SHILLONG, March 12: A delegation of 40 youths from Meghalaya accompanied by five staff of the Northeastern Hill University (NEHU) is currently in Uttar Pradesh as part of the intercultural exchange tour to UP, which is under way in full swing.
After their arrival at the Lucknow Railway station, the team was received emphatically by the Yuva Sangam team of Uttar Pradesh represented by the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow and the IRCTC team.
The same day the youth of Meghalaya visited the Raj Bhavan of Uttar Pradesh and had an interaction with the Principal Secretary of the Governor, Kalpana Awasthi, who explained to the students the working of the secretariat of the Raj Bhavan. The students on their part shared about the culture and heritage of the state of Meghalaya with the staff of the Governor House of UP.
After the interaction, the youths were given a tour of the Raj Bhavan compound. The youth were then taken to the famous Bada Imambara of Lucknow.
The second day saw the students visit the CSIR – Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants and Kukrail Reserve Forest for an educational tour. The students learnt about various medicinal plants and their uses which are also found in the north-eastern region of the country. They also visited the captive breeding and conservation centre for freshwater gharials and the turtles in the Kukrail Reserve Forest which are endangered animals in the IUCN list.
The students were enthralled by the scientific and environmental research being done in the CSIR lab and the captive breeding centre of the Kukrail Reserve Forest.
It may be mentioned that the Yuva Sangam Intercultural Exchange is the pilot programme under the aegis of the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Mission started by the Ministry of Education.