Continuing his interaction with the newly elected Ministers in the Union Cabinet, the Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu interacted with three Ministers in different endearments, here today. Shri Naidu complemented the Ministers for the contribution made by their respective ministries in India’s progress and advised them to take all the necessary steps to improve the life of common man.The newly elected Minister of Food Processing and Industries, Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal along with the Mister of State, Shri Rameswar Teli called on the Vice President at his residence and apprised him of the developmental activities undertaken by their ministry and also informed the Vice President about the future plans of the ministry to boost the food processing sector in India, especially through public private partnership.Opining that the food processing sector could supplement on-farm income and help in farmers double their incomes, Shri Naidu advised the Minister to educate and empower the farming community to focus on food processing to ensure value addition to agricultural produce and make farmers as active partners in food processing.The Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Mahendranath Panday also called on the Vice President and told him about government’s initiatives on skill development to realize the demographic dividend.
M. Venkaiah Naidu also advised the minister to scale up skill development activities and enhance industry institutional linkages. The Vice President opined that Skill development is the key catalyst for India’s future.During his interaction with the Minister of Law and Justice, Communications and Electronics and Information technology, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Vice President enquired about SAMEER (Society for Applied Microwave Electronic Engineering and Research) in Andhra Pradesh.The Minister apprised the Vice President that the 80 crores worth project established at Gambheeram near Vizag is nearly complete and functioning.Foundation Stone of SAMEER Centre for Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) at Visakhapatnam was laid on 18th February 2016 by the Vice President, when he was the Union Minister for Urban Development.The Vice President also underscored the importance of addressing the issue of expediting election petitions and criminal cases especially related to the heinous category as well as a time-bound disposal of cases under anti-defection laws.