CHENNAI: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) on Tuesday launched the registration portal for the second phase of Kashi Tamil Sangamam (KTS) which will be held from December 17 to 30.

“Interested persons from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry can apply on the KTS portal - www. kashitamil.iitm.ac.in. The deadline to apply is December 8, 2023. Around 1,400 people are expected to travel from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry by train to Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya for an eight-day immersive tour, including the travel time, in the second phase of the KTS,” a statement from the IIT-Madras stated.

Similar to the first edition of the KTS, this programme proposes to take forward the objective of reviving the living bonds between Varanasi and Tamil Nadu - two important centres of learning and culture in ancient India – by facilitating people-to-people connect across different walks of life.

The delegates will be taken to visit places of historical, tourist and religious interest and they will interact with people of Uttar Pradesh from their domains of work.

The second edition of KTS would have a more focused format with emphasis on awareness generation, outreach and enhancing people-to-people connect and facilitating cultural immersion.

The focus would be on increased engagement and interaction with local counterparts such as weavers, artisans, artists, entrepreneurs, writers, etc. to get insights into the best practices and further enhance learning and cross pollination of ideas.

To capitalise on the learnings from the first phase of KTS and given their reputation in research, the IIT Madras and the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT BHU) will serve as the respective implementing agencies in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.