Team Herald
MARGAO: The 14th State Youth Festival of the Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs was inaugurated on Tuesday by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar and others at Margao Ravindra Bhavan.
Over 1300 youth will be taking part in 25 different competitions, where 100 youth will be selected and sent to Raipur for the National Youth Festival. The students who will be taking part in the competitions were selected at the district level youth festivals held in Sanquelim and Canacona, earlier this month.
On the occasion, Parsekar conveyed his best wishes for the youth to get selected for the National Youth Festival in Raipur.
“Education facilities in villages have developed at par with the towns and cities of Goa. A village level youth can now compete with the city youth in all aspects,” Parsekar said.
“We have to take the art and culture of our state global and also preserve the cultural heritage of our State. The Youth festivals are aimed at doing that; and I am happy that the students are successfully doing that,” Parsekar added.
Requesting the Goan students to reach to the Chennai disaster victims, the chief minister suggested that the student councils and NSS units could take the lead.
Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar said that “competitions will be and have to be an exhibition of skills.”
Stating that the youth are the strength of Goa, the minister called for utilising the youth for the development of the State.
Sanquelim MLA Pramod Sawant said, “Goa didn’t have a youth policy; but the sports minister got it and implemented. The government understands the youth and the youth have to cooperate with the government for proper implementation of the youth policy to make it a success.”
State Youth Awards were presented to Neha Khorjuvenkar for the year 2013-14 and to Raghuvir Mahale Purohit for 2014-15. The Anjuna Caisua Social Sports and Cultural Club was awarded for its various achievements in the field of social work and sports.
