The Group of Ministers (GoM) set up to monitor Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat (EBSB) of Government of India held a high- level meeting under the chairmanship of Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, to review the progress of Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat (EBSB) programme.
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Shri Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports (I/C) and Minister of State for Minority Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju and Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (I/C) Shri Prahlad Singh Patel took the review meeting. Secretary, Higher Education and I&B, Shri Amit Khare; Secretary, Sports, Shri Ravi Mittal and Senior officials of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Youth Affairs, Sports Ayush, Defence, Railways, Women and Child Development, MSME, Agriculture and Home Affairs attended the meeting.
A detailed presentation outlining the EBSB activities undertaken by Partner Ministries was made by Secretary, HE, Shri Amit Khare. Briefing the GoM about the implementation of the EBSB so far, Secretary Shri Khare said that all the partner Ministries must take up concerted and coordinated efforts to transform the EBSB programme into a larger Jan Andolan. He informed that six more Ministries viz Ministry of Environment, forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Ayush, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of MSME have been included in the programme
Shri Pokhriyal highlighted that the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has envisaged that EBSB programme will unite the countrymen and promote harmony and bonding. During the “Mann Ki Baat” program on October 25th this year, Prime Minister had appealed to his fellow countrymen to visit the EBSB Website and to upload their local dishes on the recipe corner of the website. The Minister said that the people of this country have shown great interest and actively participated in it, with over 1000 recipes being uploaded on the portal.
Shri Pokhriyal emphasized that the EBSB program should be taken further to celebrate the commemoration of 75th year of country’s independence. In this regard, he requested each partner ministry to provide suggestions and devise an action plan exploring new initiatives that can be taken up under EBSB. He urged participating ministries to identify sub themes under EBSB and prepare a yearly calendar of EBSB events. He added that progress of the EBSB activities organized by the Ministries will be reviewed every three months.
Speaking about New Education Policy, the Minister said that it lays emphasis on learning various languages by involving students in fun activities so that they have better understanding of different languages. Minister said that ‘Aaj ka Vakya’ is a very good initiative that needs to be further strengthened.
Shri Prakash Javadekar emphasized that branding of EBSB must be done to enhance its visibility among the wider public.
Shri Prahlad Singh Patel informed that to promote EBSB, the Ministry has already identified 100 tourism places where educational institutions can explore and study the sites, their history, scientific contributions, traditions and literature to enlighten the students about these areas.
Shri Kiren Rijiju said that Youth National Integration Camp is the powerful tool to foster the spirit of EBSB among youth across the country. He called upon everyone to carry on with the essence and mandate of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat in a pro-active manner.
The major EBSB initiatives taken by the partner Ministries/ Departments:
D/O SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY
- 1.55 crore students participated in activities of EBSB as part of school curriculum.
- EBSB clubs formed in 1,46,766 CBSE and other schools
- Over 8 Crore students participated in Kala Utsav Programme at Bhopal, Band Competitions Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, “Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat Parv” , Matribhasha Diwas, Bhasha Sangam and various cultural exchanges organized before the pandemic
- EBSB themes taken up through online classes, WhatsApp video calls
- Online Video Series on Indigenous Games of India in coordination with Fit India Cell
- Online Quiz and Essay Competition between paired states
D/O HIGHER EDUCATION
- 15 lakh students from higher education participated in activities of EBSB.
- 5 Youth festivals and 16 students exchange programs were organised.
- More than 980 online activities were carried out under EBSB in HEIs.
- 1488 institutions have set up EBSB Clubs, 809 EBSB Days observed
M/O CULTURE
- Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav now called as Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat Mahotsav was organised in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh at a grand level.
- 18 Cultural Events, 11 performance-cum-lecdems, Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav– before Covid
- More than 60 online activities by Zonal Cultural Centres
- ASI compiled information about 22 World Heritage sites, 25 other important monuments, Publication on Monuments of 17 states/ UTs and Digital Content Development for monuments of 16 states / Uts
- 5 Books translated and published in the language of paired state by Sahitya Akademi
M/O TOURISM
- Quiz contest through MyGov – each state /UT being focused for 15 days. 2,27,369 people participated
- Bharat Parv, India Tourism Mart 2019, Imphal
- 61 Dekho Apna Desh webinars organized on various facets of tourism in the country, links on EBSB portal
D/O Sports
- 36 Zonal Championships till March 2020 with the unique concept of fielding paired state teams with participation of around 2250 sportspersons.
- Spreading awareness about Indigenous Games like Shooting Ball, Sqay, Mallakhamb, Tug of War, Kalarippayttu, kho-kho through physical and digital medium.
- 35 Documentaries of fifteen Indigenous games namely Gatka, Rollball, Tug of War, Kalarippayttu, Thang-Ta, Kho Kho, Mallakhamb, Shooting ball, Sqay, Kabbadi, Gilli Danda, Sikkim Archery, Chhau & Paika Akhada, Dhoop & Cowrie Khel and Kushti Akhada made and streamed Live on the social media platforms
- Uploaded on the Digital Repository of the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat website (www.ekbharat.gov.in), broadcast on DD Sports channel
D/O Youth Affairs
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS)
- 69 programmes till March 2020 with 6956 participants
- Over 1 lakh students participated in Online Activities like learning about cuisine, culture, history, tourism etc. of the paired states through YouTube video/ social media platforms
M\O I&B
- Visibility to EBSB through different social media platforms.
- Dekho Apna Desh webinar series of M/o Tourism popularised through media
- DD News – a Weekly 30 minutes program on EBSB theme
- Integrated Communication Programmes and Special Outreach Programmes including exhibitions through Regional Outreach Bureaus.
- Webinars on different themes of EBSB – cultural integration in diversity, traditions and activities, promotion of handicrafts of various states.
M\O DEFENCE
- Translation of over 185 songs in the language of partner state by 22 Sainik Schools – over 3754 students participated
- Exchange of information of traditional and agricultural practices of Karnataka in Regional / Geographical factors, agricultural factors, festivals, dress, food and heritage by SSs at Bijapur, Chittorgarh, East Siang, Gopalganj, Jhansi, Kapurthala, Kalikiri, Kunjpura, Nalanda, Rewari, Satara and Tilaiya; 1,132 students participated
M\O Home Affairs
- Cultural Programmes, Nukkad Nataks, Food Festivals organized by CAPF units like Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) ,Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) , Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Assam Rifles, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Border Security Force (BSF) during Oct’19- Feb’20 in which over 1.12 lakh persons participated
- Central Armed Paramilitary Forces – ITBP, CRPF, CISF and SSB displayed one sentence daily in different Indian languages on their websites for Aaj ka Vakya to promote language learning under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
- Further, in the public schools and Kendriya Vidyalayas functioning from various ITBP camps, more than 50 quiz competitions / blog competitions in various languages were organized giving exposure to alphabets, songs ,proverbs and 100 sentences in different Indian languages.
M/O RAILWAYS
- Process of travel concession to Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat (EBSB) participants simplified. As a special case, the condition of monthly income limit of Rs. 5000/- also exempted for availing concession by the participants of EBSB
