Governors important in making cooperative federalism a reality: Prez Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday stated that Governors, who are people with great experience in public life, are vital for making cooperative federalism a reality.

Addressing the 46th Conference of Governors at Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Mukherjee said that Governors occupy an important space in our constitutional structure and function as a 'sentinel' of the Constitution and a 'live link' with the Union.

Stating that the authority that Governors or Lieutenant Governors exercise is based on a moral premise, the President said that as long as the exercise of that authority is confined to the boundaries of the Constitution, he did not see the possibility of any diminution of their role.

President Mukherjee said that he appreciated Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's suggestion of actively involving Governors in the internal security related apparatus and stated that he was happy to note that eight Union Ministers, including Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State, will tour the North-East every fortnight to review the works related to their departments.

The President also called upon the Governors of the North Eastern states to become active participants of the Government's 'Act East' policy and requested External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to consider convening a separate meeting with the Governors of these states to sensitize them on the finer aspects of this policy.

Pointing out the importance of education in transformation of the country, the President urged also Prime Minister Narendra Modi to examine the possibility of progressively increasing spending on education from 3.8 percent of GDP at present to six percent of GDP.

Pointing out that objectives of Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan cannot be achieved without peoples' participation and the involvement of NGOs and RWAs, the President urged the gathering to spread the message of sanitation in their states and union territories and ensure that the nation attains the goal of a clean India by 2019.