HRD Ministry has taken up several initiatives under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat campaign

New Delhi: The Government of India has launched an initiative Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) to foster national integration by a co‐ordinated mutual engagement process between States, Union Territories, Central Ministries, Educational Institutions and general public through linguistic, literary, cultural, sports, tourism and other forms of people‐to‐people exchanges. The States/Union Territories besides key Central Ministries/Departments viz., Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Railways, Department of Sports and Department of Youth Affairs, in addition to Ministry of Human Resource Development, have formulated monthly Activity Calendars under the programme from mid‐October 2017 to December 2018 covering a gamut of activities in the educational, cultural, geographical, social , tourism, sports, youth‐related activities and sharing of best practices, encompassing a wide range of subjects. There are 16 paired‐States/Union Territories, the details of which are available in www.ekbharat.gov.in. MoUs have been signed between the paired States/Union Territories. The Action Plans are followed up periodically under the EBSB Scheme. From October till date, States/UTs have conducted activities involving mutual interaction between the youth and others from their states. A compendium of cultures, languages, traditions, festivals etc., of all States/Union Territories has been prepared by NCERT named “India: Unity in Cultural Diversity.” A logo for EBSB has also been developed. Several States, Union Territories and educational institutions have commenced conducting various events under the programme with an integrative content relating to their paired States/Union Territories.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh today in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.