New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met a delegation of leading Sikh intellectual voices from across the country at his official residence here.
The meeting witnessed freewheeling interaction by the Prime Minister with the delegation on diverse topics like farmer welfare, youth empowerment, drug free society, National Educational Policy, skilling, employment, technology and Punjab's overall development trajectory.
The Prime Minister, while expressing his happiness at meeting the delegation, said the intellectuals are opinion makers of the society.
Urging the members of the delegation to engage and educate the public and work towards making the citizenry properly informed, he emphasised the importance of the spirit of unity which acts as the central pillar amidst the wide and beautiful diversity of our country.
The Prime Minister talked about the significance of education in mother tongue.
"Efforts are being made to develop professional courses in Indian languages so that higher education in mother tongue becomes reality," the Prime Minister said.
It is learnt that the delegation thanked the Prime Minister for the invitation and said that they had never imagined that the Prime Minister of the country would engage with them in such an informal setting.
They also appreciated the continuous and multiple steps taken by the Prime Minister for the betterment of Sikh community.
Minister of State for the External Affairs Ministry VK Singh told Rajya Sabha the government has adopted a "multi-pronged approach to give respite to the wives deserted by their NRI husbands".
The victims were accompanied by the SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, party MP Naresh Gujral and heads of Sikh religious bodies SGPC and DSGPC.
Justice Anand Venkatesh allowed a batch of petitions and criminal original pleas from various spa and massage centres seeking quashing of FIRs and release of girls (who are therapists) lodged in government homes.
Supreme court said this while quashing an case lodged by a Maharashtra-based nurse against a doctor, who were in a live-in relationship "for quite some time".
The maximum number of incidents took place in 2008 when 943 cases were reported. The year witnessed most lives--167--lost to violence and 2,354 people were injured, said the year-wise data.
