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Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat


Introduction

India is a unique nation, with twenty-nine states and seven union territories each having its own language, cuisine and culture. A country with such huge diversity in its culture and tradition is also united as one by its national identity. This identity can be traced back to its rich history of rousing freedom struggle, built around the tenets of non-violence and justice. The spirit of mutual understanding and a shared history has enabled a special unity in diversity, which envelops the flame of nationhood that needs to be nourished and cherished into the future.

Advancement in technology has shrunk the distance of time and space, allowing people to connect with each other with a touch of a button. Living in this era that facilitates mobility and outreach, it is important to establish cultural exchanges between people of different regions, as a means to further human bonding and a common approach to nation-building. The idea of a sustained and structured cultural connect between denizens of different regions was mooted by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during the Rashtriya Ekta Divas held on 31st October, 2015, to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. In his view, mutual understanding and trust are the foundations of India's strength and all citizens should feel culturally integrated in all corners of India. So, he propounded that every State and UT in the country would be paired with another State/UT for a year, during which they would carry out a structured engagement with one another in the spheres of language, literature, cuisine, festivals, cultural events, tourism etc., which would bring about a common spirit of understanding that would resonate throughout the country. This interaction would thus generate a vibrance of understanding and appreciation amongst the people and forge mutual bonding, thus securing an enriched value system of unity in the nation.

The broad objectives of the initiative are as follows:

i. To CELEBRATE the Unity in Diversity of our Nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our Country;

ii. To PROMOTE the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all Indian States and Union Territories through a year-long planned engagement between States;

iii. To SHOWCASE the rich heritage and culture, customs and traditions of either State for enabling people to understand and appreciate the diversity that is India, thus fostering a sense of common identity

iv. TO ESTABLISH long-term engagements and,

v. TO CREATE an environment which promotes learning between States by sharing best practices and experiences.

In line with this vision of our Prime Minister, Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Cell has been formed, under which Department of Higher Education, MHRD and AICTE has partnered institutes from two different states to work in unison towards this vision country. Our institute, Vivekanand Education Society’s Institute of Technology, Mumbai, has been partnered with International Management Institute, Bhubaneshwar under this Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme.

To accomplish these objectives of the EBSB program, an EBSB committee was set up in our college with our Principal, Dr. J. M. Nair as the Chief Coordinator and Dr. Geeta Ajit as the Coordinator. The committee also has a faculty from each Department to ensure equal participation from students of all departments. A number of activities has been planned to be conducted under the EBSB programme. The students of both colleges will participate in these activities which will help them to understand the diversity and unity that exists between these two states in India. This programme aims to bring students closer to a united country by understanding the similarity and diversity in the culture and traditions of each state. It endeavours that the essence of 'Ek Bharat' take root within the heart of each student.

A team of students have been selected to be a part of this committee.

Sr. No. Name Division Designation
1. Sivanta Beera D12A Head
2. Pronoy Mandal D16B Deputy Head
3. Yash Bhise D4B Jr. Executive Committee
4. Tanya Dubey D4B Jr. Executive Committee
5. Anuraj Bhosale D12A Member
6. Sartha Tambe D12A Member
7. Sejal Attarde D8 Member
8. Amit Chhabria D7C Member
9. Saurav Jeswani D15 Member
10. Risa Samanta D4B Member
11. Abhishek Singhal D9B Member
12. Krunal Rane MCA 1B Member
13. Vighnesh Joshi D16A Member
14. Viraj Sapte D11A Member
15. Vipul Chodhary MCA 1B Member
16. Jalaj Limaye D20 Member
17. Kritika Pathak D9B Member
18. Manali Ganacharya D8 Member
19. Amogh Sadhu D8 Member
20. Poorva Vichare D8 Member
21. Tania Mahata MCA 1A Member
22. Hemkesh Raina D10 Member
23. Sukanya Bagave MCA 1A Member
24. Prithvi Shetty D13 Member
25. Naren Khatwani D12B Member
26. Abhishek Kaudare D20 Member
27. Purva Ratnaparkhi MCA 1A Member
28. Neeraj Patil D11A Member
29. Rushikesh Vasule D16B Member

The First Event: Maharashtra Odisha Paryavaran Jaagrukta Quiz Competition

The first event held under the EBSB programme, was the Maharashtra Odisha Paryavaran Jaagrukta, a Quiz Competition between VESIT and IMI Bhubaneshwar, on the indigenous flora and fauna of the two states i.e. Maharashtra and Odisha. As the activity was to be held during the Environment week, it was felt that there was no better way for the students to understand their partner state, than to be aware and understand mother nature in its minute form. On 5 June 2020, being World Environment Day, the students from both the institutes exchanged notes about the respective flora and fauna of their state. It was pre decided that the quiz would be based on the notes exchanged. Dr. Geeta Ajit, was the coordinator from VESIT, while Dr. Ranjit Ghatak was the coordinator from IMI. Mrs. Pooja Shetty was the event in-charge while Mrs. Priya R L was in charge of Technical Support. The competition, held on Sunday, on 7 June 2020, at 5:00 pm, was screened live on YouTube using Zoom platform, a first for this institute. The faculty members and students of both the event and the technical team worked for long hours during the whole week to ensure a smooth, flawless coordination of the event. Dr. Sushil Dhuldhar took charge of the publicity.

