Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan today attended the 101st birth anniversary celebrations of Bharat Ratna Shri Karpuri Thakur in Samastipur, Bihar. Paying tributes to Bharat Ratna Shri Karpuri Thakur ji, the Minister said that even insects, birds and animals live for themselves, if one lives for oneself then what is the point of living, only he lives who lives for the country, people and others. Karpuri Thakur ji's life was also not for himself but for the people, the poor, the downtrodden and the farmers. He said that time is like the flow of a river in which everyone gets swept away but there are some who create history. Karpuri ji has created a new history in the service of the poor and the backward.

Shri Chauhan said that I bow to the land of Karpoorigram which gave birth to Karpoori ji. His slogan was, “90 out of 100 are exploited, the exploited have challenged, 90% of wealth, land and governance is ours”. If you want rights, learn to fight, learn to stand firm at every step, if you want to live, learn to die. He said that reservation was given to the backward classes by Karpoori ji, I bow to him.

Union Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan said that Shri Karpoori Thakur ji had decided to give free education till matriculation to give equal rights to the poor. He was in favour of imparting education in one's own language. He had said that he was not against English but children in villages get good education in their mother tongue. Karpoori ji ended the compulsion of English in matriculation. Shri Chauhan said that there are many inspiring incidents in his life. When Karpoori ji was the Chief Minister, his kurta got torn in the program on Jayaprakash Narayan's birthday, then Chandrashekhar ji had requested everyone to donate for his kurta. He had also donated that amount to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. He said that I pay my tribute to him. Let us all follow the path shown by him, Shri Chouhan said.

Vice President Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of Bihar Shri Arif Mohammad Khan, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Dr. Harivansh Narayan Singh, Shri Ram Nath Thakur, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Bhagirath Chaudhary, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Nityanand Rai, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

Later, Union Agriculture Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan held a meeting with the concerned officials at the Secretariat in Patna regarding the upcoming program of the Central Government's ambitious scheme- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi and reviewed the preparations for the program. Shri Chauhan gave necessary instructions to the officials regarding the arrangements of the program. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Shri Samrat Chaudhary, Minister Shri Mangal Pandey, other public representatives and officials of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry of the state and the Central Government were present in the meeting.

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