Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki on Sunday said that public representatives and bureaucrats should serve the society with utmost sensitivity, cooperation and dedication.
The Governor was speaking on the concluding day of three-day chintan shivir organized by Haryana Government at Timber Trail in Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh.
He expressed happiness that members of the cabinet, including the Chief Minister and senior bureaucrats have taken collective decisions for the development of state in group wise meetings in this shivir.
He said that the constitution of any country is designed in accordance with its nature and culture, rather than any particular ideology.
He also sang the shivir’s geet and said that this is not only shivir geet but it is a very old song which had contained the culture of the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Manohar lal said that the first chintan shivir organised by the State Government was an unprecedented success.
It produced encouraging results and infused new energy in the participants for building a new Haryana, said he.
Manohar lal said that all senior officers of Haryana would now work together as a team to ensure that the benefits of development reached the last person in the queue.
Participation by political personalities, officers, media persons and youth who have logged achievements in their respective fields, was also ensured at the shivir.
The Chief Minister also announced to celebrate Sant Kabir Das Jayanti in each district in June 2018.
Manohar lal said the film screened during the first session of the Chintan Shivir included the credo given by the Prime Minister. Narendra Modi, to all civil services officers to remember the sentiment of the moment when they first learnt that they had been selected to IAS or IPS, and to keep alive the resolution they made then to change the system.
The Chief Minister urged the officers to introspect if they had gone off track. And if they had, then see how far they have deviated. “I have full faith that the officers can reignite the emotion of that first moment when they resolved to be the force that changes the system, and to serve the people,” he added.
He also exhorted everyone to contribute towards making Haryana healthy, educated and prosperous.
Working drafts of various departments unveiled
The first session of the last day of the chintan-shivir saw unveiling of working drafts for new action plans of various departments to double the income of farmers, to enhance efficiency of utilization of water, make more youth of Haryana Saksham and to rejuvenate urban life which will be reviewed on regular basis in every two years.
Speaking on this occasion, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, OP Dhankar, who chaired group-I on the topic of ‘Agriculture Reforms for doubling farmer’s income’ gave a presentation to achieve the desired goal and Prime Minister’s vision to double the income of farmers by 2022.
Dhankar said that government had fixed a target to ensure farmers income between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh per acre. To achieve this target, we would encourage diversification of crops, increase productivity, cattle-rearing, direct marketing of produce, agri service, value additional packaging, branding and integrated farming, said he.
The Minister listed various recommendation made by the group and added that all the suggestions and recommendations would immensely help to achieve the desired results.
Principal Secretary, Irrigation and Water Resources, Anurag Rastogi highlighted the challenges discussed in the group-II chaired by Public Works (Building and Roads) Minister, Rao Narbir Singh and co-chaired by Minister of State for Public Health Engineering, Dr Banwari lal on ‘Optimum utilization of every drop of water’.
Rastogi said that a state water policy on utilization of surface and ground water should be formed. Other recommendations of the group included enactment of state groundwater and management regulation act, state water regulatory authority, enforcement of existing bye-laws on rainwater harvesting. The group also recommended that budget allocation for micro irrigation should be doubled and micro irrigation should be made mandatory for over a period of time.
He said that farmers should be encouraged and incentivized for adopting less water intensive crops and installation of energy efficient pumps. In addition, extensive awareness campaign should also be launched by the Departments of Agriculture, Irrigation, Public Health Engineering, Development and Panchayats and NGOs, added he.
Sharing recommendations of group –III on ‘Saksham Haryana’ headed by Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, Principal Secretary, Skill Development and Industrial Training Department, TC.Gupta informed that Saksham Yuva scheme had been implemented to equip the youth with requisite skills for employability and entrepreneurship.
He listed the reforms planned by the group members including the overhauling of industrial training in ITI, aligning the qualification of government job with National Skill Development Qualification framework level, strengthening of assessment and certification agencies of skills, training of unemployed youth for skill and entrepreneurships and launch of aggressive campaign for placement.
While giving details of group-IV formed to suggest measures for Urban Rejuvenation which was chaired by Urban local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain, Principal Secretary, Urban local Bodies, Anand Mohan Sharan said that Housing problems are very acute in urban areas.
Therefore, emphasis should be given on the rental housing in the urban area and private sector will also be included in the process of providing rental housing, said he.
He suggested that the provision of the Model Tenancy Act should be incorporated in the State Tenancy Act in order to increase the adoption of rental housing. Inclusive slum development and industrial housing should also be taken care off in urban areas.
The group also suggested to introduce a robust accounting mechanism in the municipalities, to make the municipalities financially sound, the share of the GST should be provided to UlBs, the property tax collection system should be based on strong incentives and disincentives and connected through App, common cadre for the municipalities should be implemented, more housing should be developed in Tehsils/sub-divisions to ease the pressure on the bigger towns, housing demand should be addressed by increasing in FAR in the existing and upcoming projects.