Modi government plans to send Union ministers to universities everyday to interact with students, listen to their views on key national issues.

The proposed ‘One Day, One University’ initiative comes amid rising student activism, including protests over the NEET paper leak in Delhi and elsewhere.Education Minsiter Pralhad Joshi and Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya are coordinating with universities and participating Union ministers.

• Cabinet discusses youth outreach plan:

The sources said the initiative was also discussed at the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

The proposed exercise is mammoth in scale as the University Grants Commission has listed around 1,300 universities across the country. This includes 57 Central Universities, 522 State Universities and the rest are Deemed Universities and Private Institutions.The government’s latest outreach effort comes amid rising tensions between students and authorities over examination-related issues. The political backlash that followed when the Opposition disrupted proceedings of the Monsoon session of Parliament after a police crackdown on protesting students in Delhi on July 20.

The protests also had political fallout, with Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigning on July 25.As the protests intensified, Prime Minister Modi himself has tried to reach out to students through social media on several occasions.

• The spotlight shifts to jobs, skills and opportunities:

The government has also sought to place youth-oriented policies at the center of its broader outreach. In his Independence Day address, Modi announced several initiatives for the youth of India, including free online coaching, an AI skilling program, a sports talent hunt and an expansion of the civil defense network.

He also cited opportunities for young people in emerging and strategic areas such as manufacturing, space, nuclear energy and semiconductor production.

The proposed university outreach program would provide a direct platform for ministers to communicate these initiatives and for the government to collect feedback from students across campuses.

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