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NEW DELHI: The special train for Delhi University students on a unique India experience will start its journey on July 8, 2012 from Delhi. The 'Gyanodaya Express - An Educational Train Journey' for 1,000 National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Cadet Corps (NCC) girl, will take the students on a guided tour of five destinations across the country.These 1,000 girls will be the first batch of students to embark on the maiden expedition of 'Gyanodaya', a 12-day train journey to have a first-hand experience of their country, culture and its success. The first stop will be at Ahmedabad where the students will visit Sabarmati Ashram, Akshardham Temple and Gujrat Vidyapeeth. After spending nearly 36 hours in Ahmedabad the student will proceed to Mumbai, followed by Madgaon in Goa. The students then will go to Bangalore and visit Indian Space Research Organisation and Science Museum followed by a visit to Mysore. The final stopover will be at Wardha/ Nagpur.Vice-chancellor of DU, Dinesh Singh, while announcing the initiatives earlier said that a train journey can be a great educational trip for students from all streams."The students will learn to measure the speed of the train while travelling without use of a speedometer, will know about railway engineering, can experience the countryside as they criss-cross through various states and get to know the lives of ordinary people as they pass through railway platforms in different regions. The students will also get to know the history of the country and Gandhian values," explained Singh.

Though ample time has been set aside of sightseeing and shopping, it is definitely now a leisure trip. The students will have to attend an orientation session before the journey and they will be provided with study materials with instructions of what is expected of them during and after the journey. The students are expected to read all the books given to them and observe the compartment design of the train, food habits and other sociological aspects of people they see on the railway platforms and places they visit along their way. The students are expected to study other aspects like geography, agriculture, language, literature and ethnicity of people of different regions that they visit. There will be a project as well to be completed during the journey.