The grand way the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah Ji participated in the 400th birth anniversary celebration of Assam’s foremost warrior Lachit Barphukan was a touching moment for the people of Assam. This was not just Assam’s celebration. It was a celebration of the country. It was a celebration of a hero who will go down in the annals of history as one of the most important generals of India. I am confident that our initiative will help our countrymen know the patriot in Lachit. History has an uncanny approach of being biased towards most, and I feel it is one of the ways in which Lachit Barphukan and his heroism was left out of history for over 350 years. However, I am determined to correct this error and do whatever it takes to redo the wrongs of history. The programme in New Delhi means the Central Government, especially our Prime Minister, and our Home Minister are with the people of Assam. I am also happy to know that there were grand celebrations across schools, colleges, and other institutions in celebrating the occasion. These steps will instil in our students the importance of responsibility, duty, and courage towards our country. I must inform you all that a lot of homework to make this celebration grand was initiated by the administrators and my Cabinet colleagues, whom I must appreciate. I also wrote an article in all major dailies in the country to promote the ideals Lachit stood for. Now, it is on each one of us to take these ideals to their logical conclusion. Once the event was announced, we swung into action. I had a 14-hour meeting with DCs and SPs of all districts in which we had discussed how to make the event a grand success, and as I write this, I am a very happy man today.
The 14-hour meeting was, of course, not all about this single event. It was about administration, and reforms, of governance, and on safety and security of our fellow citizens. We reiterated our single-minded focus on rooting the evil of drugs out of our society. The crackdown on drug-related activities will continue to gain momentum. The number and quantity of seizures are just but one way of judging it. The way our police have been able to hit the drug cartels operating in Assam and the North East is also something to talk about. We were very serious about modernising the police force, and it was a vital agenda of my meeting with these officers. However, a couple of developments in the recent past have left the police with a red face. I am very determined to make it known to the police force that any form of go-slow approach or corruption will not be tolerated by my Government. No poor or victim should be denied justice and ideally it should not be a delayed one as well.
The visit of the Union Minister for Roads and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has given Assam and the North East yet another push to connect the hearts and minds of people, physically. I recall no other Government in my lifetime which has done or is doing so much for the North East as the one under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I am indebted to them for thinking about Assam and the North East in such a way.
This month we launched Mission Basundhara 2.0. The idea behind the scheme is to secure the rightful owners their land right. In this new avatar, what we are doing is seeking settlement of Government khas and ceiling surplus land, besides conferring ownership rights to occupancy tenants, among others. We hope to solve once and for all some of these intractable problems of land rights in our State by launching this ambitious scheme. We have been emboldened by the success of the first initiative on a similar line and believe that the same spirit will help us achieve our objective here as well.
In a first-of-its-kind programme in the country, my Government has decided to partner with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. This initiative called the Chief Minister’s Young Professional Programme will offer a two-year leadership programme to 70 young professionals through a combination of on the job experience and classroom training. This will help our Government identify opportunities for improvement in health care and education at the district level. This initiative is unique because we have borrowed elements from successful fellowship programmes offered by some State Governments, Central Government bodies and even the World Bank. This partnership is based on my inherent belief that governments must open their doors to talented youngsters be it from academia, private sector, civil society to help solve some of the challenges in governance. Therefore, the Assam’s Chief Minister’s Young Professionals Programme will attract mid-career professionals and students of social work, particularly in health and education. And while they will spend two years at one of our 35 districts, they will be jointly monitored and mentored by my office and IIM- Bangalore. It is a symbiotic process wherein we will be able to capture the youthful energy and spirit of talents while offering them an insight into the workings of the Government at the grassroots.
