Over 200 tribal youth including 63 girls from four Naxalite-hit states today visited the CRPF headquarters here and had a feel of the functioning of the paramilitary force which is in the forefront in the fight against left wing extremism in the country.
The youth arrived in Jammu and Kashmir's winter capital Jammu on Friday as part of the 10th tribal youth exchange programme of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and are scheduled to meet the state Governor N N Vohra on December 1, a day before their departure.
The group form eleven districts of Jharkhand, Odisha, Telangana and Maharashtra, will also visit theinternational border in the Suchetgarh sector here on November 29 and will be hosted by the Border Security Force (BSF).
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"The visit to the CRPF headquarters has ignited a desire in us to join the force and serve the country, teenager D Kumar Mardani, resident of Odisha's Malkangiri district told PTI.
The CRPF hosted the youth at its group centre at Bantalab where they were briefed and shown a movie about the history, achievements and sacrifice of the force by Commandant of 166th battalion and Public Relations Officer Ashish Kumar Jha.
The group was taken to the composite hospital, family welfare centre and general officers mess besides a live demonstration of commando training.
They were also given a shortbriefing on the weapons used by the force.
"This is our first visit to Jammu and Kashmir and we are enjoying it. If given anopportunity I would like to join the CRPF to serve the nation," Poonam Tikka from Maharashtra said.
Mardani said he and his friends were enthusiasticabout the visit back home,everyone was against it due to the threat of terrorism. There is nothing like that here, he said.
His friends nodded in agreement.
They said their village is Naxal affected and lagged in developmental activities.
"We are facing threats and are not able to continue our studies due to naxalism and poverty," said Mahesh.
They youth said they would share their experience with villagers back home and work for overall development of the villages.
Director state NYKS Sukhdev Singh lauded the CRPFfor hosting the tribal youth.
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