By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 8 Nov: Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (Retd) has extended greetings to the people of the state on the occasion of Uttarakhand State Formation Day. He has paid homage to all the known and unknown martyrs and agitationists of the statehood movement on this occasion, as also to the brave martyrs who laid down their lives for the country.
In his message released, today, the Governor said that Uttarakhand has completed 21 years of existence, reaching ‘adulthood’. The state has made a lot of progress in these twenty-one years, but many challenges still remain.
“We all have to face these challenges together,” he has asserted. “The progress and prosperity of Uttarakhand is possible with the collective participation of women, youth, farmers and all the communities.”
As a Sainik Dham, Uttarakhand has seen many efforts being made by the state government for the welfare of soldiers and ex-servicemen. A Sainya Dham is being built in Dehradun as Pancham Dham. Its large number of ex-servicemen can play an important role in the development of the state. They can pass on the benefit of their knowledge, experience and training to society. He recalled that women played an important role in the formation of Uttarakhand. Even today, women remain the backbone of the economy and social structure of the hill areas. Women’s education, health and employment should be the priority. Women are becoming financially empowered through self-help groups. By promoting women enterprises based on local products, the twin goal of women empowerment and promotion of local products would be achieved. For this, women’s leadership capacity had to be developed.
Governor Singh added that the local products of Uttarakhand could become the basis of economic prosperity. The goals of economic self-reliance, self-employment and reverse migration could be achieved by promoting enterprises based on local products. For the success of the Prime Minister’s “Vocal for Local” mantra, it is necessary to preserve the local products, traditional crops, food grains and handicrafts of the state. It is necessary to make available the local products to the international level market.
The Governor added that development and prosperity of the villages should be the benchmark for the state’s advancement. Along with basic and modern facilities, entrepreneurship and self-employment should also be encouraged in the villages.
Governor Singh said that migration could be stopped by improving health, education and basic services. He maintained that quality and research work is being promoted in higher education, which should be available to all. The challenges in this field would have to be met through coordinated efforts. Universities need to modernise, transform, and adopt artificial intelligence, digitisation and new technology.
He noted that, along with the government, volunteers, social organisations, NGOs, social workers and individual efforts have an important role to play in the development and progress of the state. Everyone’s participation in the development process had to be ensured. The duties and responsibilities of every citizen of the state should be discharged with full devotion. Uttarakhand would become a truly progressive state only when the benefits of progress reach the people living in remote villages.
