In the wake of Independence, mindful of its millennia-old and glorious traditions, the entire nation was yearning to reshape Bharat into a modern and developed country, rid of all circumstantial and temporal deficiencies. To accomplish this dream and to steer the nation towards the path of culturally rooted prosperity, several youths initiated a country-wide movement centred around activities on college and university campuses. An open national forum representing these assorted pursuits was constituted, formalised and registered on 9 July 1949 as Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). The attainment of Independence was accompanied by the challenge of securing holistic and inclusive development. The lengthy and extensive colonisation of Bharat had reduced the genius and ingenuity of its people to a mire. Under such circumstances, drawing inspiration from the world’s oldest civilisation and its sublime culture, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad was founded as a student organisation with the aim of rebuilding Bharat into a formidable, flourishing and self-assured nation, poised to regain her place as a leading power dedicated to global welfare. With a view to working within the broader framework of national reconstruction, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad began to function across all segments of the society as a student organisation. With its inherent faith in the collective strength of the academic community, impartial outlook and strong advocacy of national perspective among the student fraternity, ABVP has been a seamless conduit for the creative participation of students in nation-building. That is why for the past many years, ABVP has been organising all of its programmes, agitations, demands and creative endeavours on those very lines. Although there may be countless undertakings with diverse objectives across the country, nevertheless, ABVP commemorated 60 years of its organisational achievements in 2009 by issuing a title captioned “Ek Andolan Desh Ke Liye” [A moment for the Nation] and to mark 75 years of its organisational journey, it got published a two-volume memorial titled “Dhyeya Yatra”. A continuously evolving global system, rapidly changing technology, pandemics, climate change and sporadic outbursts of violence have made extensive impact on humanity today. In such fluid times, an ascendant India with a leading role in the global economy, health, technology, education and infrastructure has put in place a new paradigm of global welfare underlaid by imitable values of sacrifice, service and succour. The benign rise of India is illuminated by its exhortations on the need for harmonious co-existence for nurturing humanity. At a time when several countries across the globe are optimistic about India’s demographic dividend, ABVP is ushering a major segment of the youth in a positive direction and preparing them for leadership roles in the times to come. After the announcement of the National Education Policy 2020, the education sector is on course to meet the needs of the twenty-first century. As an important stakeholder in the education sector, ABVP has become the voice of students and has given collective expression to their aspirations, demands and grievances by undertaking among other things, educational surveys, meetings, agitations for the revision of syllabi and organizing training workshops for skilling, re-skilling and upskilling of students across the country. In its “Vichar Baithak” (Vision Conclave) held at Srirangam (Trichy), ABVP suggested the adoption of “Happy and Meaningful Student Life” as a lifestyle template. In its National Conference in 1971, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, describing its mantle, held, "Students are not just citizens of tomorrow but also today.” Students are both a vital constituent of the academic fraternity as well as responsible citizens of the country. While cautioning everyone against viewing students’ power as a ‘nuisance power’, ABVP asserted, ‘Students’ Power is Nation's Power’. Further, ABVP denounced the smothering of students’ voices and made a case for their thoughtful accommodation. As a class of independent and selfless change-makers, enlightened student folk collectively personify national power. The student community should play a pioneering role in expediting transformative changes through education, service and innovation. ABVP is confident that while carrying out their nation-building duties with due conviction, the student community will also ungrudgingly accost the terrible troika of treason, corruption and subversion. ABVP has spared no effort in campaigning for comprehensive educational reforms. ABVP believes that an unbiased understanding of our prideful past is essential for the new generation to foster a spirit of kinship and cooperation for sculpting India into a modern, competitive and uniquely positioned civilisational state. It is vital to ensure that education does not blinker the learners so that they become singularly career-minded but also instil social and national consciousness in their persons thereby giving currency to the canon of ‘Education for Life and Life for the Country’. ABVP prides itself on giving the country an organisation forged through grim persistence. In the same way, as it had motivated the youth across the older generations, ABVP will decisively continue to inspire and provide nation-building avenues to the forthcoming generations. The wide spectrum of ABVP’s activities includes among other things, agitating against the growing commercialisation of education, spreading awareness on issues of Bangladeshi infiltration, terrorism, Maoist violence, separatism in Jammu Kashmir and elsewhere and mobilising the student community on such issues. In addition to promoting campus-centric activities for bringing out the diverse hidden talents of students, ABVP also organises sporting events, literary and theatre contests and conferences like “Career Guidance", "Pratibha Sangam”, “Personality Development Programmes” and undertakes community-service initiatives through its college-based units. While “Savishkar” is at the forefront of promoting a culture of innovation and startup on campuses, technological events like “Dipex", “Srijan" and “Srishti” among others are organised for engineering students and events by MeDevision, Jignasa and AgriVision are organised for students of Ayurveda, traditional Indian medicines, and agricultural streams. While 'Think India' organises conferences and summits for students of national educational institutes, similar activities are undertaken by other cognate bodies in eminent private educational institutions of higher learning. ABVP is also fighting to ensure timely disbursal of scholarships and provision of adequate hostel accommodation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students; organising bi-directional integration tours under ‘Students' Experience in Inter-State Living’ (SEIL) for students from the North-East Bharat travelling to other parts of Bharat and vice versa, to further the goal of national and emotional integration as well as running 'Yuva Vikas Kendra' under SEIL, in Guwahati, to provide new employment avenues to students from the North-East. Participating in relief activities in the wake of earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural calamities; undertaking environmental protection programmes like tree-plantation drives and plastic ban campaigns among other grassroots developmental activities; organising blood donation camps; conducting different surveys in backward areas, actively involving students through action-oriented service initiatives like 'Shramanubhav Shibhir’, denouncing all forms of social discrimination and spreading the message of social harmony and equity are some of the pursuits led by ABVP aimed at touching and impacting the lives of sizeable sections of the society. Activities namely Students for Seva (SFS) and Students for Development (SFD) have become popular avenues for the effective participation of driven youngsters in community and environment-related activities. “Basti Ki Pathshala”, “Mission Arogya”, and country-wide community-service initiatives during the CoViD induced lockdown are some of the widely acknowledged projects undertaken by ABVP. Popularisation of traditional Indian games as well as undertaking fitness awareness campaigns under the banner of “Khelo Bharat” is an ongoing endeavour of ABVP. Nation-wide “Mission Sahasi” Camps organised by ABVP have successfully trained lakhs of female students in self-defence. Innovative cognate bodies of ABVP like “PharmaVision”, “SHODH”, “INDGenius” and “Rashtriya Kala Manch” are providing students with interest-based Indic platforms for their personal and professional development. World Organisation of Students' and Youth - WOSY- “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" [The World is a Family]-The wonderful concept of considering the world as one big family is an outcome of the spiritual philosophy of India and which formed the ideological basis for establishing the World Organisation of Students and Youth (WOSY) in 1985 at Delhi. By integrating itself with the newly-formed organisation, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has been contributing towards strengthening of WOSY since its inception. Thousands of foreign students from various countries studying in Bharat have been regularly participating in Deepawali, Holi or Navroz Milan and other cultural and sports events, as well as partaking in international conferences and seminars with an open and inquisitive mind. World Organisation of Students and Youth is becoming an active international youth platform aiding the development of international consensus, cooperation and goodwill through dialogue amongst nations on issues facing the world community.
