By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 5: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma flagged off the cross-country bike expedition by Yashaswini, a group of CRPF women bikers from Shillong on Thursday.
The CRPF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development is organising the bike rally to celebrate Nari Shakti (women power) in the country and to further boost the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme.
As part of the initiative, three teams of CRPF’s All Women Bike expedition are being flagged off from Shillong, Srinagar and Kanniyakumari and will converge at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The expedition will cover a total distance of 3291 kms.
The women bikers traverse through seven states, before they reach their culminating point at Ekta Nagar.
During the entire journey of this collaborative effort of CRPF and Ministry of Women and Child Development, all three teams from Srinagar, Shillong and Kanyakumari will interact with the target groups of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ like school children and college girls, women self-help groups, cadets of the NCC, children of CCIs, NYKS members, adolescent girls and boys, anganwadi workers etc. across various districts.
In addition to promoting the force’s message of ‘Desh Ke Hum Hain Rakshak,’ the women bikers have also incorporated the social message of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ into their campaign.
Saluting the unparalleled bravery, determination and courage shown by the women warriors of different armed forces, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that he had always believed that true development can only happen when “we are able to touch every life, when we are able to develop and take forward every individual, when we are able to bring in equality among genders and among communities.”
Sangma said that the rally is a tribute to our Nari Shakti, which is an age-old tradition of our culture and a sheer display of women strength and resilience.
Stating that Meghalaya is one of the few states that has passed a resolution to reserve 50 percent posts of Secretary and Presidents of Village Employment Council for the women, he reiterated that over the past five years, the participation of women in Self Help Groups has increased from 30,000 to 4.5 lakh numbers.