June 9 : The Bihar delegation visiting Punjab under Yuva Sangam Phase VI began its six-day programme on 08 June 2026 with visits to three landmark destinations, covering Punjab’s industrial capacity, freedom struggle heritage and ancient civilisational roots. The programme is coordinated by IIT Ropar, the nodal institution for Punjab under the Ministry of Education’s Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat initiative.
The day opened with an industrial visit to Toppan Speciality Films Private Limited at Railmajra, near Rupnagar. Founded in 1990 and originally known as Max Speciality Films, the company is today a subsidiary of the Japan-based Toppan Group and a global supplier of specialty polypropylene-based films used in flexible packaging, bottle labelling and graphic lamination. Its clients include Pepsi, Unilever, Nestle, Marico and ITC. For students of science and engineering, the facility offered a live lesson in advanced polymer manufacturing, sustainable packaging and export-oriented industrial management.
The delegation then visited Khatkar Kalan in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, the ancestral village of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh. The ancestral home, built in 1858 by Bhagat Singh’s great-grandfather Sardar Fateh Singh, was declared a protected monument in 1982 under the Punjab Ancient and Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1964. The village is associated with several patriots including Sardar Kishan Singh, Sardar Ajit Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh and Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh. For young delegates from Bihar, a state with its own deep roots in India’s freedom movement, the visit offered a powerful, lived connection to the shared national struggle.
The day concluded at the Ropar Archaeological Site on the banks of the Sutlej River. Ropar is the first Harappan site excavated in independent India and the northernmost Harappan settlement in the subcontinent with relics of the early Iron Age culture. The Archaeological Museum at Rupnagar, inaugurated in 1998, houses artefacts spanning from the Harappan era to medieval times. The site, located within walking distance of IIT Ropar, gave students a direct encounter with a civilisation over 4,000 years old.
Together, the three visits brought alive the Yuva Sangam themes of Paryatan, Parampara, Pragati and Prodyogiki in a single day, giving the Bihar delegates a layered and immersive introduction to Punjab’s identity and legacy.