New Delhi: The Bhartiya Chhatra Sansad (BCS) on Sunday conferred the prestigious ‘Adarsh Mukhya Mantri Puraskar’ (Ideal Chief Minister Award) on Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for his initiatives to ensure good governance and holistic development in the state.
The award was presented to Amarinder by former President Pranab Mukherjee at Vigyan Bhawan here during the valedictory function of 10th edition of four-day national conclave of BCS.
The BCS also acknowledged Amarinder’s vast experience and the values he had practised, which had earned him recognition and eminence in society.
Several dignitaries, including Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Kiren Rijiju, former Union External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, politician Karan Singh, founder of MIT World Peace University Vishwanath D. Karad and founder of BCS Rahul V. Karad, were present on the occasion.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister exhorted the youth to play a constructive role in active politics as it was their duty, as future leaders, to transform the country’s destiny.
“Since we are on the way out and you are on the way in, it is your duty to serve your country with firm commitment, sincerity and honesty, upholding the cherished values of democracy,” he told the youth.
Amarinder urged the students desirous of joining politics to be well-versed with the socio-economic as well as demographic conditions of their respective states.
“Join politics not for glamour or power but to serve the country or your state to make it better,” he urged the youth.
“Politics is not an easy profession; rather it is a 24X7 job as being elected representatives you have to solve the problems of people besides addressing their grievances,” said the Chief Minister.
Recalling his own experience, Amarinder Singh said though he joined politics back in 1980 as Member Parliament, he realised, after some years, that he should enter the state politics to get a grip over the basic socio-political scenario of his state.
He then contested and was elected to the state Assembly.
He pointed out that Punjab had risen to the occasion to usher in the Green Revolution, and become the nation’s food bowl, when India was forced to import food grains from the US under PL480 agreement.
Expressing concern over the brain-drain from Punjab, the Chief Minister said its youth were going abroad in search of green pastures, a trend his government was trying to arrest by ensuring gainful employment in the state.
Reiterating his commitment to completely eliminate the scourge of drugs, Amarinder noted that his government had successfully broken the back of the drug mafia, thereby choking the supply line.
On the law and order front, the state had successfully neutralised 17 terrorist modules, besides stamping out gangsterism from the state, he noted.
Ex-Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had received this award in 2015, followed by former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu in 2016 and ex-Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in 2017.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik won the award in 2018 and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in 2019.
