Bengaluru, Dec 31 (IANS): As many as 2,000 engineering students are set to launch a door-to-door campaign in the New Year as part of the 'Sakala Mitra' pilot programme of the Karnataka government.

Depending on the outcome of the pilot programme, the Sakala Mission Department plans to collaborate with other schools and colleges around Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka to take part in the programme.

The engineering students, taking up this initiative as part of the Acharya Institute of Technology, will visit houses in the New Year to create awareness about the various schemes and services offered by the state government under the Sakala Mitra Programme.

In addition, they will also survey citizens' happiness with regard to the services provided by the Sakala Mission Department.

The students have been trained by the department as well as Upkriti, an NGO that works mainly on tribal welfare projects.

They will visit around 80,000 houses in T Dasarahalli in Bengaluru as part of the pilot programme. They will also be conducting online surveys.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.C. Nagesh, who launched the programme on Thursday, said that the system of democracy thrives when its citizens are happy.

"We are currently at the ground level... When we clear all the obstacles coming in our way, we will achieve our end goal," he said.