President Of India Flags Off 1st North East India Mt. Everest Expedition 2013

Imphal, 19 March 2013

President Of India Flags Off 1st North East India Mt. Everest Expedition 2013 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi

The 1st North East India Top of the World Mt. Everest Expedition was today flagged off by Hon’ble President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee from the Yellow Drawing Room of Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

The ceremony started from 1200 hours, where the President of India was received at the Yellow Drawing Room of Rashtrapati Bhavan by Shri DS Poonia, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Manipur along with Dr. L. Surjit, the leader of the expedition. The President was introduced to the Climbers and members of the Organising Committee by the leader of the expedition.

Shri DS Poonia, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Manipur and Chef De-Mission of the 1st North East India Top of the World Mt. Everest Expedition in his introductory speech highlighted on the essence of the expedition, he elaborated on the objectives and highlight of the expedition.

The President of India in his speech congratulated the NEC and Govt of Manipur for undertaking to support such a maiden venture. He congratulated the climbers and wished them a safe return after the successful completion of the expedition. He also said, the expedition is undertaken to create history on its completion.

During the ceremony a Coffee Table Book on Manipur, a memento and a Souvenir commemorating the expedition was presented to Hon’ble President by Shri DS Poonia, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Manipur and Shri Santosh Shekhar, PRO of the expedition.

The ceremony was attended by Member of Parliament of North Eastern States along with many known invitees from North East India.

The 1st North East India Top of the World Mt. Everest Expedition is being sponsored by North Eastern Council, Govt. of India through the Planning Department, Govt. of Manipur and is being implemented by Manipur Mountaineering and Trekking Association, Manipur. This is the first Mt. Everest Expedition comprising exclusively of Mountaineers of North East India and being supported by Government of Manipur. Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur Shri Okram Ibobi Singh is the Chief Patron and the Chief Secretary of Manipur Shri DS Poonia is the Chef de-Mission.

The climbers of the expedition will be leaving for Kathmandu on 22nd March 2013 and then proceed on their journey to Mt. Everest.

See a Photo Gallery here

(Santosh Shekhar)
PRO- 1st North East India Top of the World Mt. Everest Expedition

Also below listed is the speech of Chef De-Mission:

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE 1ST NE INDIA MT. EVEREST EXPEDITION BY SHRI DS POONIA, IAS, CHIEF SECRETARY, MANIPUR AND CHEF-DE-MISSION

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, and myself, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Hon’ble Minister, Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister DoNER, Shri Paban Singh Ghatowar, Hon’ble Ministers and Members of Parliament from the North Eastern States, Officers from the Central and State Governments and the NEC for accepting our invitation for attending this prestigious function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. It is my privilege to welcome you all to this Flag-off Ceremony.

I would also like to welcome the Team members, Invitees and friends from the Media, both print and electronic, whose contribution is vital to the success of this Mission. I welcome you all to this Flag-off Ceremony.

Hon’ble President, Sir, this will be the first ever Mt. Everest expedition comprising Team members only from North East India. This Mission is funded by the NEC, Shillong and supported by the Planning Department, Government of Manipur. The Manipur Mountaineering and Trekking Association (MMTA), led by Dr. L. Surjit, is leading the Expedition.

The objective of the Mount Everest Expedition is to share the experiences of adventure-sports among the youths and to foster amongst them a spirit of risk taking, co-operative team work and create capacity of “ready and vital” response. It is also aimed at creating alertness amongst the participants to challenging situations and inculcate quality of ‘endurance’ in our young people.

Hon’ble President, Sir, both the NEC and the NE States recognize the need to empower our young people and give them self-confidence, endurance, excellence, courage and create strong fraternal bonds between different, often very diverse, ethnic communities. We believe that only when they are thus empowered, they will gain the confidence to overcome obstacles in their lives and create a new generation for a better nation tomorrow. We aim to inculcate in our young boys and girls the best qualities of body and mind through adventure sports and help them become model citizens of our society.

Through adventure sports we also aim to enhance their leadership qualities and to enable them to understand the environment in which they live. This is a sport that pitches them against nature. This is a sport that exposes them to the natural environment and make them realise the importance of conserving our natural environment. Hon’ble President, Sir, this Mission will, we hope, teach them this and more. By putting youths from six NE States in same environment, we wish to create a cross-cultural understanding and help promote national integration.

Hon’ble President, Sir, the Manipur Mountaineering Trekking Association (MMTA) is committed to promoting this unique sport. It is their endeavor to give the youths of the region a platform where they can continuously engage themselves with nature. The MMTA imparts training in various adventure sports. It was recognised by the Govt. of Manipur as the State Adventure of Institute in the year 1992. I am happy to inform you, Sir, that it was none other than Sir Tenzing Norgay- the first person to scale Mt. Everest (along with Sir Edmund Hillary) who laid the Foundation Stone of MMI at Lamdan in Manipur on 27 December 1985.

Since then MMTA has been able to produce some excellent climbers including Mrs. G. Anita Devi who also became the first lady from North Eastern India to be conferred the prestigious Padmashree in 2004. Other pioneer climbers of MMTA include Mountaineer Shri Th. Thambou, Smt. B. Umeshowri Devi, Smt. M. Jamini Devi and Smt. Kh. Bedamani Devi. Mr. Nongmaithem Suraj Singh, who became the 1st Manipuri to scale Mt. Everest, is also a product of the MMTA. The MMTA can proudly claim to be the first voluntary organisation in the country to impart training to the Indian Army in Pre- Basic Mountaineering Course.

Sir at this point may I highlight some aspects of this Expedition:
- This is the first Expedition comprising exclusively of the Mountaineers from the North Eastern States.
- Mrs. Anshu Jamsenpa, the first lady from Arunachal Pradesh, who has scaled Mt. Everest twice already is a part of the Team and is daring to create history by scaling Mt. Everest for the third time.
- Mr. N. Chinkheinganba, 16 year old boy from Manipur, on completion of the Expedition will be the youngest to scale the Mt. Everest from the region. - And it is the first Expedition supported by the NEC and the Government of Manipur.

Hon’ble President, Sir, we are extremely grateful to you and the Rashtrapati Bhawan for agreeing to Flag-off this initiative. We are confident that you will continue to patronize and extend your support to such initiatives from the North Eastern States and the NEC in the years to come. The MMTA would, on this occasion, like to extend an invitation for visiting the MMTA Complex at Lamdan in Manipur on its 28th Raising Day on 27-12-2013. We look forward to your confirmation.

Unlike the Olympics and other sports championships, mountaineers have no audience around them except Mother Nature. They play on Mother Nature’s lap against rolling boulders, icy air and under threat of avalanches. I appeal to all of us present here to bless the brave mountaineers from the North East and wish them all success.

Thank you Hon’ble President, Sir.

Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi 20 March, 2013