Chief minister Naveen Patnaik awards poet Samarendra Patra for promoting peace through poetry. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 18: A 20-year-old “poet ambassador” from Koraput will be the only Indian at the 10th annual international human rights summit in Brussels, Belgium next month.

The summit is being held under the aegis of the Youth for Human Rights, a non-profit organisation founded and largely staffed and financed by Scientologists.

Samarendra Patra had made it to the Limca Book of Records earlier this year as the “first youth poet ambassador to India”.

He had applied to be a youth delegate and was chosen to be part of the summit.

A student of mechanical engineering at SRM University, Chennai, Samarendra is among 50 youth delegates chosen for the event that brings together youngsters to share, encourage and inspire global peace and tolerance.

“I am very excited about this opportunity. Problems in our society have always inspired me to write poems on peace. The international summit will give me a chance to express my views before delegates from across the world,” said Samarendra, who has penned over 400 poems in English, Odia and Hindi. He will attend the international meet in Brussels from September 6 to 8.

He excelled in the World Poetry International Peace Festival in Canada where he recited his verse The Threshold of Love based on the Taj Mahal. He appealed to his compatriots to stop pollution of the river Yamuna, which was having an adverse effect on the white marble mausoleum. The touching poem earned him the coveted World Poetry Youth Ambassador of India title, helping him enter the Limca Book of Records.

“I have been writing poems since I was eight years old. Many of my writings have been published in national and international literary journals. However, my anthology of poems My Musings – The Poetry Within was published three years ago. But the Canada experience was special as literary stalwarts from 10 countries felicitated me,” said the youngster, who was also honoured by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in July for his literary endeavours that promote peace.

Samarendra, son of Nalco employee Upendra Kumar Patra, said he had received support and appreciation from over 30 global leaders for his poems on peace, universal brotherhood and harmony. He has also recited his poems before Tamil Nadu governor K. Rosaiah and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.