National curriculum should have chapters on history and culture of North East India- Pema Khandu
ITANAGAR- Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu appreciating the New Education Policy of the Govt of India, pitched that while Arunachal Govt will localise state specific curriculum of culture and traditions at primary level and Arunachal History at middle school level, Govt of India must include North East India history and culture in the national curriculum.
Participating in the 6th Governing Council Meeting of the NITI Aayog, which was chaired by Prime minister Narendra Modi virtually, Khandu justified that with this, apart from awareness of the rich culture and history of the North Eastern states at national level, it will reinforce national integration in the true spirit of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat’.
On behalf of the entire North East, he expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister and his cabinet colleagues for giving special attention to the states and said under the present government, all the states of the region have witnessed accelerated development and benefited from welfare schemes.
To push forward the objective of ‘Aatmnirbhar Bharat’ Khandu said the state government is focusing on agriculture and horticulture besides turning the state into a manufacturing hub.
“We have abundant land resource. Therefore, we are already implementing cluster farming and nutritional kitchen garden schemes across the state. The Centre may handhold us in establishing food processing industry in a big way. We are happy to inform that we have concentrated on ‘ease of doing business’ and have in place a policy in this regard,” he informed.
The Chief Minister admitted that physical infrastructure like roads have come up in the state like never before. Thanking the Centre for the same, he requested relaxation in criteria set up for implementation of PMGSY for Arunachal Pradesh.
“We still have about 1047 villages yet to be connected by road as these do not qualify for PMGSY. If the criteria is relaxed a bit, these unconnected villages can be connected in the next few years,” he said.
Lauding the Centre for assuring to provide 4G digital connectivity to about 1683 habitats in the region, Khandu requested the scheme may be implemented in a time bound manner so that the objective of Digital India is achieved on time.
He informed that the state government has cancelled almost all the MoUs signed earlier with private parties for development of hydropower in the state. He said only central govt agencies will be roped in to undertake hydropower development in the state keeping in mind the environmental impacts and people’s will and requested the Centre to support in this regard.
The Chief Minister endorsed convergence of central and state government flagship programs and schemes for better and successful implementation.
He also requested setting up of an all-girls Sainik School and a central medical college in the state.
Meanwhile, Khandu lauded the Prime Minister for leading from the front in the fight against COVID 19.
“With your guidance sir, Arunachal Pradesh could successfully tackle the pandemic. Recent survey by the union health ministry has revealed that our recovery rate is one of the best and the mortality rate in one of the lowest in the country,” he added.
The virtual meeting was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and top state govt officials.