The event began with a speech by our principal Dr. J. M. Nair introducing this program and stressing its importance. She also pointed out the need to nurture our environment, citing examples of the positive impact on environment following the efforts taken by activists in our city of Mumbai. This was followed by a short speech by Dr. Ranjit Ghatak from IMI. The introductory round was followed by quiz competition which was divided into three rounds. Each team had three participants.C. V. Ananya conducted the first round which involved multiple choice questions. Each team had 15 seconds to answer 7 questions and awarded 10 points for each correct answer. There was no negative marking in this round. Both teams had answered five questions correctly and thus had 50 points each bringing them on par with each other.

In the second round, conducted by Rohan, the teams had to identify the given photograph. Each team had to guess the species shown in the picture. Each picture was accompanied by four clues, with each clue revealed after 20 seconds. The team would be awarded 10 points for answering correctly the first time. However, the points would keep reducing with each clue given. There were no negative marking in this round as well. The IMI team took a lead in this round as they scored 40 points in this round, while team VESIT scored 25 points.

The third round was the rapid-fire round. Each team had to answer Maximum questions within 2 minutes. While the maximum number of questions was ten, there was negative marking in this round, which made it more challenging for the participants. The marking scheme was +10 for each correct answer and -5 for each incorrect response. In this round, Ananya quizzed team IMI while Rohan put forth the questions to team VESIT. Team IMI answered 6 questions and scored 15 points while team VESIT answered all 10 questions and scored 55 points.

With the final round turning to be the game changer, Team VESIT emerged victorious with a total of 130 points with team IMI scoring 105 points. It was an interesting competition with each team giving an exceptional performance.

The Second Event: International Day of Yoga

On 21st June 2020, to celebrate International Day of Yoga, Vivekanand Education Society’s Institute of Technology, Mumbai, went live at 8:00 a.m. with its second event 'Aarogyam Dhansampada' under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme. VESIT, in collaboration with International Management Institute, Bhuvaneshwar and Dr. D.Y. Patil Institute of Technology, Pimpri, Pune, celebrated 'International Day of Yoga' by having a live Yoga session with Yoga Guru Mrs. Pallavi Pawar.

The event was organized and managed by VESIT with active participation from the other two institutes. Dr. Geeta Ajit was the coordinator for the event with Mrs. Nilima Warke, as the in-charge and Dr. Ramesh Solanki as in-charge of Technical Support. The event was hosted on the Zoom App and was streamed live on YouTube. Both the faculty in-charges and all the participants worked round the clock to ensure that the event has a complete smooth run without any glitches, and their efforts did not go in vain. The event, despite the fact that each transmission was from different place in the country, came together as a show united under one umbrella.

Two students from each institute were selected to participate in this program. Dhwani Serai (D7B) and Aditya Moykhede (D5A) from VESIT; Sloka Patel and Snehil Singh from IMI Bhubaneshwar; Sarthak Khedkat and Neha Kishor from D. Y. Patil College of Engineering, Pimpri, Pune.

The live session began with a short college video followed by an introduction to the EBSB program and the International Day of Yoga 2020 program by the host, Prithvi Shetty .

This was followed by a series of addresses- first, Shri. B. L. Boolani, President of Vivekanand Education Society, followed by Prof. Ramesh Bhel, Director of IMI and then by Dr. Kishor Dhande, HOD Mechanical Department, D.Y. Patil Institute of Technology, Pimpri, Pune.

After the introductory round, Prithvi introduced Mrs. Pallavi Pawar, the yoga guru, who is also an alumni of VESIT. Mrs. Pallavi Pawar is an alumnus from the Batch of 1990, Department of Instrumentation Engineering. She worked 22 years in Engineering Consultancies and did many projects in the chemical and petrochemical industry. Her love and interest in Yoga, led her to do her diploma in it first, and later went on to do a three -year B.A. and is now pursuing her M.A. in Yoga. She loves teaching and learning Yoga. Apart from that she also teaches German and English language to students from all age groups.

The one hour long yoga was indeed a pleasure to behold. As the audience was invited to join in the yoga session, the was a humongous positive feedback for this session. Many viewer, both young and old, who had joined with their yoga mats, thoroughly enjoyed this exercise.

Her instructions and her explanations on the benefits of various asanas were very clear and motivating, that many planned to continue to follow it and make it their daily routine. The live session came to an end with a vote of thanks by Dr. J. M. Nair, Principal VESIT.

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