Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu ,while presiding over the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration (HIPA) in Shimla, announced to rename the institute after former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Speaking on the occasion, he praised Dr. Singh’s policies for greatly helping the development of India and Himachal Pradesh and said that his efforts brought many benefits and recognition to the state. On the occasion the CM also unveiled the coffee table book published by HIPA.

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He inaugurated the training programme for special educators at the Institute in which 80 teachers would take part and would continue till January 3. He said that this programme would equip teachers with modern techniques for educating children with special needs and would offer alternatives to traditional Braille methods.

As a part of inclusive development in the state, the CM announced an increase in the monthly pension for visually impaired children rising from Rs. 1500 to Rs. 4000 per month until the age of 27. He said that this change would be incorporated into the upcoming budget.

Sukhu said that the state government was taking significant steps to make visually impaired individuals self-reliant and insure their rightful share in the resources of the state. “Himachal Pradesh generates annual income of Rs. 16000 crore while annual expenditure on salaries and pensions amounts to Rs. 27000 crores,” he stated.

Sukhu emphasized the need for a sustainable financial roadmap and called for collective efforts and support from all sections of the society so as to increase the state’s income and secure a prosperous future for the people of the state.

He said that over the past two years the present state government has worked diligently to stabilize the derailed financial condition of the state for which employees and officials of the states have provided their sense support to the government.

He congratulated all the officials and employees of HIPA on the completion of 50 years of its establishment. He said that good governance was the core mantra of Congress Government and effective technology based training programmes for officials was essential to achieve good governance.

HIPA plays an important role in providing quality training to the officers and officials of the state, he said.