Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: JKPCCchief G. A. Mir met CongressPresident Sonia Gandhi and VicePresident Rahul Gandhi in UnionCapital today.

PCC chief in separate meet-ings with Congress President and

Vice President, discussed, thread-bare, the socio political situationobtaining in the State. Manyissues of public importance alsocame under discussion.

He discussed with both latestpolitical developments in theState.

He also apprised them aboutthe ongoing membership drive ofthe party, which is in final phaseand organizational affairs etc.

PCC chief further discussedwith them the restructuring andrejuvenation of Block CongressCommittees and DistrictCongress Committees through ademocratic process after comple-tion of the ongoing membershipdrive.

Later, Mr Mir also met Leaderof Opposition in Rajya SabhaGhulam Nabi Azad and GeneralSecretary AICC Ambika Soni anddiscussed with them the overallsocio political situation obtainingand several other issues concern-ing people in the State.

Excelsior Correspondent

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: UnionMinister of State (IndependentCharge) for Development of NorthEastern Region (DoNER), MoSPMO, Personnel, PublicGrievances, Pensions, AtomicEnergy and Space, Dr JitendraSingh said here today that 2016India yearns for youth centricapproach.

In his Convocation address,after presenting degrees, diplomasand medals to the successful candi-dates of 41st Advanced ProfessionalProgramme in PublicAdministration (APPPA) organisedby the Indian Institute of PublicAdministration (IIPA) with the sup-port of Department of Personneland Training (DoPT), Governmentof India, Dr Jitendra Singh said heretoday that Prime Minister NarendraModi has placed before us theobjective of citizen centric gover-nance and now, it is for us to realisethat in contemporary India, wheremore than 65% population is belowthe age of 35 years, citizen centricapproach, essentially implies youthcentric approach not only in gover-nance but also in framing of futurepolicies for the years to come.

For the Modi Government,which is guided by Deen DayalUpadhyay’s principle of“Antoday”, Dr Jitendra Singh said,the ultimate test of good gover-nance, good administration andgood democracy is, whether or not,its benefits have reached the lastman in the last queue. In the case oftoday’s India, this would automati-cally imply “last youth in the lastqueue”. He said, young citizen ofIndia today is not only aspirationalbut is also ready to experiment and

the policy planners of the countrywill also have to live up to thesechanged expectations.

Expressing satisfaction at thefact that the number of recipientswho were awarded degrees todaybelonged to Armed forces, DrJitendra Singh congratulated DoPTand IIPA for having taken the initia-tive of imparting training in publicadministration simultaneously toArmy officers and civil service offi-cers under the same roof. This, hesaid, assumes special significancebecause of the experience of the lastfew years when the Army personneland the civil service officers arecalled to function jointly in severalparts of the country, particularly inmore sensitive areas like Jammuand Kashmir and Northeast. In aspecial word of praise for theArmed forces, he said, it is an ironythat the peace-time service and con-tribution rendered by the Army tocivil society often goes inadequate-ly noticed, whereas the matter offact is that in recent years, Army hasproved its capability in works relat-ed to social welfare, education andrural development.

While assuring that DoPT willcontinue to render appropriate sup-port to IIPAand other such organisa-tions in organising similar pro-grammes in future as well, DrJitendra Singh expressed the hopethat those who go back after under-going these courses and securingdegrees are actually able to put to usethe skills and knowledge acquired,instead of using these degrees only asa means of profile enhancement tosecure the next promotion.

Director IIPA, Dr T. Chatterjee, andChairman IIPA& former Governor ofKarnataka, T. N. Chaturvedi alsospoke on the occasion.

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29:4 Provin-cial President National Confer-ence Devender Singh Ranatoday sought immediate reviewof the revised Advertisement Pol-icy of Jammu and Kashmir Gov-ernment, saying this is detri-mental to the functioning of thefourth estate and will affect thegrowth of the newspapers bothlocal and national.

“The role of media indemocracy cannot be under-mined and any attempt to curtailfreedom of expression by usingadvertisement as a tool haspotential to boomerang”, Mr

Rana said while interacting witha group of media persons thatcalled on him here this eveningand sought his intervention inrolling back of the newAdvertisement Policy.

