Community Engagement

Lakshmibai College, University of Delhi

Community Engagement and Social Responsibility Initiatives

Introduction:

The college is passionately working on various projects to establish community engagement as its institutional practice and to fulfill its social responsibility towards the larger society. The programme that the college is trying to get itself register in is Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, an initiative by government of India. However there are two other programmes with which college is already associated. These programmes are Nadi ko Jano Abhiyan which is an initiative by Ministry of Education to manage water resources and to collect real time data about rivers. The other programme is Yamuna Mission which is a self organised initiative led by Harit Yamuna Mission Foundation to recover Yamuna river bed and to manage issues of environmental protection and sustainability.

Our Initiatives:

1)      Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

It is an initiative by Government of India to bring transformational changes in rural development and to create a synergy between higher educational institutions and villages of India. Deriving inspiration from Gandhi ji’ s “Hind Swaraj” and notion of “Village Republic”, our college has developed a village model “Gokul” in the college premises to familiarise students with the self sufficiency aspect of our villages.

Under UBA, college would try to bring forth the idea of community engagement among its students. Community engagement is also one of the thrust area in ‘New Education Policy’ where pathways are created to channelised professional expertise of higher educational institutions back into rural sector. UBA will also provide avenues to the college to encourage sensitivity, creativity and promote new modes of learning among students. Through UBA, college would aim to generate an inclusive academic environment. With focus on field based learning practices, capacity building initiatives and a dialogic mode of learning; the college would aim to create a new interface between the larger society and the academic community.

To get itself registered under UBA, our college has already taken few steps. The college team consisting Principal, faculty and students, visited five cluster villages in northwest district, Delhi. The team was accompanied by tehsildar, patwari and Kanungo from Kanjhawala division, northwest district. During the visit, the team had interaction with the villagers in village chaupals. A brief profile of all the villages was prepared to showcase their strengths and weaknesses. This profile would enable the college team to strike out areas where they can work upon. The college is committed to get itself register under UBA and to begin to fulfill its institutional responsibility towards the larger society. 

2) Yamuna Mission

It is a self-organised initiative led by ‘Harit Yamuna Mission Foundation’ and its founder Shr. Pradeep Bansal. They work for the purification of Yamuna river and its ecological system. The organisation, with its mass participation is in the process of recovering Yamuna river bed which was earlier used as a waste land to dump garbage. They are working on turning it into a clean and green space, along with tackling the issues of environmental protection and sustainable development practices. To take this mission ahead, the college organised one day field trip to Vrindavan (one of the sites where Yamuna Mission is active). The empirical field visit facilitated immense amount of familiarisation to students. They were able to observe themselves several activities that the foundation was practicing to achieve its goal.

During their visit students also took an oath to fulfil their responsibility towards nature by keeping the water bodies clean, learning ways to recharge ground water and learning about efficient ways to manage waste and water resources. They also participated in plantation drive where in small groups, students along with faculty from the college planted tress on Yamuna river bed. This was followed by an interactive session with the founder where students got to learnt about the difference a single person’s intention can bring to the society. He addressed the students and made them believe that if one is determined to bring change it is very much possible.

3) Nadi ko Jano Abhiyan

Nadi ko Jano Abhiyan” is an initiative that was started by honourable Education Minister Shr. Dharmendra Pradhan on 25 July 2021 on the auspicious occasion of Vyas Puja under the aegis of Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal. The Abhiyan aims to collect information about rivers across India and create a database and awareness on Indian rivers. Lakshmibai college welcomed this campaign in a very positive manner. To take this initiative ahead with a high spirit, 3653 students from the college were registered under this programme. To educate students about the initiative, an interactive session was organised where they were guided about the rules as well as term and condition of their participation in the event. To sensitise students further about the important goals of this initiative, a webinar was also organised on 29th January 2022.

With these initiatives, the college has began its journey to fulfill its responsibility towards the larger society and environment. However this is just the begging and we will strive hard to be part of many more such ventures in the near future.

Activities Undertaken - View