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The President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam inaugurated the two-day Conference of Governors at Rashtrapati Bhavan today. Twenty-eight Governors and three Lt. Governors of the States and Union Territories are attending the Conference. The Vice-President Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Minister of Defence Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Arjun Singh, the Minister of Home Affairs, Shri Shivraj Patil, the Minister of Finance, Shri P. Chidambaram, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission are also participating.
In his opening address the President said the Governor’s role is to distil the best of aspirations of the people and the Governor’s office is like a beacon light in the affairs of the State, to preserve the light of Dharma. The Office of the Governor has been bestowed with the independence to rise above day-to-day politics and override compulsions emanating either from the Central or State System. Dr. Kalam referred to the role played by the Armed Forces and the Para-Military Forces in safeguarding the nation’s borders and checking infiltration and also their active involvement in civic action. The multi-pronged conflict management strategy of the Central Government and the State Governments has kept the activities of subversive forces under check, the President observed. He felt that the long-term remedy rests on the nation’s ability to usher in good governance and rapid economic development with a strong mechanism for equity and justice, while respecting local sentiments. The Governors and Lt. Governors given their pre-eminent position can provide the lead in this direction.
Referring to the children and youth of the nation Dr. Kalam said they constitute a sizeable, vibrant and resourceful segment of society, which has a burning desire to scale greater heights. Their energies should be properly nurtured by making them a focal point of the planning and development process. The needs, rights and expectations of youth should be brought to the centre stage of the development process. The education system; Primary, Secondary and Higher Education needs to be based on capacity building through the components of: - research or inquiry, creativity, innovation, use of high technology, entrepreneurship and moral leadership.
Dr. Kalam urged the Governors to work towards enhancing the stature and quality of the University system by virtue of their position as Chancellors of Universities. The healthy growth of the university education system in the States depends on coordination between the State Government and the Governor.
Turning to the recent Tsunami disaster, Dr. Kalam said the subject of disaster management has to be seriously studied with an emphasis on the special institutional mechanism that is being created for this purpose.
Initiating the discussions, the doyen of Governors, the Governor of Meghalaya, Shri M.M. Jacob dwelt upon the border management related issues in the State. He also spoke about mechanisms to reach funds for development work in the villages.
Some Governors felt that there was a need for developing an integrated approach to problem of militancy in affected States and intelligence sharing between States. Upgrading the state police infrastructure as well as taking up of a national initiative for assessing the energy potential in the Himalayan States also figured in the discussions.
The Home Minister also gave an overview of the national security scenario in which he referred to increased tourism in Jammu and Kashmir and the peace process with Pakistan. The Home Minister also gave a synopsis of the National Disaster Management Authority chaired by the Prime Minister for which a Bill has been introduced in Parliament.
The Minister of Defence spoke about the broad security scenario and focused on the Policy of Pro-active Management of relations with neighboring countries and also again congratulated the Defence forces for their prompt action in providing relief to those affected by the Tsunami tragedy.
The Minister of State for External Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh gave an overview of the Governments Foreign Policy initiatives.
The Conference will continue till tomorrow afternoon. Specific initiatives are expected to be identified for the overall development of various states during the discussions.
SKS/NSR
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