In an effort to promote the ideology of oneness among all the younger generations of the country and national integrity, a cultural exchange programme “SEIL (Student Experience in Inter-State Living) Tour” was flagged-off from Imphal on Monday.
Organised under the initiative of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), as many as 75 students selected from different ethnic groups participated in the tour programme which will conclude on February 20.
Briefing to the media before the flagging-off ceremony, secretary of ABVP Manipur, RK Rabichandra, said altogether 500 students will be participating from the entire Northeast states and they will be sent to different states by forming 16 different teams.
He said, the participants will be getting the opportunity of interacting with different eminent personalities of the state they visit, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides visiting top educational institutes and cultural sites.
He informed that one of the most unique significances is that all the participants will undergo the mammoth task of accommodating in a local host family, where they are treated not as a guest but a member of the family, to create the feeling of home in the state they visited.
In this manner, the participants will be able to create a mindset of having a second home in other states by understanding the diversity of cultures that existed in the other parts of the country, he added.
Informing that the tour programme will also help in eradicating the misconception of negative outlook towards Northeast by the mainland, he elaborated that SEIL was founded in 1965 and the tour programme has been yearly since then.
