what they learnt in society for the benefit of the common man, he said.

Justice Sundar said that human rights education needed focus and protection at the grassroots level for ensuring basic human dignity to the poor and weak and making it meaningful. He said that corruption came in the way of people getting justice. There were areas where one had to concentrate and give protection to people, he said.

U.S. Consulate General Chennai Cultural Affairs Officer Scott E. Hartmann took part in the event through video conference. Managing Trustee of SOCO Trust A. Mahaboob Batcha and Programme Director S. Selva Gomathi were present. The students shared their experience.

Media: The Hindu