20-Nov-2020: Union Education Minister holds a review meeting on the progress of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Scheme (UBA) through video conferencing
Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ held a review meeting regarding the progress of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Scheme (UBA) through video conferencing here today.
Secretary, Higher Education, Shri Amit Khare; Chairman, National Steering Committee, UBA Dr. Vijay Bhatkar; Chairman, National Subject Expert Group Advisory Committee, UBA Dr. R Chidambaram; Director, IIT Delhi, Prof Ram Gopal Rao, and National Coordinator, UBA Prof V. K. Vijay, were present during the meeting.
In the meeting, Prof V. K. Vijay apprised about the progress made under the scheme so far. He mentioned that under UBA, a network of more than 2600 participating institutions with over 14000 villages are covered. He further mentioned that 4650 village level survey data and 4,75,702 household level survey data is available on the web portal of UBA.
The Minister appreciated IIT Delhi for the progress made under UBA. He said that under the scheme, higher education institutions are connecting with the society and villages, helping the students and faculty to gain practical knowledge and traditional wisdom. The scheme also aims to identify innovative technologies, devise implementation method and enable customisation of technologies for the betterment of people, he added.
Shri Pokhriyal directed to identify three to five core issues common amongst all the villages and few issues based on local conditions and asked the participating institutions to work on these. He emphasized that efforts be made to maximise the number of HEIs under the scheme in order to benefit more villages.
The Minister stressed that UBA should be instrumental in sensitizing the school teachers regarding National Education Policy, 2020.
He highlighted the need for a portal which will serve as an interactive platform for different institutions wherein they can share success stories ad motivate each other. Shri Pokhriyal suggested to carry out a state-wise study and to set targets regarding the parameters under UBA such as improvement in literacy, healthcare among others.
About UBA: Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is inspired by the vision of transformational change in rural development processes by leveraging knowledge institutions to help build the architecture of an Inclusive India. The Mission of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is to enable higher educational institutions to work with the people of rural India in identifying development challenges and evolving appropriate solutions for accelerating sustainable growth.
16-Mar-2020: Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is transforming the living conditions in villages
The main objectives of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) are as under:
- To engage the faculty and students of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in identifying development issues in rural areas and finding sustainable solutions for the same.
- Identify & select existing innovative technologies, enable customisation of technologies, or devise implementation method for innovative solutions, as required by the people.
- To allow HEIs to contribute to devising systems for smooth implementation of various Government programmes.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 is the upgraded version of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 1.0.The scheme is extended to all educational institutes; however under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 Participating institutes are selected based on the fulfillment of certain criteria.
State-wise details regarding participating institutes and adopted villages is available in the website of Unnat Bharat Abhiyanhttps://unnatbharatabhiyan.gov.in/participating_institutes.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is inspired by the vision of transformational change in rural development processes by leveraging knowledge institutions to help build the architecture of an Inclusive India. Currently under the scheme UBA, 13072 villages have been adopted by 2474 Institutes. The technology interventions under the scheme Unnat Bharat Abhiyan has been able to transform the living conditions in villages. The technological interventions under the UBA cover different subjects broadly categorized like in the area of sustainable agriculture; water resource management; artisans, industries and livelihood; basic amenities (infrastructure & services) and rural energy system. With the interventions in the abovementioned areas, various new and old technologies has been developed which have transformed the living conditions in villages and has been beneficial for rural India.
Some technological interventions done under scheme UBA are; i)Mushroom Cultivation done in Gendikata cluster by IIT Delhi; ii) Environment Controlled Automated Green House For High Valued Agro Produce by HVPM College of Engineering and Technology (Amravati); iii) Safe Drinking Water by NIT Manipur and IIT Jodhpur; iv)Paper bag making by BITS Mesra; v)Pattal crockery making by NIT Hamirpur; vi) Cloth Bag making by Fatima College, Madurai; vii) Revamping of Govt. schools in Vrindavan Cluster by IIT Delhi; viii) Improved Pottery Kiln in Farrukh Nagar cluster by IIT Delhi; ix)Thread winding machine for weavers by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, Etcherla; x) Agriculture drone system by Santhiram Engineering College, Nandyal (A.P) etc.
The detailed interventions done under the scheme Unnat Bharat Abhiyan for betterment of rural community can be accessed at https://unnatbharatabhiyan.gov.in/new-uba/uba-sanctioned-projects.
25-Apr-2018: Human Resource Development Ministry Launches Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0
Human Resource Development Ministry launches Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0. Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 is in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision to transform India, in which students from colleges and universities will go to nearby villages to get acquainted with the life of the village people and the problems faced by them in day to day life.
This unique initiative of HRD ministry will serve as real Bharat Darshan for students and it is also an opportunity for them to learn about the basic challenges faced by rural people and to bring out practical solutions for their betterment.
The Minister advised students to involve local village people at every stage of problem identification and solving issues relating to health, cleanliness, waste management, plantation, financial inclusion, women and child development etc. The Ministry will bring out a practical handbook relating to Unnat Bharat Abhiyan.
India had witnessed the migration of rural population in the past, but now the process of sustainable development through the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 will help to reverse this migration. 750 institutions chosen in the first lot have participated in today’s seminar; however, thousands of institutions have offered their willingness to joint this movement. Higher Education Institutions are largely funded by Government and people’s money and their participation in this campaign will be a payback time. The knowledge of Higher Education Institutions should be translated in to field in the social and economic growth of rural people. This is the two ways process, since Higher Education Institutions will also learn from the wisdom of rural people while sharing their knowledge.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, with the intention to enrich Rural India. The knowledge base and resources of the Premier Institutions of the country are to be leveraged to bring in transformational change in rural developmental process. It also aims to create a vibrant relationship between the society and the higher educational institutes, with the latter providing the knowledge and technology support to improve the livelihoods in rural areas and to upgrade the capabilities of both the public and private organisations in the society.
Under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0, the institutions have been selected on a Challenge Mode and the scheme has been extended to 750 reputed Higher Educational Institutes (both public and private) of the country. Also, scope for providing Subject Expert Groups and Regional Coordinating Institutes to handhold and guide the participating institutions has been strengthened. IIT Delhi has been designated to function as the National Coordinating Institute for this programme and the Ministry intends to extend the coverage to all the reputed Higher Educational Institutes, in a phased manner. Each selected institute would adopt a cluster of villages / panchayats and gradually expand the outreach over a period of time.
Institutes through their faculty and students, will carry out studies of living conditions in the adopted villages, assess the local problems and needs, workout the possibilities of leveraging the technological interventions and the need to improve the processes in implementation of various government schemes, prepare workable action plans for the selected villages. Such knowledge inputs would make their way into the development programmes in rural areas. The Institutes would be expected to closely coordinate with the district administration, elected public representatives of panchayat / villages and other stakeholders and will become very much a part of the process of development planning and implementation.
In this process, faculty and students of such institutes would be re-oriented and connected to the rural realities so that their learning and research work also becomes more relevant to the society.