Kollam district panchayat president Sam K Daniel receives the plaque announcing the declaration of constitution literacy from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan | Photo: Mathrubhumi
Kollam: In a remarkable achievement, Kollam has become the first constitution literate district in the country. The announcement of the feat was made on Saturday by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a ceremony, chaired by Finance Minister KN Balagopal, in Kollam.
Declaring Kollam as India’s first constitution literate district, the chief minister said that constitutional values should be merged with our lives and governance, in order to achieve complete constitutional literacy.
“Secularism is constitutional. No religion is above or below another. Efforts to deviate people from secular values should be seen seriously. Here there is freedom to live even without faith in religion. Majority of the people are secular. Attempts should be made to promote scientific temper and rationality,” Vijayan said.
Stressing on the need to preserve the country’s federal system, the chief minister said, “Attempts are being made to destroy the nation’s unity in diversity. Constitutional values rooted in kindness and love for fellow beings will help in challenging all this.”
The district’s achievement is the result of the seven-month long Constitution literacy campaign launched jointly by the Kollam district panchayat, District Planning Committee and Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KLA) in a bid to create awareness about various aspects of the country’s laws and citizen rights.
The aim was to provide constitution literacy to 23 lakh citizens belonging to 7 lakh families in the district. Awareness classes were organised to around 90 per cent of the people in Kollam.
Reportedly, around 16.3 lakh people, above 10 years of age, were educated by 2,200 trainers called ‘senators’, who visited schools, offices, auto stands and tribal councils to create awareness.
The ceremony was attended by numerous leaders, including Minister for Animal Husbandry J Chinchurani, Mayor Prasanna Earnest, NK Premachandran MP, district collector Afsana Praveen, M Naushad MLA, Kovoor Kunjumon MLA, Dr Sujith Vijayan MLA, PS Supal MLA, CR Mahesh MLA and district panchayat president Sam K Daniel among others.
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