Chief Minister Raghubar Das said, yet again on Sunday, that the State was moving in right direction, vision and commitment in his leadership under guidance of a charismatic Prime Minister at the Centre.
In Jharkhand Conclave-2017 organised by Prabhat Khabar a day before its 34th Foundation Day to discuss how Jharkhand should look like by 2025, Das said that government was ready to accept all encouraging bouquets and constructive brickbats to see a happy and prosperous Jharkhand by 2025.
“We have fixed our targets, set priorities and have been moving steadily ahead in that direction. We all know that there are problems, and most of them have remained consistent since inception of the State till we assumed the office. But we have left the days of instabilities, handicapped vision and policies back only to move forward in direction of making the State one of the most developed one by 2025,” said the CM.
The CM also discussed development programmes running in State in the field of education, healthcare, industries, employment, information-technology and infrastructure for children, youth, women and under-privileged, and said that all these programmes were about to start paying in near future.
However, had the CM not left the programme right after his address for taking part in another programme scheduled in latehar, he could have come across strong criticism of government plans and policies by ex-CM and JVM Supremo and noted Economist and renowned Social Activist Jean Drèze, both of whom took on the very vision of current government.
“Big industries and long term vision are not bad. But we will have to also look into comparatively smaller and short-term needs of poor people in State too. Stop for a while and see what we have done to our education system, the healthcare and many other sectors of such importance. I am sure that the kind of misery the government has shown investing in education and healthcare, Jharkhand in 2025 is certainly going to appear very ugly if government doesn’t change its priorities,” said Marandi.
However, union ministers, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha strongly opposed to the oppositions’ ‘half glass empty’ approach saying that the Jharkhand was very much on the line of Centre’s vision of India in 2030. Both said that the vision of the government was perfectly right and results had started reflecting in numbers, too.
“Keeping our approach positive is the most important thing. Jharkhand and states like this have been undergoing transformational change of social security, development, education and healthcare. There were just 7-8 flights from Ranchi three years ago, which has increased to 22-23 daily flights. We are coming with local connectivity plans. It is important to get daily bread and butter. But it is also equally important to get aspirations fulfilled, and governments, both in Centre and State have been doing exactly the same through their pro-people plans,” said Sinha.
Radha Mohan Singh, at the same time, came up with plans and steps being implemented in State. He said that previous governments, both in Centre and State, had ruined possibilities to move forward with their scams and inability to work on vision, if any. “Of course these three years in Centre have not been as miraculous as to wipe out all the dents and stains of wrongdoings of rest 67 years post independence. But the vision with which we have moved forwards has definitely printed numerous of glossy pictures,” Singh summed up.
Rajya Sabha MP Harivansh, however, said on the occasion that governments needed to revisit their actions and outcomes. “Of course all need development. But we need to define development first. Government has been doing so many things, but CAG report doesn’t authenticate it. Sectors like healthcare, education and rural development still pose gloomy picture. We will have to cross-check possible outcome of our steps, as any action or step taken without taking people’s gross happiness in account would ultimately land the mass into a big mess,” opined Harivansh where Prabhat Khabar Chief Editor Ashutosh Chaturvedi, State Editor Anuj Sinha, Resident Editor Vijay Pathak, many MPs, MlAs, government officials and others were also present.