GUWAHATI: A first-of-its kind initiative ‘Bharat Pravah-India along its Shores’ was launched on Wednesday by Union Minister of Shipping, Waterways and Ports, Sarbananda Sonowal in a programme in New Delhi aiming to highlight the significance and imagery of rivers-ports-shipping in day-to-day life of a common man through literature, dialogue and communication.
“At a time when our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading the world on a new path, the initiative by Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics (IGPP) to bring forth the significance of shipping, ports and waterways to the minds of common people, is appreciable. It will create awareness about the issues of the industry,” said the Minister.
He reminded that while rivers and seas remain central to our spiritual life and it is on their ghats that we offer aarti, every festival and life-death ritual is celebrated by taking a holy dip in the rivers, in modern times as other means of commuting has developed, rivers and seas seem to have moved away from our day-to-day lives.
“We are no longer concerned about riverbeds, cleanliness of our rivers as we have become used to running water from our taps. No longer are the songs celebrating our rivers, expressing our sorrows when they flood and praying for seafarers safety part of our daily existence. Such traditions have remained limited to communities settled on riverbanks and coasts,” the Minister added.
It is important that people living on land are also reminded of the significance of rivers and seas. This should become part of our social psyche, the ‘janmanas’, of our people. The initiative taken by the current government under the able leadership of Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi should be highlighted.
The Government under its flagship program Sagarmala, has aimed to achieve port-led development and integrate the common people in India’s success story, he said at the event which was graced by Member of PM Economic Advisory Council, Sh. Sanjeev Sanyal;Ex-Secretary, MoPSWSh. Gopal Krishna;Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.Sh. Sanjay Sethi; Director-General of National Heritage Maritime Complex, Prof. Vasant Shinde; CEO Adani Ports, Mr. Subrata Tripathi; Mr. Dhruv Kotak of JM Baxi; Ms. Sanjam Sahi Gupta, Maritime SheEO, were among others who attended the event.
Bharat Pravah is being organized at a time when India is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsava with a focus on economic, cultural and historical significance of India’s waterways, ports and shipping. It is also important to understand its contributions to our everyday life and various nuances attached to it which presently we are largely either unaware of or ignored.
Organized by IGPP in partnership with the Union Ministry of Shipping, Ports and waterways, stakeholders from various walks of life like scholars, academicians, policy practitioners to name a few will come together in next few months at a series of events where regional, national and international dialogues, conferences and awards will be held.
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