NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi’s dream initiative ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat (One India, Great India)’ aiming at bridging the cultural gap and enhancing interaction between people of different states has been taken away from the Mahesh Sharma led-Culture Ministry and handed over to the Prakash Javadekar led-Human Resource Development Ministry for better implementation.
In the backdrop of a raging debate over the rise in acts of intolerance last year, PM Narendra Modi had said in his monthly Mann ki Baat progamme that he wants to give “Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat the shape of a scheme with a view to connect people. The Union Ministry of Culture was told to chalk out a comprehensive plan and the Niti Aayog was told to help the ministry.
Now, after a year of the proposal, the implementation of the initiative has been given to the union HRD ministry. “As part of the programme, memorandums of understanding (MoUs) have been signed between some states,” a senior ministry of culture official said. The official added that the programme is in the implementation stage and the HRD ministry is better equipped to handle it.
“The main purpose is proper implementation of the initiative and the education department has a lot to do in successfully implementing the progamme.
In that sense, the HRD ministry has adequate infrastructure even at the district level,” said the official.
The official said that in April, the ministry of culture had organised a workshop in which cultural mapping of the country was presented by senior officials. Officers from various state and government organisations shared their views and measures taken by the respective departments to promote culture and also expressed their thoughts in the perspective of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, added the official.
However, after almost a year, the government realised that even as the programme is for enhancement of cultural values by connecting different region of the country, the Union HRD ministry has more resources at the grassroots level to take it further.
The official added that the idea is to connect two states each year. Suppose Haryana decides to connect with Tamil Nadu for 2016, then students in Haryana schools will be taught at least 100 sentences of Tamil language. They will be taught one song in Tamil. There can be food festival, tours of people of Haryana to Tamil Nadu and vice versa. In 2017, Haryana would connect with another state and so on. This will bring about an understanding about India’s unity and diversity, the official added.