NELLORE: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday participated in the 20th anniversary celebration of Swarna Bharat Trust, at Venkatachalam in Nellore district.
Speaking on the occasion, the V-P said 'seva' (service) is the real religion, and stressed the need for reducing the divide between rural and urban areas. "Agriculture is the basic culture of our country. We need to focus more on it. The future of the country is the youth and we need to nurture them. And empowerment of women is also vital," he added.
Referring to the Padma awards, the V-P said that a new tradition has been set in recognising the real talent and grass-root level people who impacted the society. He opined that parents must encourage their children to get involved in service activities as it will help in the development of the society.
Shah said the service activities taken up by the Trust, which was inspired by the lives of Mahatma Gandhi, Deendayal Upadhyaya and Nanaji Deskhmukh, are highly appreciable as they have given hope to many. The Trust has been continuing its services without any financial support from the government, Shah noted and added it has inspired many citizens.
The Union Minister opined that the building of 'nav Bharat' (new India) will only speed up when one individual from every village involves in development activities. Shah observed that the V-P, who hails from rural India and has spent decades in public service, is well aware of the issues that rural population faces.
He took note of the initiatives introduced by Venkaiah Naidu when the latter was the Union Minister for Rural Development. "His ideology reflects in the service activities taken up by the Trust," he added and appealed to the trustees to continue their work to uplift the downtrodden.
Former Minister and Trust chairman Kamineni Srinivas and others attended the event. Earlier, Shah visited Soma Skill Development Centre at Akshara Vidyalaya, and paid floral tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.