Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday urged youth visiting under his government’s flagship ‘Connect with Your Roots’ (CYR) programme, to act as the state’s ambassadors in countering the negative propaganda being spread in foreign lands by vested interests.Captain Amarinder Singh was interacting with the third CYR batch comprising 17 youth from UK and one from France, over tea at his official residence here. The youth are on a 10-day visit to different parts of the state."You are our ambassadors, who would act as a force multiplier in dispelling any misgiving about Punjab which some vested interests were trying to create through negative propaganda abroad,” he told the youth, urging them to harness full potential of the innovative CYR initiative to further complement and create awareness about the state’s growth story.The Chief Minister called upon the youth to imbue their on-ground experience of the real progress and development made by Punjab in the last two years in the fields of Information Technology, Industry and Agriculture, and to disseminate it on their return to their homes.
The real objective of the programme was to let enable you to enjoy Punjab's rich cultural and social heritage first hand, he told the youth, wishing them the best of time in the state.The students, who upon their arrival in Chandigarh yesterday visited the Capitol Complex, Rock Garden and Sukhna Lake, would also be attending the Independence Day function at Hoshiarpur. They will visit Virasat-e-Khalsa heritage complex and Takht Keshgarh Sahib as part of their itinerary. Notably, the ambitious programme was launched by Captain Amarinder Singh with an aim to provide a platform to Indian youth settled abroad to connect with their roots by visiting the birth place or the native village of their ancestors in Punjab, from London (UK) in September, 2017. The first batch of youngsters toured Punjab for ten days in August 2018 and the second batch of 22 students visited in February this year.Others present at the interaction included NRI Affairs and Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Industries & Commerce Minister Sunder Shyam Arora, DGP Dinkar Gupta, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, Special Principal Secretary to CM Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Secretary NRI Affairs Rahul Bhandari, DGP Intelligence VK Bhawra, Special Secretary NRI Affairs MP Arora, Director Tourism and Culture Affairs Malwinder Singh Jaggi.