Analysis Of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat 2015: Fostering National Integration Through Cultural Exchange

Policy Update

Gauri Khanna

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, which implies “One India, Best India,” is an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 31, 2015. The Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB) initiative was launched on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary to honour his crucial role in integrating India. He helped bring together over 562 princely states into one nation. EBSB aims to promote cultural exchange and national unity.EBSB promotes cultural exchanges, language learning, and shared celebrations to strengthen the national identity. The initiative was officially launched on October 31, 2016, showcasing the strong support of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

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Source – Canva

Objectives

To celebrate Unity in Diversity, strengthen emotional bonds between citizens of the nation.

To promote National Integration and engage all Indian States and Union Territories through planned year-long activities.

To Showcase Heritage and Culture, highlight each state’s diverse customs.

To create an environment that promotes learning between States by sharing best practices and experiences

Institutional Framework and Implementation

The Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat program establishes a structured engagement model connecting States and Union Territories to enhance collaboration. In 2016-17, when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget, he mentioned that EBSB pairs States and Union territories annually to foster interactions in areas like language, trade, culture, travel, and tourism. Through regular exchanges focused on cuisine, literature, and festivals, the programme promotes knowledge sharing and mutual learning among stakeholders, enabling them to adopt best practices from each other.

Partnership of States -The Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat initiative pairs all States and Union Territories of India to promote cultural integration. Current pairings include Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh with Tamil Nadu; Punjab with Andhra Pradesh; and Himachal Pradesh with Kerala, among others. This approach encourages a vibrant exchange of cultural, educational, and social experiences nationwide.

Inter-Ministerial Collaboration under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat – Many ministries participated in the initiative of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat and took part in the following activities and programs, and campaigns :

Ministry of Railways – The train coaches were decorated for different EBSB programs, including the launch of the Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train.. This train offered a specially curated itinerary that highlighted the cultural ties of different states along the route, based on the concept of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat (EBSB).

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Department- Under this ministry, unit-level webinars focused on topics such as history, culture, language learning, Places of historical Importance, etc. The average monthly participation reached about 1,000 NSS volunteers and Programme Officers.

Ministry of Culture – The Ministry of Culture conducts about 15 monthly activities like folk dances, regional painting, workshops, organised by zonal cultural centres created by the Ministry of Culture.

Department of School and Education– Schools conducted at least three to four different activities in a year as suggested under ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ Programme during the year by infusing them in regular activities of the school. To create an annual action plan for the effective implementation of the programme. Schools must ensure the inclusion of EBSB activities in the annual academic calendar of the school by linking each activity to a life skill.

Alignment of EBSB with National Education Policy 2020- Paragraph 4.16 of the National Education Policy states that every student will be involved in the activity, the Languages of India, under this program. Students will be exposed to the classic languages of India and their phonetics, grammar structure, origin, scripts, vocabulary, etc. They will be acquainted with the languages which tribal people speak and learn to speak a few lines in that language.

Establish EBSB Clubs- All schools of all States/Union territories/ were ordered to establish EBSB Clubs in each middle/secondary/senior secondary school in the State. The main purpose behind the establishment of the EBSB Club was to promote the language and culture of the paired State/UT through the conduct of various activities listed in guidelines released by the government.

Department of Higher Education- Students exchange programs, an online quiz related to EBSB, Celebration of EBSB day were done. The nodal department of this programme took many innovative decisions to achieve the goals of the programme.

Source- EBSB Website

Major Initiatives under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat

Bhasha Sangam Application- Ministry of Education, in collaboration with MyGov, has created a language application which has more than 100 sentences of everyday use in 22 official Indian languages. Sentences have been designed in a way that allows people to learn basic conversation in any official languages of India. The application has three lakh downloads on the Play Store. To promote the application, a selfie campaign was launched for three months. In this campaign, people were required to participate in Bhasha Sangam and share a selfie with the certificate. The campaign received a great response.

