Participatory democracy key to responsive, accountable governance: Rana

Jammu, June 16, 2021: National Conference Provincial President Mr Devender Singh Rana today urged the cadre to intensify the public reach-out campaign by maintaining Covid Appropriate Behaviour, saying participatory democracy holds key to responsive and accountable governance.

“In democracy final authority rests with the people and hence every political entity has to remain prepared to face the test through a democratic process”, Mr Rana said in an exhaustive interaction through virtual mode with the party functionaries of the Kishtwar district, and referred to encouraging mandate to the National Conference in the elections to District Development Councils.

The trust reposed by the people in National Conference is acknowledgment of the good governance in different spells and efforts to satiate economic, developmental and political aspirations of the people, Mr Rana said, adding that this spirit has to be sustained by reaching out to the people and helping them out of the issues they are facing, especially during the prevailing pandemic times. The cadre can become a bridge in solving the problems, which have increased manifold on all fronts, he added.

The Provincial President deliberated over a range of subjects including supply position of essentials, functioning of utility services like power and drinking water, economic slowdown and growing unemployment.

While emphasizing the need for filling up of the vacant posts in various government departments to tackle the burgeoning unemployment problem, Mr Rana sought absorption of the permanent residents in big ticket projects, public sector undertakings and high profile institutions like Pakal Dul and Keeru Hydel Projects, AIIMS, IITs, IIMs, Government Medical Colleges etc. The preference is needed to be given to lower category of posts to the locals where these projects and institutions are coming up. The local workforce—both skilled and unskilled—should be utilized to ensure their sustenance, he added.

The process of recruitment and generation of job opportunities has received a huge dent in recent years with youth finding themselves pushed to the wall, Mr Rana regretted and hoped that the administration will come up with a comprehensive plan to tackle unemployment and unemployability. The administration has to be innovative and receptive to the latest trends of job market and design programmes accordingly to offset the challenge of unemployment, he said adding that for this purpose, it is imperative to make available the required skill set to the youth so that they are employed and can earn their dignified living.

Mr Rana hoped that employment and employability will receive priority by the government thus generating hope among the educated, skilled and unskilled youth, who find themselves pushed to the wall.

District President Tanveer Kitchloo flagged various issues confronting the people, which mainly include erratic power and drinking water supply and lack of infrastructural facilities besides logistics in the health institutions, especially during the ongoing pandemic.

Provincial President Youth National Conference Ajaz Jan, Provincial President Women Wing Satwant Kour Dogra and Provincial Secretary Sheikh Bashir Ahmed  besides DDC chairperson Kishtwar Pooja Thakur also spoke during the virtual meeting. They referred to the challenges faced to the people and exuded confidence that Jammu and Kashmir under the banner of National Conference will surmount these with fortitude.

Prominent among those who spoke during the interactive session included Brij Mohan Sharma, Qazi Jalal Ud Din, Pyare Lal, Farooq Bhat , Kartar Rathore, Janki Nath, Gh Rasool Magrey, Faisal Hussain DDC, Tahir Masood DDC, Mohd Iqbal, Zakir Butt DDC, Shabir Ahmed Kamal, Atif Irfan, Bashir Malik, Sajjad Sheikh, Mohd Imran Qazi, Asif Qazi, Imtiaz Zargar, Gh Qadir Malik, Iftikhar Hussain Shah, Tanveer Babzada, Ab Gani, Babu Lal Bhandari, Mohd Ayub, Raja Thakur, Pyare Lal Parihar, Ravinder Kumar, Subash Sharm and others.