Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Saturday directed the Education department to work on priority for starting Scouts and Guides activities in all those Government educational institutions of the State in next few years, where no National Cadets Corps (NCC) or National Service Scheme (NSS) activities are in practice.
Presiding over the meeting of State Council of the Bharat Scouts & Guides, he said that these activities must be made mandatory in educational institutions as they help in inculcating the sense of self-discipline, patriotism, spirit of mutual co-operation in the children. He said that Government was committed to boost the Bharat Scouts & Guides movement and bring all schools under it in next two to three years as this was one of the best training modes for the students.
He emphasised that the purpose of the Bharat Scouts and Guides movement was to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their physical, intellectual and social potential as individuals, responsible citizens and
members of the local and national communities.
Virbhadra Singh announced to enhance the grant-in-aid for the State unit of Bharat Scouts and Guides from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and directed to make a corpus fund for utilising the funds for various activities.
He also announced to provide financial assistance of rupees one crore for completion of State Training Centre of Scouts and Guides at Riwalsar in Mandi district which would also provide training facility to the youth of other States
as well adding that more funds would be released as per the requirement.
He directed the Education department to absorb the services of those honorary employees of Scouts and Guides in the department for scouting purpose who had completed eight years of their service.
The Chief Minister also released the Annual Report of the Bharat Scouts and Guides State Chapter on this occasion.
Earlier, State Chief Commissioner Dinkar Burathoki detailed about the on-going activities of the Council. He informed that the work on the State-of-Art State Training Centre at Riwalsar was in progress and would be completed by the end of this year.