Chief minister Mamata Banerjee urged the student community to uphold the longcherished tradition of peace and harmony in Bengal. She was addressing a gathering of students assembled to celebrate 10 years of Kanyashreeat Dhana Dhanya stadium this afternoon.

Chief secretary HK Dwivedi, home secretary BP Gopalika, ministers Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Pradip Mazumdar were present at the function along with Dr Shashi Panja, state minister for women and child development and social welfare, the department that looks after Kanyashree. Senior officials of the department were also present at the function. Miss Banerjee said, “A girl child feels secure in Bengal. Kanyashreehas helped lakhs of girl students to pursue education up to the university level by getting scholarships.” Miss Banerjee had mooted the project which has got global recognition by the United Nations.

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The chief minister added, “Bengal was the seat of the freedom movement in India. If you go to the Cellular Jail in Andaman you will find 90 per cent of the revolutionaries were from Bengal. On the eve of Independence Day, we should pay respects to those who laid down their lives to make India free.” Miss Banerjee urged the school, college and university authorities to take their students to Alipore Jail Museum to pay respect to the revolutionaries.

Miss Banerjee read out two poems penned by her in Kabita Bitan, namely Amar Thikana and Matir Ghare. The former was composed when she was observing fast during the Singur movement. Miss Banerjee also composed a song for her pet project Kanyashree which was later sung by Lopamudra Mitra.

Mr Dwivedi, chief secretary said the scheme was introduced in 2013 and during the past one decade it has helped students to be selfreliant. It has stopped early marriage of girls on many occasions.Five districts were awarded for implementing Kanyashree programme successfully. Hooghly district got the first award followed by Howrah and East Midnapore. Nadia and North 24-Parganas got special prizes.

Three schools, namely Adarsha Balika Bidyalaya, Bagbazar Multipurpose Government Sponsored School and Gangapuri Siksha Sadan Girls’ School got the awards. Three colleges, namely Dinabandhu College, Maharani Kasiswari College and Shivnath Shastri College got awards for implementing the schemes successfully. Chief minister wished the girls every success in life and believed that they would become world’s best someday