President Ram Nath Kovind today said he was deeply inspired by the culture and traditions of Rajasthan.
Speaking at a function here, Kovind said, in the past, he had been to districts like Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Pali, Sirohi, Chittorgarh, Kota, Udaipur, Bundi in Rajasthan.
The president mentioned the names of great personalities from the state like Maharana Pratap, Rana Sanga, Durgadas Chauhan and others, including Param Vir Chakra awardee Major Shaitan Singh and the Kargil martyrs.
Kovind said when the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the Rashtrapati Bhawan in January, he was served tea made from olive leaves which he really liked.
The tea was processed at a plant in Bikaner.
On the occasion, the president launched three schemes -- the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Antyoday Swarojgar Yojana, Sundar Singh Bhandar EBC (economically backward class) Swarojgaar Yojana and a scheme for the waiver of swarojgar (business) loans for SCs/STs/OBCs/sweepers/differently-abled persons after 1980-81.
Under the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Antyoday Swarojgar Yojana, loans of up to Rs 50,000, on a four-per cent interest rate, will be given to 50,000 ST/SC/OBC and MBC families.
Under the Sundar Singh Bhandari EBC Swarojgar Yojana, a loan of Rs 50,000, on a four-per cent interest rate, will be given to 50,000 economically backward families of the general category.
Kovind also gave cheques to the first few beneficiaries of the schemes in the presence of Governor Kalyan Singh, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal, state Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, city Mayor Ashok Lahoti and others.
Raje said the efforts of her government in the last four-and-a-half years managed to pull the state out of the "BIMARU" category and accelerated development.
Earlier, the president, along with his wife, arrived in a special aircraft of the Indian Air Force at the Sanganer airport, where the governor and the chief minister received him.
Kovind also met the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court, Pradeep Nandrajog, and other high court judges at the Raj Bhawan.
The president will leave for Ajmer in a helicopter tomorrow, where he will visit Pushkar and the dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti.
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