Elders lucky to greet & part with members

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, thanked the the 53 members who were retiring from the Rajya Sabha on Friday for cooperating with the two governments during their 6-year term of office. Modi said the Rajya Sabha was lucky that it could invite the new members and bid good-bye to the outgoing members, which privilege the Lok Sabha members did not have. He urged the outgoing members to keep up the Council of States by working on behalf of the States they represented. He said in the next 4 months the States would be getting Rs 43,000 crore for the afforestation programmes. He said the outgoing members should not deem it as retirement but as start of a new avenue. They could have a new perspective owing to their experience in the Rajya Sabha.