Bhubaneswar: Sankalp se Siddhi Samruddha Bharat aau Bikashita Odisha, a seminar-cum-cultural programme, was organised by a non-governmental organisation YES We Can at Soochana Bhawan here Monday. The event was envisaged to make Odisha a developed state by encouraging the youth of the state to work towards its development.
The programme commenced with lighting of lamp by mountaineer Kalpana Das, nicknamed as Himalaya Queen, who in her inaugural address narrated her journey to the top of the Mount Everest. “Mountaineering is a very difficult sport and when you climb, you are on your own in fact it’s same for everyone,” she said. She mentioned that whenever she had gone on an expedition, she never had forgotten to carry a copy of Bhagvad Gita and a picture of Lord Jagannath with herself. “I have once in 2004 and again in 2006. I had to return after scaling 7,300 metres due to bad weather and health conditions but it didn’t deter me,” she added. “In 2008, I lived my dream and scaled the highest peak”, she said, adding, “So don’t stop, you would fail but it’s your persistence that will ultimately make you a winner.”
Speaking on the occasion, founder of YES We Can Shishir Sahoo said, “We started this organisation January 23 last year with an aim to work towards making Odisha a developed state.” He stressed on making the youth feel responsible as they are the ones “to whom the baton would be passed”. “The posterity, the inheritors of the state and the millennials must understand that development is not just the work of the governments rather it’s a collective responsibility of the society,” he pointed out.
Notably, by 2022, YES We Can has aimed to make around one lakh youths to take oath for a developed Odisha.
