Hamirpur : Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar today said that parliamentarians should adopt Union Minister for information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur’s model of engaging with people and consistent development of his constituency. He addressed a gathering on the inauguration of the 50th centre under the ‘Ek Se Sreshtha’ programme initiated by Anurag at the polce ground at Hamirpur.
Dhankhar said, “I commend Anurag Thakur’s efforts to address the concerns of young boys and girls, who will shoulder the responsibility to make our Bharat the most developed country by 2047, when we celebrate the centenary of Independence.”
He said the country was experiencing the fastest pace of development ever. He added that after 2014, there had been tremendous development in every field, including research and development, digitisation, technology, education, policy making and uplift of the weaker sections of society.
Dhankhar said, “This was the first time that a woman from a tribal background was elected the President of the country. The image of the country as well as the value of the Indian passport have improved.”
About the economy of the country, the Vice-President said, “There was time when we had to take our sovereign gold reserve to foreign countries to save the nation’s financial condition. Today, the situation is entirely different. India has become the fifth largest economy of the world and soon it will be at the third position.”
The Vice-President advised students to learn to honour the rich culture of the country and respect their teachers and parents. He said that besides development works, Anurag had started a unique initiative of educating children of weaker sections of society and providing health facilities to people on their doorsteps. He added that people should make the best use of these facilities to ensure favourable changes in their lives.
Later, Dhankhar addressed the students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) and Career Point University at the NIT auditorium. He said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) was a new challenge that students must know how to control. He added, “Engineering students should come up with ideas and innovations. it is unfortunate that in the past, successive governments and the corporate sector gave millions of dollars to foreign institutions for research and development. The corporate sector should provide funds to Indian universities and institutions to strengthen the ‘Made in India’ campaign. This will develop production facilities in the country and save the foreign currency reserve, too.”
Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla said that Anurag had worked to develop his constituency. “Anurag Thakur had earlier organised eye check-up camps and given free of cost spectacles to thousands of people,” he added. Shukla offered to help Anurag in his endeavour for public welfare.
Anurag provided detailed information about his ‘Ek Se Sreshtha’ programme and said, “Our resolve and our motto is education for all and development for all. The programme has been launched to ensure the overall educational development. Education is the birth right of every child coming from any economic background and to fulfil this right, the ‘Ek Se Sreshtha’ programme has been launched. It is an initiative to ensure access to quality education and provide holistic development of students. It is a matter of joy that the programme, which was started at one centre, is now available at 500 centres and over 9,000 children are getting education there.”
Sudesh Dhankar, wife of Vice-President, Cabinet minister Rajesh Dharmai and sitting and former BJP MLAs were present on the occasion.