Under the “Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat” initiative of the Union Government, the southernmost state of Tamil Nadu is paired with the northernmost Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A series of activities are going on as part of the national programme aimed at fostering national integrity and brotherhood. Tamil Nadu is paired with Jammu and Kashmir under the programme. As part of it, 46 youths from Jammu and Kashmir are currently touring Chennai, Puducherry and Kanyakumari.

Our correspondent reports that under the unique programme “Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat” initiative, the group of forty-six youth from Jammu and Kashmir spent a day as guests in the houses of their hosts in Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts. They cooked the traditional meals of the two states together and learnt a few sentences from their languages of Tamil and Kashmiri and Urdu. The youth coordinator of the Nehru Yuva Kendra in Chennai Mr Sampath Kumar said the visiting youth were excited to have such a new experience and their hosts also expressed happiness over learning from their guests about their customs and practices. The youth later visited Mamallapuram where they saw the world-famous heritage monuments like the stone-carved Pancha Ratha’s. Afterwards, they went to Puducherry and are scheduled to visit Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari.

In short, the journey of the youth under the “Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat” programme is a mutual learning experience, besides developing the bond of brotherhood and the sense of belongingness to each other.