Address at the Felicitation of the State Awardee Scouts & Guides , Adult Leader Awardees and Best Scouters and Guiders
Address by Shri Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the Felicitation of the State Awardee Scouts & Guides , Adult Leader Awardees and Best Scouters and Guiders at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai at 11.00 am on Tuesday, 22 March 2016
Shri Babasaheb Dhabekar, President of the Maharashtra State Bharat Scouts and Guides Association and former Minister, Shri B. I. Nagarale, State Chief Commissioner, all the office bearers of the Association, scouts and guides coming from all parts of the State, friends…
2. Good afternoon and greetings to you.
3. As Patron of the Maharashtra State Bharat Scouts & Guides, I have great pleasure in extending a very warm welcome to each one of you to Raj Bhavan.
4. I congratulate all the State Scout and Guide Awardees, Adult Leader Awardees and the Best Scouters and Guiders who were honoured today.
5. It is a matter of great pride for each one of us that leaders of great eminence like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and others were associated with this movement.
6. One has to admire the vision of Lord Baden Powell who founded the Scout movement. Thanks to his vision, the movement has spread all over the world and has a membership of 40 million.
7. It is a matter of great satisfaction that out of 57 lakh Scouts and Guides in India, Maharashtra’s has a lion share with 15 lakh scouts and guides.
8. I was extremely pleased to note that the Scouts and Guides in Maharashtra have been participating in the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan. I have no doubt in my mind that if all the 15 lakh Scouts and Guides from Maharashtra decide to join hands for the cleanliness campaign, Maharashtra will emerge as the Cleanest State in the entire country.
I will appeal to you to adopt one public place nearer to your place and try to keep it neat and clean. I will also appeal to all Scouts and Guides to take up tree plantation activity along with cleanliness campaign.
9. As one of the youngest nations in the world, India needs a national movement of young people, engaged actively in social development, sports and the development of personal character. Values like discipline, loyalty, comradeship, dedication to the Nation and commitment to the cause of social equity are built through such movements.
It should be our endeavour to involve and associate maximum number of school and college students with the Scouts and Guide movement.
10. I was pleased to note that the Guide Movement started in 1909 has completed 107 years of its services to society. The Guide Movement has played a significant role in women empowerment.
I will appeal to the Guide Movement to spread the message of ‘बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढाओ, बेटी बढाओ’ among maximum people.
11. The quality of Scouting and Guiding is dependent of the quality of leadership provided by the Unit Leaders – the Scouters and Guiders. I will appeal to the Unit leaders to develop and display leadership qualities and serve society to the best of your abilities.
12. With these words, I congratulate the President of the State Association, the State Commissioner and all office bearers and convey my appreciation to all the awardees.
Jai Hind ! Jai Maharashtra !!