Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday called upon the people, particularly mediapersons, to leave behind the cynical view about Jharkhand and urged them to be more sensitive to the developmental challenges facing the State.
Speaking at a function organised to mark Press Day, Hemant turned a bit emotional and said, "I feel hurt when somebody discusses the bad image of Jharkhand. This is not a time for nitpicking but to move ahead and give a bright future to Jharkhand." Expressing gratitude to the contribution made by media, the Chief Minister also pointed out that the State cannot get adequate Central assistance if we do not generate our internal resources.
"But the irony is that whenever we talk of boosting resources people take to the streets to oppose it. How will development happenIJ" asked Hemant.While expressing his Government's resolve to put development agenda ahead of politics, he defended his Government's stand on the auction of balu-ghats, which could have generated a revenue of Rs 400 crore. The issue had rocked the State inciting strong protests from political parties across the spectrum.
"When we want to generate resources, people tend to create obstacles in the way," conceded the Chief Minister.In a candid admission, Hemant also articulated his Government's inability to provide job to each and every single person in the State. The CM stressed on generating different avenues of employment to meet the job requirement.
"We can even encourage an educated youth to venture into businesses like piggery, poultry. Government can't provide job to every individual," maintained Hemant. The Chief Minister, on the occasion, launched an insurance policy for journalists working in Jharkhand. Under the scheme, the State Government will contribute 75 per cent while a journalist will contribute 25 per cent of the premium to get an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh. The scheme will be maintained by the National Insurance Company limited.
Notably, Soren distributed fellowship certificates to as many as 72 journalists from across the State for completing their media fellowship launched by the Public Relations Department during the tenure of Arjun Munda. Earlier, Ranchi MP Subodh Kant Sahay pushed a proposal of housing for journalists and lauded the effort of the State Government in providing insurance cover to journalists. Sahay also coined the idea of taking media's help in policy making. Appreciating works done my media, Sahay said, "Media can help in fixing agenda for ministries."
Finance Minister Rajendra Singh also praised media for helping in effective governance and appealed for continuous guidance in policy matters. "Media should dedicate a column for Government mentioning areas of improvement," said Singh. Chief Secretary RS Sharma stressed on the role of media to create environment conducive for development.
The other speakers, including Kishore Kumar Malviya of Mahua TV channel on the occasion called for building institutions for the development of the State. Malviya, while taking pride in some of the good institutions set up in Jharkhand proposed the idea of a center of excellence on journalism similar to Indian Institute of Mass Communication for the State which the Chief Secretary assured to look into.