The Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has exhorted the intellectuals and good citizens to come forward and actively participate in the social issues and politics. He was speaking as chief guest during the opening ceremony of “Uttarakhand Young Leaders” conclave here on Saturday. The CM said that when good people take back seat, wrong elements enter politics. “In politics, heads are counted, it doesn’t matter what is inside the heads. So it is essential that good people come forward. When politics gets associated with ideas and knowledge, decisions in the interest of nation and society are taken,’’ he said.
Calling upon the youth to take inspiration from the life of Swami Vivekanand, he said that everyone should become a scholar and introspect to find oneself. He added that Vivekanand introduced the world to the rich Indian philosophy. Terming India as a young country, the CM said while other countries are becoming old, India remains young as 30 percent of population of youth reside in India. “In coming years, India would lead the world and indications have started. In conflict with America, Iran has said that India should mediate for the peace process,’’ he said. Asking students to take lessons of management from lord Hanuman, the CM said that he used to work diligently and dedicatedly in service of Lord Ram and added that Swami Vivekanand also gave the mantra of “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached”.
Expressing regret over the fact that education today is lacking good virtues, he said that a recent report suggested that 90 percent of rapes are carried by persons who knew the victim.
Rawat said that everyone should take part in the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to abandon use of single-use plastic.
He claimed that Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) took up the call on a big scale and a human chain event was organised. The CM said that use of single-use plastic has got reduced by 75 percent in Dehradun.
In his address, the State Minister for higher education, Dhan Singh Rawat, said that many social issues would be discussed by the youngsters during the two day conclave. He said that youth are needed to be given right direction for progress of State and nation. Terming Uttarakhand Chief Minister as most honest and hard working CM of the country, he said that even PM Modi has praised Uttarakhand CM.
The pro vice chancellor (VC) of the Dev Sanskrati University, Hardiwar, Chinmaya Pandya said that a society and country can excel only when its residents learn to respect each other.
He said that is unfortunate that virtues are eroding at a rapid pace in the society. He said that Indian culture and good virtues are needed to be inculcated in the society.
The Mayor of Dehradun, Sunil Uniyal Gama, Rajpur MLA, Khajan Das, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, principal secretary Anand Vardhan, Director General (DG) Police, Anil Raturi, deputy chairman of migration commission, S S Negi and VC of many universities were present on the occasion.
