Stating that sports is the best medium through which J&K’s rich and inclusive culture could be showcased and promoted across the country, Minister of State for Information, Education and Culture, Mrs Priya Sethi Saturday called for organizing more national level sports events in the State.The Minister was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of National Level Women’s Competition (Group-III) Athletics, Table Tennis and Badminton, held at Sports Stadium, BSF Paloura here. She was the chief guest on the occasion.Commissioner Secretary IT, Technical Education and Youth services & Sports, Hridesh Kumar and IGP Frontier Headquarters, BSF, Jammu, Rakesh Sharma were the guests of honour on the occasion.The teams from the states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odessa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and the host team Jammu & Kashmir are participating in the mega event which would conclude on 15 December.
Mrs. Priya Sethi congratulated Director General of Sports for organizing such a mega event with participation of sportspersons from across the country. She asked the participating players to play the game at liberty & ease and enjoy at the winter capital of the state. She also appealed them for disseminating positive information about the state in their respective areas when they go back to their homes. The Minister urged upon the concerned officers to provide better facilities to the participants as they are the ambassadors who portrait true picture of our rich culture across the country.Referring to the slogan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi about “Beti Padhaou, Beti Bachaou”, Priya said that Prime Minister is keen to empower the women at every level. She said participation of 16 to 25 year old girls in the national event is itself a positive direction.
Earlier, the Minister declared the event open by releasing balloons. She took salute on the March Past held by the participating teams.Later, The Minister distributed mementoes among Jammu & Kashmir and Maharashtra teams who were adjudged first and second respectively in the March Past and released a departmental Souvenir.The Director General, Youth Services & Sports, Mir Jahangir in his welcome address gave the detailed account of the activities of the department.DIG Jammu, senior officers of YSS, and a large number of students and people were present. At the end of the function variety of cultural programmes were presented by different schools.