A True Yuva Sangam: IIT Guwahati hosts Student Delegates under Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat Initiative

GUWAHATI : Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati organized the ‘Yuva Sangam’ program under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Initiated by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. The aim of the program is to strengthen people-to-people connect between the youth of the Northeast states with other states of India.

Under this program, the youth were given multi-dimensional exposure under five broad areas including –

Ø Paryatan (Tourism)

Ø Parampara (Traditions)

Ø Pragati (Development)

Ø Paraspar Sampark (People-to-people connect)

Ø Prodvogik (Technology)

Speaking about the Yuva Sangam initiative, Prof. Parameswar K. Iyer, Officiating Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “The ‘Yuva Sangam’ programme is meticulously developed by the Ministry of Education to provide the youth an opportunity to connect with youth of other states and learn about their culture and diversity. It was a great opportunity for the students to get huge exposure, cultural integration and learn new things. IIT Guwahati proudly hosted and introduced the student delegates to the rich history and culture of Assam during their visit.”

As a part of this program, IIT Guwahati coordinated in sending participants and faculty coordinators to five states. Students and faculty coordinators from various colleges/institutions of Assam were sent to IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Jammu, IIM Bangalore, JNU Delhi and NITTTR Chandigarh. Details of the activities and initiatives taken by the Institute are mentioned below:

Activity Flag off

The first group of student delegates from Assam left for IIT Gandhinagar in Gujarat on 22 February 2023. Dr. Ranoj Pegu, Hon’ble Minister of Education, Government of Assam, flagged off the Yuva Sangam program and participated in the send-off event. The send-off event was attended by Prof. Parameswar K. Iyer, Officiating Director of IIT Guwahati and other officials from the Institute. All five teams from Assam completed their visit on 12 March 2023. The participants and the faculty appreciated the Yuva Sangam program for the unique opportunity to understand the cultures of various states and showcase the rich culture of Assam.

Hosting student delegates from IIT Jammu, IIM Bangalore and IIT Gandhinagar

IIT Guwahati, as a nodal centre for Assam, hosted 157 student delegates and 10 faculty coordinators from three paired Institutes, namely, IIT Jammu, IIM Bangalore and IIT Gandhinagar.

IIT Guwahati engaged the participants in a carefully prepared five-day program that covered the aspects of Paryatan (Tourism), Parampara (Traditions), Pragati (Development), Paraspar Sampark (People-to-people connect), and Prodvogik (Technology). On day one, the students visited the cultural site of Nilachal Hill and had the opportunity to visit the Sports Authority of India complex at Paltan Bazaar, Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education Sonapur for an interaction session. They were given the unique opportunity to visit the border village at the Indo-Bhutan border, arranged by Sashastra Seema Bal. The visit helped them to understand the work of our security forces in maintaining a friendly relationship with the neighbouring countries. The participants were given an opportunity to engage in a buddy program through a visit to the villages at Dhopatari, Silbhoral, and Athyabori. Here, the participants engaged in interaction with the local Assamese people to understand their way of living, food habits and participated in bihu dance with the local youth.

On the third day, the participants had the unique opportunity to interact with the Hon’ble Governor of Assam Shri Gulab Chand Kataria. The Hon’ble Governor highlighted the role of youth in the country’s development and answered all their questions related to development of Assam and the role of youth in Governence. The participants also visited Urbasi island which has several carvings and inscriptions, an opportunity to understand the cultural heritage of Assam.

On day five, the participants were taken to Sualkuchi where they interacted with the local weavers about the traditional weaving techniques of Assam silk, which is unique to this region.

Interactions with the Startup Founders to encourage student delegates to consider the exciting path of entrepreneurship

During their visit to IIT Guwahati, an Interaction session with the startup founders were conducted for the student delegates where Prof. Parameswar K Iyer, Officiating Director, encouraged the young participants to be job providers rather than job seekers. Caliche, Primary Healthtech Pvt Ltd and Souvenir stop were a part of this interaction run by very young entrepreneurs. A workshop on Developing Natural Language Processing Tools and Technologies for Languages in North East India was also organized to give a glimpse of how the evolving technologies can be more suitable to restore, translate and communicate the traditional languages of the North East with the rest of the world.

The program culminated with a cultural night where Assamese folk-based dance performances were presented by Angavinoy, a dance school located in Nagaon. The participants from Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka also presented their traditional dances and songs during the program.

During their visit to IIT Guwahati, student delegates from different states received the opportunity to interact and learn not on the Assamese culture but also from each other. This opportunity of bringing the youth from different parts of the county and exchanging ideas achieved the essence of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. The participants took back key learnings and fond memories of Assam and IIT Guwahati.

###