Shillong, Nov 6: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday flagged off NCC’s Northeastern region car rally at the Soso Tham Auditorium here.
The event is part of NCC’s 75th anniversary.
“I would like to thank and congratulate the NCC in their tireless efforts in nation building through character building and personality development and instilling core values of patriotism in our youth for the past 75 years.The initiative of a car rally is significant and meaningful as it provides our youth an opportunity to meet people from other regions. This in turn would expose them to different types of people belonging to various occupations, culture, language and ethnicity and in turn would bring in national Integration, unity, understanding and respect for one another. I also thank Maruti Suzuki for sponsoring this event and would love to see this rally not just confined to the Northeastern region but also give a chance to our youth to explore other parts of India as a whole.” said Conrad K Sangma, in his address to the gathering.
He further extended his support towards the NCC and highlighted various programmes of the government, including YESS Meghalaya which provides financial support to young people up to Rs 1 lakh for various programmes held in their communities and the present government has supported 3000 such groups with the vision to reach about 10,000 groups in the near future.
He also highlighted the Meghalaya Grassroots Programme, which provides financial support and gives opportunity to our local young music artists to perform at various locations including important tourist landmarks, cafes, restaurants and important events throughout the state.
“In season one, we have financially supported 1500 our youth. And this year, we plan to double that and try to touch about 3000 artists through the Meghalaya Grassroots Programme”, he said.
The Special Outreach Programme was flagged off from Shillong, of which a total convoy of 12 Maruti Suzuki Jimny vehicles sponsored by Maruti Suzuki would traverse through all the states of the Northeast of India except for Manipur due to its security reasons and eventually end at Guwahati city on NCC day.
The event is a culmination of a collaboration of NCC and a diverse, enthusiastic collective group consisting of 277 schools, 151 colleges from 44 districts spanning 6 states. The car rally is to foster camaraderie among the youth, inspire them towards leadership, and instill a deep sense of patriotism. The celebration is to personify unity, leadership, and patriotism, which are all in the spirit of NCC’s values.
The event was also graced by the presence of Metbah Lyngdoh, Chairman of Meghalaya State Planning Board, Major General Gagan Deep, ADG, NCC Directorate, Northeastern region, Ram Suresh Akella, Executive Director of Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Commissioner Secretary, Director General of Meghalaya Police, Deputy Commissioner East Khasi Hills and other officials of the Armed Forces as well as the state government.
