The Indian Government’s Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), on Sunday, 12 April 2020 launched a web-portal 'YUKTI' -- Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation. Launching the YUKTI portal in New Delhi, the Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said that the portal is to “monitor and record the efforts and initiatives of MHRD which have been taken in the wake of coronavirus outbreak” and that the “portal intends to cover the different dimensions of COVID-19 challenges in a very holistic and comprehensive way". He added that the primary aim of the portal “is to keep our academic community healthy, both physically & mentally and to enable a continuous high-quality learning environment for learners”[1]
YUKTI is devised to monitor and facilitate the various initiatives and efforts of the academic and research oriented institutions during these trying times. The significant aspects of the portal that invite our attention are highlighted below:
- Tracking and supplementing the institutions in their COVID-19 related measures and social initiatives for the betterment of the total well-being of the students.
- Cover both qualitative and quantitative parameters for the effective delivery of services to the academic community at large.
- Create a common platform for multiple institutions to share their strategies for various challenges to tackle COVID-19 and other future initiatives.
- As this is an unprecedented situation, the portal will allow various institutions to provide suggestions for enabling MHRD to effectively monitor its activities for the coming six months.
- Furnish the scope for establishing a two-way communication channel between the MHRD and the institutions in the country to establish a strong network to deliver the necessary support system to the institutions.
- Deliver appropriate support in critical issues related to student promotion policies, placements related challenges, and the physical and mental well-being of students.
In a time as this, wherein the educational fraternity and the government are stranded amidst the tides of adversity, YUKTI is a promising beam of light for braving the odds and setting the course. The portal strives to be a common repository for the Government and the academic/research institutions to pool all theirpostulates, efforts, and inferences related to COVID-19. We strongly hope that this, in turn, would be a knowledge resource that would collectively enable the stakeholders to successfully overcome the siege.
Reference:
1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1613569