Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA)

It was launched in 2014 with the aim to connect institutions of higher education, including Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs) etc. with local communities to address the development challenges through appropriate technologies.

• The objectives of the scheme are broadly two-fold:
  • Building institutional capacity in Institutes of higher education in research & training relevant to the needs of rural India.
  • Provide rural India with professional resource support from institutes of higher education, especially those which have acquired academic excellence in the field of Science, Engineering & Technology and Management.
• In August 2018, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 was launched in which 688 reputed institutions (both private and public) are selected on a Challenge Mode, which have adopted 3555 villages for their development through UBA.
• As of Jan. 2020, more than 2400 institutions have come forward to participate in the initiative.

Challenges

• The coordination between secretariats of institutions and local bodies has been poor due to unawareness amongst institution with regard to further course of action.
• Poor accountability mechanism resulting into ineffectiveness.
• The government must ensure proper accountability measures and ensure that the institutes must have a proper plan on table before proceeding with the programme to counter follies and guarantee effectiveness.