Under the aegis of ‘Ek Bharat Shresht Bharat’ of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), the universities of Odisha and Maharashtra are set to begin a cultural exchange program to instill the sense of India as one nation amongst the students.
As part of the programme, thirteen universities from Odisha have been tagged for exchange programmes with thirteen counterparts from Maharashtra. They will interact and coordinate on the schedule of events. The programme will continue until March 2020, sources have revealed.
As per the initial list prepared, Savitribhai Phule University, Pune, has been paired with Utkal University, while Dr. Balasaheb Ambedkar Marathawada University from Aurangabad will have a cultural exchange programme with Sambalpur University. Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj University, Nagpur, has been paired with Ravenshaw University. Similarly, Kavi Kulguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Nagpur, is tagged with Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Mumbai University with Fakir Mohan University, North Maharashtra university with North Orissa University, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technical University with BPUT, and Shivaji University, Kolhapur with VSSUT, Burla, among others.
To make students cherish the idea of ‘One India’, the MHRD has also directed the states and union territories to celebrate the different heterogeneous cultural units, with the exchange of dance, music, festivals, paintings, sports, history, and others.