President Kovind sheds light on North East and CAA in his address to Parliament

NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind while addressing a joint session of Parliament on January 31 spoke about CAA and improved security situation in the North East.

To express his support over CAA, he said, "In the times after Partition, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi had said that those Hindus and Sikhs who don’t want to stay in Pakistan, can come to India. It is the duty of the government of India to give them a normal life. I am happy that both Houses of Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to fulfill the dreams of those who built our country,” the President said. CAA aims to protect religiously persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan by giving them Indian Citizenship. The cut-off date for those to be given citizenship in India has been fixed at, on or before 31st December 2014.

"The decrease in terrorist activities in Jammu-Kashmir demonstrates that public cooperation can be effective in the fight against terrorism. The security situation in the Northeast has also improved significantly due to the concerted efforts of the Government," said President Kovind.

The President said that the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution by two-thirds majority in both the Houses of Parliament is "historic" as it paves the way for equitable development of Jammu - Kashmir and Ladakh.

The President shed light on the appointment of CDS and creation of the Department of Military Affairs, which will improve coordination among the three services while speeding up their modernization and the process of making them self-reliant

He also highlighted India's achievement towards clean energy and gender equality. He spoke about strengthening relations with ASEAN, African countries as well as other countries of the world.

He spoke about India's space research program and said that the government has already approved Chandrayaan-3. ISRO is also working expeditiously on the manned spacecraft programme – Gaganyaan, as well as Aditya-1 Mission.

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