Prez flags off expedition to Mount Everest

President Pranab Mukherjee today flagged off a maiden expedition from Northeast to Mount Everest which includes a 16-year-old boy who could become the youngest to scale the highest peak.
N Chinkheinganba was among the team members who called on the President today here during which Mukherjee handed over the expedition flag to the team leader Dr L Surjit Singh.
This is the first expedition which has representation from every state of the Northeast.
If he does it, Chinkheinganba will be the youngest to scale the Mt. Everest, while another team member, Anshu Jamsenpa, a resident of Arunachal Pradesh, will complete her hat trick after having scaled the peak twice.

During a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President said the expedition is important not only because it seeks to scale Mt. Everest, the highest in the world, but because it symbolises mankind's indomitable spirit to fight against all odds, an official release said.
The expedition to Mt. Everest is organised by Government of Manipur through the Manipur Mountaineering and Trekking Association. It is sponsored by the North Eastern Council, Shillong.
The main objective of the expedition is to share the experiences of adventure-sports among the youth and foster in them endurance, a spirit of risk-taking, team work and the capacity of ready and vital response to challenging situations, it said.