NEW DELHI: Twenty-nine youths of Indian origin from nine countries have arrived here for the latest edition of an orientation programme that is meant to help them rediscover their roots.

Welcoming the participants to the Know India Programme (KIP) here Thursday, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said, "you have known about India from your parents and grandparents. This is a chance for you to see India with your own eyes."

He exhorted the participants to explore and experience the real India through the programme, organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan.

"Don't just go back after taking in the sights in cities like Delhi," Ravi said, adding: "Go to the rural areas. See the villages. That is the real India."

This year, Goa is the host state for the programme that runs Aug 29-Sep 15. The organisers have chalked out a series of events in collaboration with the Goa government to showcase Indian life and culture to the youth, who have come from countries like Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, South Africa, Canada, Britain, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Netherlands and Israel.

The participants will spend the first three days in Delhi attending lectures on Indian history, constitution and governance. In between they will also visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Maruti Suzuki car plant in Gurgaon.

Thereafter, they will proceed to Goa where they will be taken around the Goa University, the National Institute of Oceanography, BITS Pilani's Sancoale campus, the Mormugao Port Trust and an eco-tourism site among other places.

A highlight of their Goa sojourn will be visits to villages in interior areas where they will get to know the rural way of life by attending mock panchayat sessions and doing field work on issues like democracy at grassroots level, women's empowerment and empowerment of youth.

This apart, they will also take in the sights and sounds of Goa.

The participants come from different backgrounds - one is a fashion designer from Malaysia, another a teaching assistant from Canada while a third is a project team leader in British auto giant Rolls Royce. They are all excited about their visit here.

Said Jaya Manikchand, an attorney-at-law in Guyana: "I didn't feel at all strange after landing in India. The people are very warm and hospitable."

Manikchand, whose grandparents migrated to the Caribbean nation from Uttar Pradesh, looked forward to taking part in the community development programmes being organised as part of the KIP.

"I want to take back ideas from here so I can replicate them in Guyana," she said.

Though she had to take a circuitous route from her country to India - from Guyana to Trinidad to Barbados to London and finally to Delhi - she summed up the mood of the participants when she said: "I didn't really like the journey. But now I know it was worth it."