Uttar Pradesh, no wonders to behold one of the seven wonders of the world, the charismatic ‘Taj Mahal’, a northern state of India, with a landmass stretching over 240 thousand km sq. with a dynamic population of over 200 million.The state is known for its abundance of natural resources, rich topography, vibrant culture and a subtle spiritual force flowing since ages from the divine ghats of Varansi, Vrundavan, Sarnath.
Owing to its rich cultural heritage of pilgrimage, ‘tourism’ has contributed manifold to state’s GDP. Apart from this, the state is fortunate to possess a stretch of fertile land mass and as such is the leader in the country in a wide spectrum of ‘ agro-produc e and dairy products’ . Pradesh is also one of the leading manufacturer of leather and allied items, owing to higher livestock and is the second largest producer of hydel power and third largest producer of thermal power, in India.
The state believes in private-public partnership model in power sector.The state budget 2019-20, has allocated amount of Rs 2,000 crore (US$ 286.16 million) for ‘Smart City Mission’ and Investor Summit 2018 found the state to foster growth in key areas of its economy, namely, IT & Electronics, Tourism, Agro-processing and Renewable energy. The Information Technology and Start-up Policy, 2016 has aimed at promoting the state as a preferred and attractive location for investments for various IT companies from India and Abroad. Australian Minister and deputy high commissioner, Mr Lachlan Strahan is very positive towards collaborative cooperation between Australia and India in general, Uttar Pradesh in particular in the areas of Education, Small & Medium Scale Enterprise (SMEs) and Agro-processing.
He stressed that, Australia is keen in imparting vocational and allied training, investment partnerships with emerging SMEs and assistance with state-of-the art supply chain logistics to minimize the agro-produce damages that Pradesh faces. Rich in anti-oxidants, a natural detoxifier and a boon to cardiac health, ‘Black Rice’ , is largely
produced in “Chandauli” (Uttar Pradesh) which is planned by the Export development authority and as put into words by the divisional commissioner Mr Deepak Agarwal, to be exported first to Australia and New Zealand.
In fact, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has reported that Australia-India two-way investment flows have doubled in the last five years to reach ₹1.6 lac crores (A$30.7 billion) in 2019.
Words of Australian High Commissioner, Mr Barry O’Farrell is something that observes even a greater and potent tangible trade tie between Australia and Pradesh, in particular and India in general.
He has remarked that “There will be high growth in demand for infrastructure as India (Uttar Pradesh) looks to support its economic recovery, presenting opportunities for Australian investors” Organised by the Australian Government and the National Investment and Infrastructure Funds, a commitment made in June ’19, between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Scott Morrison, which will elevate Australia-India ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, to raise awareness among Australian funds of the opportunities in India’s infrastructure sector with the National Investment and Infrastructure Funds (NIIF).
Experience:
It was journey filled with enriching learning experience, few challenges though but paved a path for imbibing practical skill-sets like time-management skills, team-work, presentation skills, and critical thinking skills. I feel obliged to my university (Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha) Professors and Mentors abroad India, whose kindness allowed me to get a chance to hone my existing skills and add a few others, which will only be boon for the years to come. I also feel fortunate to be part of the 1st batch of 13 student interns who had contributed to the mission of AusInd Bridge Foundation, an institution who strives to drive a collective collaboration of Australia and India in the fields of Trade, Industry, Commerce, Art and Culture, Science & Technological Advancements. The digital internship programme under the flagship of the University Connect Programme of mu university (Sri Sri University, Cuttack Odisha) was launched during the pandemic, COVID-19, with the sheer intention of bringing expertise in Australia and India in interdisciplinary areas of social sciences, management, law, technology and humanities to one
platform where students in both countries can engage with Australian and Indian mentors in these subjects.
This internship includes mentoring from the core and extended team of AIBF and we had experts who were invited from the network of institutions in the industry, government, universities, think tanks, media, and community organisations and in the broad Indian diaspora in Melbourne in particular and Australia in general.
The two months internship which I went through consisted of 100 hours of dedicated work and a minimum 10 hours of work for interns per week where we worked on allocated task-sets. In the beginning it seemed quite challenging, being my first internship of my life; I did not feel connection with the ‘Big-Picture’ and fellow batch mates felt the same. But I must say the kind of guidance and support we have received from mentors and experts, some of them were Professors and friends from my University and across Australia and even other countries, was very inspiring and true-spirited.
We have graduated this week from Sri Sri University, as the first batch of 13 interns and one team lead. And I must say the team lead, being one of my friends from the University, was very kind and professional at the same time, which propelled our tasks without much glitches and errors.
Two months internship program that I went through was fully free of cost. That is there was no payment from the end of the institution, as stipend to the interns and nor did we (student interns) pay for the program to the AusInd Bridge Foundation to get ourselves registered. The only expectation that we were to suffice was to contribute to Australia India bilateral ties in several areas of trade, commerce, industry, literature, art and cultural heritages, science and technological advancements. The AusInd Bridge Foundation stands to foster cross-cultural ties between Indian Sub-continent and Australia. It also intends to contribute to the policy making in Australia and India in all the above sectors (with an initial focus on Business Partnerships, Indian Diaspora, Sports, Health, Yoga & Ayurveda, Indigenous Studies, Science and Technology, Climate Change and Sustainability, Agriculture and the broad Australia-India Relationship through multi stakeholder engagements) .
As student interns of the foundational 1st batch of 13 candidates, we were focused to do the groundwork for the relevant reports and engagement plans with Australian and Indian government agencies, universities and the leaders from business, sports, media and communities.