Address by Governor at the Inauguration of the Billawa Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Address by Shri Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the Inauguration of the Billawa Chamber of Commerce & Industry at Buntara Bhavan Auditorium, Buntara Bhavan Marg, Kurla (East), Mumbai at 6.00 pm on Saturday, 11th June 2016

Shri N T Poojari, Chairman, Billawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Shri Jaya Suvarna, Shri Navin Chandra Suvarna, Shri Sooru Karkera, Shri Suresh Poojary, Advocate Anand Poojary, Members of the Executive Committee, Members of the Chamber and their family members, invitees, ladies and gentlemen,

I am extremely happy to associate myself with the inauguration of the Billawa Chamber of Commerce & Industry and to share your joy on this occasion.

This is a day of historic significance for the members of the Billawa community in Mumbai, as a few members of the community are launching a Chamber of Commerce and Industry of their own.

I congratulate the members and leaders of the Billawa Community and particularly the Billawa Jagriti Balaga for launching the Chamber.

I have no doubt in my mind that the Chamber will address the concerns of its members while also encouraging youths from the community to become entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Sisters and Brothers,

Mumbai is not just the capital of the State of Maharashtra. The city of Mumbai is also the Financial Capital of India. Different communities came to Mumbai at different points of time and contributed to its growth and economic development. Mumbai thus belongs to all those who contributed to its development.

I must say, the contribution of the Billawa community to the progress and development of Maharashtra and to the making of Mumbai has been of a very high order.

Today all of you have become an intrinsic part of Mumbai. It is difficult to imagine the city of Mumbai without people from the Billawa community, the Bunts, Mogaveera, Kullala and others, who came to Maharashtra from coastal Karnataka and made it their home.

I am very happy to see members of the community providing leadership to society, in as diverse areas as, Hospitality industry, Manufacturing Industry, Construction Industry, Services sector, Social Sector and so on.

Today I have come here to tell you that I am proud of you. Mumbai is proud of you and Maharashtra is proud of you.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In recent years, India has emerged as a major economic power in the world. Our impressive rate of economic growth has earned us the envy and attention of the world. There is a consensus among leaders of the world that India has arrived on the global stage. I am sure, this change of perception of the world towards India, will benefit the Indian industry in many ways.

Since coming to power two years ago, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi has given an aggressive push to India’s foreign policy and economic diplomacy.

The Prime Minister’s visits to more than 30 countries have given impetus to India’s economic, trade and strategic relations with these countries.

The warm reception accorded to the Hon’ble Prime Minister during his recent 5 days visit to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, United States and Mexico and the agreements signed during his visit have shown that the world is keen to forge strong partnership with India. The thunderous response received by the Prime Minister after his address to the Joint Meeting of the US Congress aptly sums up the sentiment of the world.

These engagements have created immense possibilities for advancing the economic and strategic interests of India. The growing engagements are also expected to provide a major boost to the ‘Make in India’ programme of the country.

I wish and hope that our business leaders and our Chambers of Commerce will take advantage of the opportunities that have been opened and are likely to be generated.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today, India enjoys a distinct demographic advantage over many other countries. Aware of this challenge, the government of India has set a target of skilling 40.2 crore people by 2022, and launched the initiative Skill India. We need involvement of industry associations like the Billawa Chamber to realize this goal. This can be done by creating apprenticeship positions in your business organizations. For every single position, we must create two apprenticeship positions.

The Hon’ble Prime Minister has given the new mantra of ‘Start up India, Stand Up India’. We need a generation of youth who will accept the challenge and become entrepreneurs. We don’t want job seekers, we want job creators.

It would be ideal to have a dynamic youth-wing and an equally dynamic women’s-wing to the Chamber.

The Billawa community has its origins in Coastal Karnataka. All of you have an obligation to help your own town or village in Karnataka. But, at the same time, you have an obligation to help Mumbai City. The Chamber must encourage members to take up useful projects under Corporate Social Responsibility in Mumbai and also in your native places.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As Governor, I feel concerned over the future of Indian languages. According to the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, almost 220 Indian languages have disappeared in the last 50 years, and that another 150 languages and dialects could vanish in the next half century if people fail to learn their ancestral tongues.

I do feel that the Billawa Community, the Billawa Jagriti Balaga and the Chamber must make concerted efforts to preserve and protect your sweet Tulu language. When you preserve a language, you preserve a culture.

Sisters and brothers,

I am very happy that eminent personalities from the community are being honoured today. I congratulate well-known Criminal Lawyer Smt Rohini Salian, builder and hotelier Shri Ramesh Kumar, Chairman of Sagar Hotels and the Ocean Pearl Shri Jayaram Bannan, Director, Actor and Producer Shri Rajshekar Kotian and Managing Director of Harsh Electronics Shri Suryaprakash for their contributions to society.

I want to assure you that the gates of Raj Bhavan shall always remain open for all of you. I will be the first to support the good work of the Chamber.

I congratulate the Chamber on its inauguration and wish all of you success in your future endeavours.

Thank you

Jai Hind ! Jai Maharashtra !!