Four offshore institutions including Havard University, the Stanford University, Kyoto University, Japan as-well-as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be part of the studies to be carried out on the world’s biggest spiritual spectacle, Mahakumbh 2025, that witnessed over 66 crore devotees bathe in Triveni Sangam in a mere 45 days span between January 13 and February 26, 2025 in Prayagraj.
The Havard University will conduct two studies on the topics ‘Management of Food and Beverage for participants’ and Provisions of Urban Infrastructure’ while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will study the ‘Integrated Documentation of Mahakumbh Mela – 2025′.
As per the approved list of studies released by Central government and to be conducted on Mahakumbh 2025, the Institute of Competitiveness – Stanford University will conduct a study on ‘Economic and Social Impact of Mahakumbh Mela’.
Further, the Kyoto University, Japan in association with IIT, Madras, IIT (BHU), Varanasi and MNNIT, Allahabad will conduct a study on ‘Research and Engineering Challenges related to arrangements for multimodal transportation, pedestrian access, and traffic management during Mahakumbh Mela to evaluate their efficacy and identify areas of improvement’.
As per the official list, a total of five Indian Institute of Management (IIM) including Indore, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Rohtak besides four national universities including Ahmedabad University, Lucknow University, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University besides two Indian Institute of Technology at Madras and BHU, Varanasi and an MNNIT at Allahabad would be pursuing studies on the mega fair.
Further, of the total 26 studies to be carried on Mahakumbh 2025, a maximum of five studies would conducted under the ‘Urban Infrastructure and Urban Planning; Mobility’ by Havard Univeristy, Council of Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), National Institute of Urban Affairs, School of Planning and Architecture besides Kyoto University, Japan.
Further, domain wise, four studies each would be carried out under the theme ‘Management/Planning: Strategies for Efficient Management of the gathering including crowd management, police and security arrangements’ by IIM, Ahmedabad, IIM Lucknow, IIM Bangalore and Lucknow University besides on ‘Socio-Cultural Manifestations’ by IIM, Indore, Delhi University, JNU and GB Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi will study the ‘Risk management and health system assessment for emergency medical response in a mass religious gathering’ and ‘Saksham – Strategic Nikshay Abhiyaan at the Mahakumbh Mela 2025’
As per the finally approved list of studies, the 26 different topics will be covered under eight thematic domains including ‘Health Management and Disaster Management’, ‘Digital Technology’, ‘Socio-Cultural Manifestations’, ‘Anthropological Studies – Natural Conglomeration and Food Distribution’, ‘Management/Planning: Strategies for Efficient Management of the gathering including crowd management, police and security arrangements’, ‘Environmental Impact – Sanitation, Fecal Sludge Management, etc’, ‘Urban Infrastructure and Urban Planning; Mobility’ besides ‘Estimating the Economic Impact and outcome of the mela – Economic Impact and Opportunities associated with the event’.
GB Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad will conduct research on ‘The changing form of Akhadas in Kumbh Mela’ while under the Digital Technology theme, IIT, Kanpur will study on the topic ‘An eye on Social Media for Mahakumbh 2025’ while IIM, Rohtak will carry out research on the topic ‘To evaluate the propriety on deployment, efficiency and effectiveness of digital technologies in managing the Mahakumbh Mela 2025’.
According to Mela Officer Vijay Kiran Anand, the final approved list of studies had been received and accordingly required data would be provided to them.
