India is a unique nation, whose fabric has been woven by diverse linguistic, cultural and religious threads, held together into a composite national identity by a rich history of cultural evolution, coupled with a rousing freedom struggle that was built around the tenets of non-violence and justice. The spirit of mutual understanding amidst a shared history has enabled a special unity in diversity, which stands out as a tall flame of nationhood that needs to be nourished and cherished into the future.
The idea of a sustained and structured cultural connect between denizens of different regions was mooted by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during the Rashtriya Ekta Divas held on 31st October, 2015, to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Hon’ble Prime Minister propounded that cultural diversity is a joy that ought to be celebrated through mutual interaction & reciprocity between people of different States and UTs so that a common spirit of understanding resonates throughout the country.

The broad objectives of the initiative are as follows

i. To CELEBRATE the Unity in Diversity of our Nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our Country;

ii. To PROMOTE the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all Indian States and Union Territories through a year-long planned engagement between States;

iii. To SHOWCASE the rich heritage and culture, customs and traditions of either State for enabling people to understand and appreciate the diversity that is India.

iv. TO ESTABLISH long-term engagements and,

v. TO CREATE an environment which promotes learning between States by sharing best practices and experiences.

To take forward EBSB events in IIM Ranchi, this chapter was held on 11^th August, 2018. This edition of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat was organised to celebrate the uniqueness of Karnataka and Uttarakhand. The programme commenced with a welcome speech by Arushi Mittal, Senior Executive Member, Cultural Committee, IIM Ranchi, who conveyed the importance of EBSB initiatives to the gathering. It was followed by a group song performance from Uttarakhand where the song “Bedu Paka” described the nostalgic feelings of married women living in her in-law’s house and reminiscing her childhood days. Then “Nadageethe” declared as the state anthem of Karnataka was presented by students from Karnataka. The next performance in the sequence was another song “Devbhumi Matrabhumi” describing beauty and culture of Uttarakhand and then the event ended with“Baarisu Kannada Dindimava”,the signature poem of Kuvempu on the theme of Kannada pride. The participants to the event were Rashmi Joshi, Megha HM, MR Prajoth, Mahantesh S Goudar&Harshitha MV from Karanataka and Madhuri Jain, Hutanshu Kamal, Prashant Mishra& Raghvendra Pratap Yadavfrom Uttarakhand.

The day ended with a vote of thanks by Pragya Verma, Senior Executive Member, Cultural Committee, IIM Ranchi, to all the participants and the audience present.