Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Vijay Goel here today flagged off the 9th Slum Yuva Daud with Minister of Power Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, Parvesh Verma M. P. and Olympic medalist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt. The run started from Sahib Singh Verma Park (Kakrola Village) and ended at SDMC Community Hall (Dwarka Sec-17). Around 3000 youth from Delhi slums participated and each of them was awarded medals and certificates. Shri Goel interacted with the participants before the run started and each of them gave him a positive feedback and appreciated the Ministry’s efforts to provide them a platform to perform. Some of the youngsters shared their ideas while others sang patriotic songs. Addressing the participants Shri Goel said, “Our aim is to provide the youth of slum something positive so that they do not take to drugs or other anti-social activities. We will also prepare teams in future and hold competitions in football, volleyball etc. so that we are able to find the hidden talent from these slums”.
Power Minister shri Piyush Goyal praised the initiative of Slum Yuva Daud and said, “Youth has tremendous energy and they must use it to transform India into “New India”. MoS Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju stated that, “Such activities empower the youth and they feel elated. This will surely help us in building Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat”. Olympic medal winner wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt said, “India is a young country and we must aim to become a sports power hub”. Shri Parvesh Verma appreciated the Sports Ministry idea to hold Slum Runs across Delhi and said that it is a great way to unite the youth for constructive activities like Digital India, Swachh Bharat etc.The Slum Yuva Daud is part of the Adopt Slum Campaign initiated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan. Total 11 Slum Yuva Runs have been planned out of which 9 have already been successful with mass participation youth from various Delhi slums.