20-yr-old takes over Uttarakhand CM role on Girl Child Day
Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said nominating Shrishti Goswami as the chief minister of child assembly for a day and organising a session in the state legislative assembly on national girl child day is a matter of pride and respect for all the girls in the state.
Twenty-year-old Shrishti Goswami who took over the charge of Uttarakhand chief minister for one day on Sunday gave suggestions on three main points — safety of children and girls, checking drug usage among youngsters and stopping hill migration in the state.

Goswami, who hails from Haridwar, on the occasion national girl child day on Sunday, made her suggestions during the child assembly session while she interacted with officials in Dehradun.
Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said nominating Goswami as the chief minister of child assembly for a day and organising a session in the state legislative assembly on national girl child day is a matter of pride and respect for all the girls in the state. “Such initiatives will also inspire them to fulfil their responsibilities towards the society,” he said.
Goswami, a student at a Roorkee-based institution, while symbolically holding the position of the state’s CM for one day, reviewed various ongoing government-run development programmes after officers made presentations before her.
Goswami, while talking to reporters, said, “As the CM, my priority was issues related to children as I know what kind of problems they face. These suggestions will be put before the State Child Rights Commission which will then be conveyed to the CM,” she said.
ABOUT THE AUTHORNeeraj SantoshiNeeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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