UNNAT BHARAT ABHIYAN as a flagship program was initiated by the Government of India on 11 th November 2014. The aim of this program is to promote rural development by connecting higher education institutions with rural communities and to achieve multidimensional and sustainable development.
The National Education Policy (NEP) has introduced a transformative framework for higher education in the country. NEP 2020 emphasises community engagement and integrates the same with the social responsibility of higher education institutions. The community engagement programs enable the applicability of academic knowledge and expertise in the field realities and also enhances the teaching learning process for teachers and students of higher education institutions. UBA promotes deeper interactions between higher education institutions and local communities for the identification and resolution of real-life problems faced by local communities in a spirit of mutual benefit.
Under this initiative participating colleges and universities adopt villages and work on various developmental projects to improve the quality of life in rural areas. The program focuses on areas such as health care, education, infrastructure development and sustainable agriculture practices to create a more inclusive and prosperous rural India. Maitreyi College is an active participant of the MHRD project of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan inspired by the vision of transformational change in rural development processes through collaborative efforts of educational institutions.
Maitreyi College has a well structured and dedicated UBA cell that consists of a group of teachers and students from various departments. Dr. Anamika Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany is the Project Coordinator. The college has adopted five villages of Gautham Budh Nagar, Jewar Bagar, Bhabhokara, Maangraoli, Thora and Melwa Gopalgarh with the objective of contributing towards the economic and social betterment of these villages. Household surveys and village surveys in these five villages have been undertaken by the UBA cell of the college and the data for the same is successfully uploaded on the UBA portal. On the basis of extensive field survey of the said five villages few areas for improvement like ground water level, disease outbreaks due to over pesticide usage and farming related issues have been identified by the college team. The village level surveys aim at collecting primary and secondary data based on which the issues concerning the respective villages would be further taken up to an in-depth analysis. On the basis of the identified problems in these villages the college team is also working to solve these issues.