IIT Gandhinagar begins cultural exchange programme 'Yuva Sangam'

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) begins 'Yuva Sangam', an exposure visit for the youth of Gujarat and Assam in culture, art, life, and landmarks.

Under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' (EBSB) programme, this initiative aims to build empathy between the youth of north-eastern states and the rest of India. As a part of the Yuva Sangam programme, 18 students and off-campus youngsters from Gujarat will be departing to visit Assam for one week while 53 students and off-campus youngsters from Gujarat will be visiting Assam.

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The students and off-campus youngsters, including 11 males and 7 females, plus their accompanying officers from Assam, will be visiting different places in Gujarat between February 24 and March 02, 2023. The students will be getting exposure in five dimensions- paryatan (tourism), parampara (traditions), pragati (development), prodyogiki (technology), and paraspar sampark (people-to-people connect).

The students will be visiting NIT Surat, Modhera Sun Temple, and Rani ki Vav, Sabarmati Ashram and Riverfront, among other spots. They will also get a first-hand experience of living among students of various cultural diversity at IITGN and NIT Surat campuses and engage in different activities with them.

As the nodal institute of the event in Gujarat, IITGN has also facilitated the selection of 27 males and 26 females, from various districts of Gujarat. These students will be hosted by IIT Guwahati.

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Terming the programme as a unique learning opportunity, IITProf Rajat Moona, Director, IITGN, said, “Yuva Sangam is a very interesting programme to bring together people from various parts of the country so that they can learn from each other’s culture, traditions, development, technology, and so on. When Mahatma Gandhiji came back from South Africa for the first time, he travelled throughout India to understand the country, its people, their culture, and problems and connect with them because there were very limited means of connectivity at that time. Today you all have embarked on a similar kind of journey, and we are fortunate that the means of connectivity have improved drastically across the country. We are sure you will have a very good time.”

Sharing his thoughts upon coming to Gujarat and IIT Gandhinagar, Supratim Deb, a student from Silchar, studying BA in Journalism and Mass Communication, said, “I have come to Gujarat for the first time, and I am very hopeful that this tour will help me in academic as well as personal development. I have already met many new people and am going to meet many more and learn from their experiences and wisdom. I am also keen to know about the culture, food, and music of Gujarat and excited to see the Statue of Unity.”