GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today attended the closing ceremony of Rashtriya Poshan Maah and launching of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme organised by Social Welfare Department, Government of Assam at Police Parade Ground, Silchar.
Speaking at the programme the Chief Minister said that POSHAN Abhiyaan was one of very important initiatives launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government and it was aimed at making future citizens of the country healthy and provide them with required nutrition. He also referred to Fit India Movement launched by Prime Minister Modi to empower the citizens of the country to live a healthy and disease free life.
The entire month of September was celebrated as the Rashtriya Poshan Maah. This year the theme was complementary feeding. Prime Minister’s overreaching scheme for holistic nourishment – POSHAN Abhiyaan is a multi- ministerial convergence mission with the vision to address malnutrition with a targeted approach by 2022.
Exhorting the people to ensure equal development of their girl children through education and proper nutrition, Sonowal said that healthy daughters would be able to make meaningful contribution to the nation building process and that was the essence of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme as well. He also called on the youth to empower themselves with knowledge and skills so that they could bring development to the state taking advantage of Act East Policy.
Chief Minister also said that Barak Valley has immense potential and the state government was making all efforts to harness this potential to develop Barak Valley as one of the most developed regions. He also appealed to the people here to join hands to reduce high prevalence of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) at Barak Valley so that healthy mothers could give birth to healthy children.
Referring to Dr. Bhupen Hazarika and Hemanga Biswas, Sonowal stressed on the need to maintain unity and harmony between the people of Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys so that Assam could be taken on a high growth trajectory to make it one of the most prosperous states of the county. Prime Minister Modi’s motto of Ek Bharat, Shresth Bharat must be followed in its true spirit and people of Barak Valley must rest assured that the state government would take all necessary steps to protect their identities and rights, he said.
Saying that the state government was fully committed to safeguard the interest of Barak Valley people, Sonowal hoped that people here would continue to extend their support to his government. He also informed that the present state government could achieve GSDP of 3.5 lakhs as compared to 2.2 lakhs GSDP in Assam achieved by the previous governments. All round progress was achieved across various sectors like culture, sports, science, agriculture etc. in Assam and the state government was making all efforts to intensify the rate of development, he stated.
Starting of direct flights to international destinations like Bangkok, Dhaka and Singapore from Guwahati, exporting state’s agricultural products through Air Cargo service to the markets of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London etc. were some of the other points highlighted by the Chief Minister in his speech.