SHIMLA, 08.12.24-Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu felicitated 12 women of the state in Himachal Dastak's Nari Tu Narayani program for their outstanding work in various fields. He felicitated Anjana Vakil of Chamba district, Seema Kumar Chaudhary of Kangra district, Monika Singh of Una district, Chetna Sharma of Hamirpur, Rachna Kumari of Bilaspur district, Diksha of Mandi district, Anita Thakur of Kullu district, Rigozan Choidon of Lahaul-Spiti district, Ratan Manjari of Kinnaur district, Kamala Chauhan of Shimla district, Neel Kamal of Solan district and Khushnuma of Sirmaur district.

Congratulating everyone, the Chief Minister said that the state government is giving special priority to the upliftment and welfare of women and has started many welfare schemes in the last two years. He said that today the self-confidence of daughters has increased, which reflects the changing attitude of our society. Appreciating the efforts of Himachal Dastak, he said that this is a proper platform to honour women facing challenges. He said, "I had come to this program last year too. I appreciate the spirit of this event."

The Chief Minister said that Ratan Manjari of Kinnaur district has been fighting for women's rights for the last many years because women in tribal areas are deprived of many rights under the law. He said, "I am in favor of giving equal rights to women as well. Depriving someone of rights is not good. Our government is trying to build consensus in this direction and after building consensus, we will not shy away from changing the law."

He said that after taking oath as Chief Minister, he broke the tradition of going to the Secretariat and went to the Balika Ashram. He said that the country's first law was made to adopt all 6000 orphan children as 'Children of the State'. In the second budget, provision was made to bear the entire cost of higher education of 23 thousand children of widows till the age of 27 years. He said that under Dr. YS Parmar Student Loan Scheme, the state government is providing a loan up to Rs. 20 lakh to meritorious students at a one percent interest rate. He appealed to the youth to change their lifestyle to live a healthy life.

The Chief Minister said that to protect the climate of the state, the state government has set a target of making the state a green energy state by 31^st March 2026. He said that this is a futuristic vision, so that an effort is made to save the coming generations. The work of building five Rajiv Gandhi Day Boarding Schools has started and the rest of the schools are also being constructed in a phased manner. Sh. Sukhu said that efforts are being made to make Himachal Pradesh self-reliant in the future for which everyone's cooperation is necessary. There has been a decline in the field of education during the tenure of the previous government and efforts are being made to bring it back on the track.

Indian idol fame Neha Dixit and singer AC Bhardwaj also performed during the program.

MLA Harish Janartha, Vivek Sharma, Himachal Dastak Chairman KD Sridhar, Chief Editor Hemant, State Bureau Chief Mast Ram Dalel, Secretary Rakhil Kahlon, Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap and other dignitaries were present on this occasion.