Morale of people staying in border areas very high: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Sunday that despite a spike in tensions between India and Pakistan, the morale of the people living in border areas was very high.

He said that though the administration is making arrangements to shift the people to safer places, the residents of border villages say they are ready to face any eventuality as long as it helps teach a lesson to the enemy.

Addressing a public function in the border district of Kathua, Singh invoked Mahatma Gandhi's principle of non-violence on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti and said: "Non-violence is not a virtue of the meek or weak and at the same time, non-violence does not imply succumbing to violence."

Paying tributes to military and para-military personnel who lost their lives during the recent turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said: "We can never repay for their sacrifice and the nation will remain eternally indebted to its martyred Jawans."

Earlier, Singh inaugurated a science exhibition put up by school children.

Singh donated computers, tables and other equipment to schools run in the region. He announced that a tourist spot will be developed in the Mandi area by MPLADS (MP Local Area Development Scheme) fund.

--IANS

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