Platinum Jubilee of The Shillong Times gets underway
GUWAHATI: “It is time for the Northeast to stop bemoaning what Delhi has not done for the region over the years and get ready and equipped to seize the opportunities that are being thrown open by the new time,” said Dr Jintendra Singh, the Union Minister for DoNER addressing the curtain raiser of the year-long Platinum Jubilee celebration of The Shillong Times on Friday morning at U Soso Tham Auditorium in Shillong.
“The entrepreneurs from Rest of India and abroad are gradually turning their attention to Northeast which is still left with lots of potential resources while the rest of the country has witnessed exhausting of resources, So, it is time for the entrepreneurs from Northeast to take advantages of ‘start-up India’ and ‘stand-up India’ to seize the opportunity and make a difference so that they would not regret later on a lost opportunity,” Dr Singh.
“The debate about mainland India and hinterland (Northeast) is not based on reality but a manufactured one in the present context. I rather believe that the Rest of India gets to learn more from the resourceful Northeast than the region needs to learnt from the Rest of India,” he said adding time moves very fast and demands that we equip ourselves in whatever way possible to keep pace with the changing time.
Congratulating The Shillong Times family for completing the eventful 75-year-long journey since August 10, 1945, Dr Singh flagged that the newspaper has traversed through three important phases in the recent history of the country – the eve of India’s Independence, post-Independence time and the ‘new India’ under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“A newspaper has to be the signature of its time. At a state it becomes irrelevant where it was published from. Journalism is believed to be more out of aptitude and passion. However, of late there has been casualties because of ‘timelines, deadlines and breaking news’. I hope that The Shillong Times will surge ahead by taking challenges in its stride