His Excellency Dr. A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam, former President of India; Shri
Pratapsingh Rane, Hon’ble Speaker Goa
Legislative Assembly; Shri Ravi S Naik,
Hon'ble Minister for Home, Cooperation, Women
& Child Development and Animal Husbandry,
Government of Goa; Dr. Amrita Patel, Chairman,
NDDB; Dr. Bhasin, President-IDA; Mr. Arun
Patil, Chairman, IDA (WZ) and distinguished
delegates, who have come here from the
different parts of the country and abroad,
members of the Press & media and Ladies &
Gentlemen. On behalf of the government and on
behalf of the people of Goa, I welcome you all
to this beautiful state of our country, Goa,
for XXXVII Dairy Industry Conference on a
theme “Dairying for Livelihood and Growth”. I
am sure, your stay in Goa will be comfortable
and you will go back with sweet memories about
Goa.
Goa is a small and beautiful place, known
for its hospitality so whoever has come Goa
has always gone back with sweet memories and
with the decision to visit again the state.
Friends, today we have the Chief Guest Dr.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a man, who had a vision.
During his tenure as a President of India, he
dreamt about India being a superpower by 2020
and when he dreamt this dream he also dreamt
that if India is to be a superpower by 2020,
it is a rural India that will become
superpower by 2020 and it is here that this
conference is going to play a very important
role because we believe that it is the rural
India which has to progress. Just by reaching
and doing development of urban area will not
make our country superpower by 2020. That is
why, I suggest that this conference, which is
an important conference, should deliberate on
making India a self-sufficient dairy
development state and we can think a plan, a
long-term plan by which India can contribute
in this field. I would request Dr. Amrita
Patel to give a thought of preparing a special
plan for the state of Goa so that Goa can also
become a good state in this particular field
and could contribute to our country. Dr. Abdul
Kalam, when he visited Goa, earlier, made some
suggestions and one of his important
suggestions was “why don’t you link rivers to
each other”? I remember, when I went to
receive an award from him for having been
selected for the best state in health sector,
even on that day, he asked me one question,
“have your state taken any step to interlink
the rivers”. Today, I am happy to tell him
that we have already interlinked three rivers
in Goa and the fourth one is being interlinked
following your suggestions.
I would not take much of your time, my only
suggestion is that agriculture has been the
backbone of our country and should be treated
in the same way.
During the last Chief Minister conference,
one day, the chief minister of Punjab
expressed his views saying that younger
generation in Punjab, after graduation, is not
taking to agriculture. I think it is a very
very serious issue. We should consider that if
this is happening to Punjab, probably this may
happen to all states of country, where the
younger generation may drift away from taking
to the agriculture. That is why, I would
suggest that this conference also discusses
this issue.
I wish this Conference all the success and
assure full support from the State of Goa.
Thank you, Jai Hind!
