LOK SABHA SPEAKER INAUGURATES COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION INDIA REGION CONFERENCE IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Our Correspondent / Itanagar
Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla on Thursday emphasized that the more we penetrate democracy at the grassroots level in States the more we will bring positive changes in the society and welfare of people. Birla observed that the development outcomes through democratic means will eliminate extremism and terrorism.
“It is the responsibility of democratic institutions to interact among themselves, share best practices and work collectively for people’s welfare, fulfilling their hopes and aspirations”, said Birla after inaugurating the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association India Region (Zone III) Conference at Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
Birla said that democracy in India has been continuously strengthened in the journey of 75 years of our country. Much development has taken place in the 75 years since independence, but due to various reasons, there are still gaps in fields of infrastructure, education, health, security and connectivity and these gaps needs to be filled up by improving the pace of development, he observed. Referring to Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar’s idea that efforts should be made to establish social democracy along with political democracy in the country, Shri Birla said that the biggest challenge before us is to create such a social, political, economic and legal conditions that enables every section of our society to participate in the governance process to its fullest potential. We have to brainstorm on how our institutions should be more sensitive to the problems of the people and how people can participate more actively in the decision process at every level from Panchayat to Parliament, Shri Birla said. In this regard, it is responsibility of people’s representatives to maintain and improve the trust and confidence of the people in democratic institutions, emphasized Shri Birla.
Mentioning about development in the North-East region and their challenges, Shri Birla said that the Government of India has taken many important decisions for infrastructure development under the ‘Act East Policy’, which are being implemented rapidly. Still challenges are there but along with the challenges, North-East region has immense potentialities and strengths that can be converted into opportunities, he felt. Further speaking, Birla highlighted that an action plan should be formulated for development of the North-East region on the basis of its strengths for sustainable development. Observing that there is a demand for organic farming and organic products and North-East region has tremendous potential in this field, Birla stressed on increase in production and proper marketing of these products for availing opportunities at the global level. There is a need to encourage tourism by developing tourism infrastructure in the North East region, said Shri Birla. Mentioning that the biggest challenge is to effectively utilize the potential of the human resource for the development of the region, he said that we need to formulate policies according to the needs and aspirations of the people so as to maximize welfare and bring about a positive change in their socio-economic conditions of the region.
Speaking on sustainable development, Birla mentioned about development models which will ensure protection of culture and identity of the people of the North-East region. We can neither compromise on development nor culture of the region, emphasized Shri Birla.
Speaking on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, Birla said that the Conference is an opportunity to discuss ways to further enrich parliamentary democracy. Parliamentary democracy will be strengthened by sharing of ideas, innovations and traditions, he stressed.
On this occasion, Birla inaugurated state of the art Museum of the Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He also visited Assembly Library and Expo in Assembly Complex and Jawaharlal Nehru State Museum.
Harivansh, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha; Pasang Dorjee Sona, Speaker of Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly; Pema Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh and other dignitaries graced the event.