Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Education, Government of India, inaugurated "UNNATI"

New Delhi: Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Education, Government of India, has inaugurated a two-day "UNNATI" (Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Networking for National Atmanirbhar Technological Intervention) Mahotsav & Expo organised by Unnat Bharat Abhiyan in collaboration with Vijnana Bharti and YOJAK at IIT Delhi on 17th March, 2023.

Appreciating the “UNNATI” Mahotsav and Expo initiative, Dr. Subhas Sarkar, Hon’ble Minister of State for Education, said “Unnat Bharat Abhiyan envisages evolving a system by which the Higher Educational institutes adopt a cluster of villages (panchayats) each and gradually expand the outreach over a period of time. Under the programme, the Higher Learning Institutes will carry out studies of living conditions in adopted villages, assess the technological needs, livelihood generation; infrastructural requirements for a quality life in those areas, and then, utilizing their knowledge, prepare workable action plans for the selected areas that connect in to the NEP2020 vision. Students and faculty members are also benefiting from this program in understanding the real life challenges in our society and providing appropriate technical, social, and management solutions.”

He further praised that today great institutions of learning in India like IITs, NITs, IISc, and Universities are reaching out to the people from rural areas and villages to find solutions to their developmental challenges. He further praised the initiative and motivated the entire team for the good work that has been done under the scheme.

Sh Harsh Chouhan, Chairman, NCST was invited as the keynote speaker. Sh Harsh emphasized on the effective participation of students in the program, he was of the view that youth is the future and it is important that the students understand the ground reality and know our culture, which lies in villages. He emphasized that the UBA has able to bring empathy among students and teacher about rural reality which is important for society and drive solutions with the participation of the community. He emphasized   that our society believe in self-respect and empowering instead of getting free things in charity. Therefore, we should empower our youth and this program is powerful tool in that direction.

Sh Praveen Ramdas, National Secretary, Vijnana Bharti, Prof. Sukumar Mishra, Associate Dean, IIT Delhi and Prof. V K Vijay, National Coordinator, UBA were the key speakers in the inaugural event. Experts, Students, Village Representatives from the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Network participated in the event.

Prof. V.K. Vijay, Professor at IIT Delhi and National Coordinator, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, presented the brief progress of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and explained the concept of UNNATI which focuses on the technology demonstration and the process for technology dissemination. Through UNNATI, the technology presenters will be connected with the experts and solution providers and the commercial viability of the technology/products will be worked through various sessions in the two-day workshop.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, which is a flagship program of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, coordinated by IIT Delhi, envisions a transformation in the rural development processes by leveraging knowledge institutions to help build the architecture of an inclusive India. The program was initiated in the year 2014 and currently has a network of 3471 Higher Education Institutions. The program has 45 Regional Coordinating Institutes, 14 Subject Expert Groups and has presence in 35 States/ UTs.

UNNATI is being organized in the spirit of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India through the demonstration of technologies, which have been identified by the interventions of the Higher Educational Institutions in the adopted villages of Pan India under the scheme Unnat Bharat Abhiyan.

The technologies demonstrated in the workshop is the result of the regional level technology fairs organized by the Regional Coordinating Institutes under the scheme. Over 300 Technologies were submitted for evaluation of the RCI network, out of which 103 technologies were selected to be demonstrated at the National Level by IIT Delhi.

The technologies were identified on the basis of the survey conducted by the Students in the villages, wherein through the survey the problems were identified and the solutions in form of technologies were prepared.

Some of the key the technologies displayed at UNNATI Mahotsav and Expo were Cow urine distillation plant for villagers, AC Motor Powered Tulsi Mala Bead Making Device, Solar Energy for rural villagers etc.

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(Press Release issued on: 17-03-2023)