New Delhi, Aug 2 2020
In a show of solidarity and bonding, women from the northeast tied rakhi on jawans of the armed and paramilitary forces, who are deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, on Sunday.
The programme was organised at the initiative of Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh on the eve of Raksha Bandhan on Monday.
Self-help groups (SHGs) from the eight northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim also sent rakhis, tricoloured bands and face masks to the Army and paramilitary personnel posted in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, an official statement said.
The initiative will strengthen the inherent bond among the various cultures, states and people of the country, it added.
Speaking on the occasion, Singh said Jammu and Kashmir is “my parliamentary constituency and the northeast is my official constituency”.
Since the northeastern region is a part of his assigned responsibilities, he looks at it as a rare opportunity to be able to connect the two peripheral regions of the country, the minister added.
A rakhi from the northeast for a soldier in Jammu and Kashmir or Ladakh is a message that sisters across the country are praying for the safety of their brothers in the security forces, who are in turn guarding the borders day and night for their safety, the minister said.
“If we are able to celebrate our festivals in the manner we wish to celebrate, it is because our brothers on the line of defence stay awake day and night to ensure this for us,” he added.
Lauding the talent and commitment of the women from the northeast, Singh said the women SHGs in the region have been making face masks since March-April.
On the eve of Raksha Bandhan, they had worked hard in an extremely limiting environment of the lockdown to make the face masks for the jawans, he said. ( PTI )
