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Thakur sworn in as Himachal CM with 11 ministers (Second Lead)
Shimla, Dec 27 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and his 11 ministers — half of them first-timers — on Wednesday took oath of office at an impressive ceremony attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office and secrecy to Thakur, who will turn 53 on January 6. This will be his maiden term as Chief Minister.
The swearing-in ceremony at the historic Ridge here was also attended by Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, J.P. Nadda and Nitin Gadkari, besides Chief Ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states, along with more than 30,000 party supporters from across the state, mostly in traditional attire.
BJP veteran and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani was also present.
Five-time legislator Thakur, who rose through the ranks and is known for his humble, clean and low-profile nature, took the oath in Hindi. He had served as the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister when Prem Kumar Dhumal was Chief Minister (2007-12).
During the ceremony, Thakur, did not wear the trademark maroon flap cap of the BJP, like two-time Chief Minister Dhumal, who was defeated in the elections.
Thakur’s family members, including his 80-year-old widowed mother, who belongs to a remote village in Mandi district, attended the ceremony.
“This is the victory of the common man,” Thakur’s wife Sadhna Thakur, who is doctor by profession, said before the ceremony.
The 12-member ministry has six former ministers and equal number of first-timers in a blend of experienced and new faces. It has six Rajputs, including the Chief Minister, and three Brahmins.
The others who took oath were former Cabinet Ministers Mohinder Singh, Kishan Kapoor, Sarveen Chaudhary and Anil Sharma, former Minister of State Ram Lal Markanday and new faces Suresh Bhardwaj, Vipin Singh Parmar, Virender Kanwar, Vikram Thakur, Gobind Thakur and Rajeev Sahjal, who is a doctor by profession.
Sarveen Chaudhary is the lone woman minister in the cabinet and she belongs to the Other Backward Class.
All the ministers took the oath in Hindi, except Bhardwaj and Gobind Thakur, who took the oath in Sanskrit.
Son of former Telecom Minister Sukh Ram, Anil Sharma defected to the Congress and joined the BJP before the assembly elections in November.
Sharma was inducted into the Virbhadra Singh-led Cabinet in 2013 and allocated the portfolios of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Animal Husbandry. He was also a Minister of State from 1993-97. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s foster sister Arpita is married to Sharma’s son Aayush.
Senior legislators and former Cabinet Ministers Rajeev Bindal, Narender Bragta and Ramesh Dhawala did not find place in the cabinet.
Bindal was named as the Speaker of the assembly.
The BJP won a majority with 44 seats in the 68-member state assembly.
Thakur is the first Chief Minister from Mandi, the second biggest district of Himachal after Kangra. In these elections, the BJP won nine out of the 10 assembly seats in Mandi.
Earlier, Chief Ministers of Himachal hailed from Shimla, Kangra and Sirmaur districts.
Thakur, known for his proximity to Nadda, did his graduation from a Mandi college and post-graduation from Panjab University in Chandigarh.
The BJP took almost a week to decide on the Chief Minister after its chief ministerial candidate Dhumal lost the election. Several names were doing the rounds for the past few days, including those of Nadda, Suresh Bharadwaj, Dhumal and Thakur.
A decision on Thakur’s name was taken unanimously on December 24 at the BJP Legislative Party meeting here, where central observers — Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Singh Tomar — were present.
Outgoing Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his erstwhile cabinet colleagues were conspicuously absent from the ceremony.
–IANS
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Lucknow: Vishal Singh, a renowned social worker from Lucknow, also known as Foodman, has once again made India proud. He was honored by the Happy Hands Gloves Cooperative Limited Company in Korathai, Thailand, for his work with the Hunger Free World Mission.
The Hunger Free World Mission’s meeting was held in Korathai, Thailand, under Vishal Singh’s leadership. Representatives from several countries, including Mr. Raja Dwivedi (Managing Director of Happy Hands Gloves Limited), Thailand Coordinator Mr. Raja Mishra, and member Mr. Varun Singh, attended the event.
Under Vishal Singh’s leadership, the attendees took a pledge to work together toward creating a hunger-free world.
Speaking on the occasion, Vishal Singh explained that the main goal of the Hunger Free World Mission is social participation. He said the mission is not just about feeding people but also about meeting other basic needs of those who are struggling. The mission focuses on helping families of terminally ill patients in hospitals by providing food and shelter. It also works to fulfill essential needs like education, jobs, and care for the elderly.
For the last 16 years, the Vijay Sri Foundation has been providing free services, benefiting thousands of people. Vishal Singh highlighted that the mission aims to gain global recognition like other organizations such as WHO, WWF, and Red Cross, which work for social causes.
During this meeting, Vishal Singh was appointed as the Chairman of the Hunger Free World Mission by representatives from various countries. They also discussed holding regular meetings in different countries to push the mission forward.
Business tycoon Dr. Abhishek Verma has also supported this humanitarian mission, vowing to promote the idea of “Seva Parmo Dharma” (Service is the highest duty) worldwide. Vishal Singh praised him, stating that people like Dr .Abhishek Verma inspire others to work for the betterment of society.
Recently, Romania’s Ambassador, Mr . Daniela Sezonov Ţane, invited Vishal Singh to the Romanian Embassy in Delhi, where they discussed the mission in detail. Impressed by his humanitarian work, she honored Vishal Singh and invited him to Romania to take the mission forward .
Food man Vishal Singh has been serving the people of India for the past 16 years. Through the Vijay Sri Foundation, he provides free meals to cancer patients & their families ,shelter, and education for women & children along with running free old-age homes in Lucknow.
In addition to his humanitarian work, Vishal Singh also addresses issues like crime and corruption through his role as Chairman of Seva Path Media and Managing Director of Vijay Sri Foundation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vishal Singh and his team worked tirelessly to provide food and help to the needy, including starving children, elderly citizens, and pregnant women. Despite contracting the virus himself, he continued to assist others after his recovery. He even created a life-saving oxygen regulator using household items, which was praised by doctors both in India and abroad.
In his address at the meeting, Vishal Singh spoke about his mission to create a hunger-free world. He pointed out that India’s large population, along with issues like unemployment and poverty, has caused the country to fall on the Hunger Index. He urged people to contribute just one handful of grains daily to help create a hunger-free world.
He concluded by saying that through social participation, we can empower the people around us, meet their basic needs, and work together to build a stronger, more prosperous, and developed society.
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