CM Hemant Soren celebrates Jharkhand's 25th anniversary with state scholars in UK

London: Chief Minister Hemant Soren celebrated the 25th anniversary of Jharkhand’s statehood in London with students from the region making their mark as beneficiaries of a prominent India-UK scholarship programme.

At a special celebration at Westminster Chapel on Thursday evening, Soren was greeted with tunes and poems from Jharkhand by the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda (MGJSM) scholars, who were later felicitated by the chief minister.

In partnership with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Chevening-MGJSM scholarship has been supporting marginalised and under-represented communities from the state in recent years.

“We have the skills in our state, and this is our way of nurturing those abilities,” said Soren, in his address delivered in Hindi.

“This scholarship is like fuel. It is the students' own capabilities that will see them achieve great heights on a global stage," he said.

Soren shared details of his meeting with Seema Malhotra, the Indo-Pacific minister in the FCDO, earlier on Thursday, during which they deliberated upon advancing this Jharkhand-UK cooperation in education, skills and inclusive development.

The scholarship scheme was hailed as a “living example” of the India-UK partnership, and the CM’s office said that heritage conservation and people-to-people ties formed a key pillar of their wide-ranging discussions.

Soren proposed collaboration in the field of conservation of Jharkhand’s megaliths and monoliths, drawing on the UK's best practices, such as the Stonehenge prehistoric site. He also invited the British Indian minister to visit Jharkhand to take the discussions forward.

The delegation, including MLA Kalpana Murmu Soren, arrived in London following the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, as part of an international tour aimed at showcasing Jharkhand at the global stage for the next phase of its development journey.

The ongoing UK leg of the visit is focussed on investment outreach, policy and institutional collaboration, academic engagements and interaction with the Indian diaspora against the backdrop of the wider India-UK economic partnership.

The overall objective of this first-of-its-kind visit is to enhance Jharkhand’s global visibility, deepen international partnerships and support efforts towards employment generation, industrial development, and sustainable economic growth in the state.