Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is an expedition by the MHRD for the upliftment of the rural areas of our country India, Influenced by the vision of the transformational change in rural development processes by grasping knowledge institutions to help build the architecture of an Inclusive India. The mission of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is to address the development challenges of the rural India through the participatory processes of various National Institutions and appropriate technologies laid with/by them for speeding up of the sustainable growth in the deprived sectors. Using the capabilities of both the private and the public sector, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan aims to serve the rural India through the participation of the Educational Institutes in India followed by the implementation of the latest techniques and technology.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) along with the Ministries of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has made the planning of linking all Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) with rural development processes under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA).

The mission of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is to enable higher educational institutions to work with the people of rural India to help in identifying the challenges in development and applying appropriate solutions.
It also aims to create a virtuous cycle between society and an inclusive academic system by providing knowledge and practices for emerging professions.
It also aims to upgrade the capabilities of both the public and the private sectors in responding to the development needs of rural India.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan - Reasons behind its Establishment

In this regard, a Tripartite Agreement between MHRD, Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Panchayati Raj was also signed on 12 January 2017 as an attempt to bring about substantial improvements in the formulation and delivery of developmental schemes in the rural areas. It is envisaged that representatives of Higher Education Institutions interact with local bodies and community in selected village clusters and provide knowledge inputs into the Gram Panchayat Development Plans.

It is considered that the India as the 21st century is an interesting mosaic of new and old challenges and the opportunities. However, the disconnections in development in education, health, incomes etc. The Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is a step to vanish the disconnection in the development and form a healthy India.
In India, 70% of the population lives in rural areas, engaged in an agrarian economy with agriculture and allied sectors employing 51% of the total workforce but accounting for only 17% of the GDP. Therefore, India can optimally grow potential and claim its place in the world by developing rural areas.
The implication is that rural development needs to be informed by a formal professional knowledge framework encompassing engineering, planning, management and applied social sciences as a holistic design approach.
On the last independence day, the Prime Minister talked about highlighting the need to pull over the talent of the youth and ensuring a better developed rural India which gave the indication of introducing the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

Main Objectives of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

Helps in providing the solutions to the problem of the rural India.
Promote interdisciplinary approach in higher education
Develop over time, research areas which have developmental significance
Promote networking and coordination among various science and technology based voluntary organisations and developmental agencies
To identify the basic developmental and productive needs of a village and find ways and means to meet these needs.
Identify efficient, cost effective and sustainable development practices in the field.
Facilitate convergence of development schemes, resources, various planning and implementation initiatives.

Organisational Structure to implement Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

In order to implement such an ambitious programme nationwide, it is essential to set up a satisfactory structural network with a large number of institutions and a proper device to plan, execute and monitor the activities regularly to be able to create a substantial positive impact. The organisational structure is given below.

UBA Organisational Structure

Participating Institutes of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan facilitates almost ten institutes to participate in Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and the list of the institutes are given in the table below.

IIT	IIM
NIT	CFI
AICTE	ICMR
CSIR	IISER
ICAR	Others

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan - List of Districts

There are 58 districts have been identified by llT, Delhi, the Coordinating Institute. A list of these 58 districts in various States of the country is given below and other important details such as identification, areas to be worked on, planning to implement the ideas etc are also given below. In the list of the districts given below, there are 132 villages identified by the Institutions for more info visit: unnat.iitd.ac.in.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan- List of Villages Unnat Bharat Abhiyan - List of Villages 2

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan - Decisions taken to implement idea

The Unnat Bharat has assessed the ministry to achieve the progress and implement the idea with the decisions which have been taken. The list of the decisions which have been taken by the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan to ensure the concrete action is given below.

Identification: The list of the villages is prepared after identifying every higher educational institution which is funded by the Central/ State Government and all the institutions which are under approval by the regulatory bodies
Areas: Specific emphasis may be given to the following areas:
- Village Sanitation
- Drinking water supply
- Agriculture and allied activities
- Irrigation
- Improving Health etc
Planning: These institutions have to consult the village community through the Panchayat concerned to identifying the pressing problems being faced by the rural communities and find innovative solutions for their resolutions.
Coordination: In order to implement the solution, it is essential that these higher educational institutions work in close conjunction with Centre/ State Government departments covering the areas of Rural development, Panchayat Raj, Power, Drinking Water/ Sanitation etc.
Funding: After coordination, there comes a funding in which funds for the implementation of the innovative solutions should be found within the overall plan funding.
Nodal Officers: Each Institution should designate one of the faculty members as the Nodal Officers who could be trained/ oriented regarding the various aspects of the rural economy. She/ he is expected to lead the UBA effort of the institutions.
UBA Cell: Each participating institution may set up a UBA Cell functioning directly under the supervision of the Head of the Institution. This cell is expected to monitor the progress at the institution level and would address the coordination issues.
State Government: The secretaries in charge of Higher Education/ Technical Education in all State Government may be requested to coordinate the effort at the State level by involving Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, SC/ ST Development, Drinking water, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry etc.
Monitoring: The progress in implementing these plans may be monitored at the Institutions/ District/ State Government level once a quarter. Therefore, the ministry will monitor the progress in preparation of innovative solutions and their implementation regularly.