As the country celebrates Raksha Bandhan on Monday, sisters across the country are praying for the safety of their brothers in security forces who are risking their lives and guarding the borders day and night, DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said.
In an unusual show of solidarity and bonding, sisters from the eight Northeast states on Saturday tied Rakhis on jawans from armed and paramilitary forces whose battalions or companies are deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Development of Northeast Region Ministry said a release.
“If we are able to celebrate our festivals in the manner we wish to celebrate, it is possible because our brothers on the line of defence stay awake day and night to ensure this for us,” said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space.
The minister, speaking at an event initiated by him on the eve of Raksha Bandhan festival in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, informed that Self Help Groups (SHGs) from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim also sent Rakhis, tri-coloured bands and face masks to the Army and paramilitary personnel posted in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
“Women Self Help Groups in the region have been making face masks since March-April. They worked hard in an extremely limiting environment of lockdown to make the face masks for the Jawans,” Singh said.
The programme was coordinated by SHGs from North East India, supported by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER), North Eastern Council (NEC) and North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP). Secretary DoNER InderJit Singh, Special Secretary Indevar Pandey, Officer on Special Duty Prashant Kumar Jha were also present, the release stated.