Revamping of EBSB Portal– The EBSB portal (https://ekbharat.gov.in/) was revamped with an attractive user interface in Apr ‘2020, where the participating ministries and departments could share the activities conducted by them. After this revamping, active participation of 51.61 crore people can be accessed from the ‘Activities Completed’ section. Various initiatives launched under the EBSB Press Releases, EBSB News Corner, and Upcoming Activities are regularly hosted on the website. The reconstruction of the EBSB Portal has recorded a positive response of 80 lakhs as of April 2024.

Kashi Tamil Sangamam- This initiative, launched under EBSB, has three phases in the first edition. Over 2500 people from Tamil Nadu came to Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya on 8 tours, during which they uncovered different aspects of life. In the phase two of Kashi Tamil Sangamam, IIT Madras launched the Registration Portal; Calls for application from people of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and almost 1400 people travelled to Varanasi for academic exchange like workshops, conference, seminars and a visit to the historical sites of Uttar Pradesh. During an inaugural session at the Namo Ghat, the Speech given by the Honourable Prime Minister was translated directly into Tamil through the Bhashini Public Address System.
Yuva Sangam- Another pivotal initiative launched under the EBSB was Yuva Sangam. Since India has a great youth dividend, to channelise their energy towards a positive path, Yuva Sangam came into the picture. The main aim of the Yuva Sangam was to instil the value of sensitivity and empathy among the youth of different States. More than 4000 youth delegates participated in the tours. Till now, four phases of Yuva Sangam have been completed. During Phase I, 1178 students and youth delegates participated in educational tours covering over 21 states.

Source- EBSB WEBSITE

Alignment of EBSB with the Indian Constitution and Guiding Principles

In the preamble, it is written that India is to be a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic and promises justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity to all citizens. Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat fosters fraternity by encouraging people to understand and respect each other’s languages, traditions, and ways of life. According to Article 51a (e) and (f), it outlines “To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood among all the people of India, transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities” and “to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture”.

India’s quasi-federal structure balances the recognition of regional identities with the need for national unity. Similarly, Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat also talks about the principle of cooperative federalism through its state-pairing mode. Our constitution also includes Cultural and Linguistic Rights (29 and 30), which protect minorities and linguistic groups, likewise, EBSB supports these rights by facilitating cultural exposure, thereby reducing prejudices and ignorance.

Challenges Faced by EBSB

As per many reports, teachers are burdened with syllabi, paper checking, administrative duties and more. The EBSB activities become an add-on task for teachers. Many times, due to a paucity of time in schools, they hurriedly conduct activities, merely for documentation. This may impact the essence of the initiative. The lack of resources is another barrier, as the submission of the activities to be done digitally might affect institutions living in remote areas. The activities to be conducted should be based on experiential learning rather than based on conventional project-oriented learning.

Suggested Policy Interventions

The government can motivate and empower local artisans, especially from remote areas, to set up a stall in crafts melas like the Surajkund Mela. They can be given aid to set up a stall. This will reap benefits like: traditional crafts will be protected, and the marginalised section will feel included. The government can be watchful of the interstate partnership and review their performance daily, so that they are working daily on EBSB. The government can integrate AI experts to achieve better results and provide incentives, not necessarily monetary, to people who excel in participating in EBSB.

Way Forward

In December 2024 Honourable Prime Minister gave a speech in which he laid out eleven resolutions which will help in achieving the goal of “Viksit Bharat”. One of the resolutions laid out by him is EK Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. The third edition of Kashi Tamil Sangamam was inaugurated in February. This year, the Sangamam is also being integrated with the grand Maha Kumbh celebrations, and to foster national integration. Similarly, Yuva Sangam Phase V was launched in October 2024. The Yuva Sangam Phase-V focuses on conducting exposure tours of the youths, mainly of students studying in college across the nation, to various States of India, which will build life skills, critical thinking, scientific temper and sensitivity towards different cultures.

Conclusion

Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat is aligned with many initiatives of the government and fosters India’s rich diversity, aiming to uphold India’s reputation as a “Salad Bowl” of multiculturalism. This initiative will bring prosperity in all the domains, be it culture, job, academia, etc. It fosters ideas like Religious Pluralism, Unity in Diversity.