Mr Rana recalled the crucialrole of media in turbulent situa-tion in the State during the pastover two and half decades andsaid it is incumbent upon theGovernment to take all thosesteps which are necessary forgrowth of newspapers, especial-ly in a sensitive state like Jammuand Kashmir.

He shared the concern ofmedia persons about the fall out

of the new policy and said noth-ing should be done that will leadto closure of several nationalnews bureaus in the State as alsogagging of the local newspapersby making them inviable andthereby leading to their closurewho have contributed immense-ly by fair reporting and becom-ing bridge between people andthe Government. He hoped thatthe State Government wouldaddress to the concerns of the

fourth estate and take correctivemeasures earnestly, as the newpolicy has potential to rendermany jobless.

The Provincial Presidentheard the problems of the depu-tation and said there should beno problem for the Governmentto revisit the policy and devise iton the pattern of Haryana,Rajasthan, Odisha and Delhi.

He also expressed concernover deprivation of advertise-ments to the newspapers pub-lished from Jammu andKashmir, saying this is an alarm-ing situation which is a matter ofconcern for those believingmedia as important pillar ofdemocracy.

The Provincial Presidentalso urged the Government ofIndia to intervene into the matterand get the grievances of mediahouses resolved on immediatebasis.

The deputation comprised ofVirender Katoch (HindustanTimes), Rajesh Sharma (MailToday), Sudhir Ganjoo (TheHindu), Arvind Sharma (IndianExpress), Parveen Baru (Timesof India), Sandeep Singh(Rashtriya Sahara), SurinderLalotra (Punjab Kesri), KailashK. Lange (Business Standard),Surinder Singh (The Asian Age),Atul Langer (The Pioneer),Rajinder Mahaldar (DanikJagran), Rajeev Chadha (AmarUjala), Ashwani Sharma (TheTribune), Ankush Jamwal(Danik Bhaskar) and others.

DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016 (PAGE 5)

CM inaugurates 56 bridges under Project Rahat in Udhampur, launches 56 more

Bridges key component of rural infrastructure, says Mehbooba Excelsior Correspondent

UDHAMPUR, Apr 29:Describing bridges as key com-ponent of rural infrastructure,Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti,today promised to break newground in annihilating distancesand adding value to life of peopleliving in remote and inaccessibleareas of the state.

She congratulated the RuralDevelopment Department (RDD)and DDC, Udhampur, ShahidIqbal, for their trend-setting ini-tiative by adopting theConvergence Model. "Today weare witnessing at Udhampur whatMufti Sayeed had envisioned dur-ing the DDB meetings when heused to emphasize uponConvergence Models to createsustained infrastructure," she stat-ed.

The Chief Minister madethese observations while address-ing a huge gathering of peopleafter e-inaugurating 56 smallbridges (footbridges) underProject Rahat, here today. She

also inaugurated Model Girls'Higher Secondary School,Udhampur, as part of the ModelSchool Scheme of the EducationDepartment.

Deputy Chief Minister, Dr.Nirmal K. Singh, Minister forRural Development, Law &Justice, Abdul Haq Khan,Minister for Education, NaeemAkhtar, Legislators, Pawan K.Gupta, D. N. Baghat and R. S.Pathania were also present on theoccasion.

Speaking on the occasion, theChief Minister said Udhampurdistrict has shown the way in howconvergence model can be puttogether to create assets worthcrores. She said other DeputyCommissioners need to take a cuefrom Udhampur in convergenceso that these are replicated in allthe districts of the State.

Seeking people's cooperationin putting J&K firmly on the pathof development by good gover-nance, the Chief Minister said theCoalition Government wants tobring the three distinct regions of

the State together on one platformso that it reaches out to over onebillion people of the country unit-edly.

"If we are able to gel the threeregions together, only then willwe be able to turnaround the Stateon the development front," shesaid, while praising the pluralisticvalues of the people, whom shecalled the torchbearers of com-munal harmony and brotherhood.

Drawing the attention of thepeople towards the industrial sce-nario in the State, the ChiefMinister said she has flagged'Skill Development' as a majorarea of intervention. She said I&CDepartment will start mappingskills of local human resource asper the requirement of the biginvestors who venture into thestate.

Appreciating the ModelSchool Scheme launched by theState Education Department toprovide students access to e-learning, Mehbooba Mufti saidall District Hospitals will beupgraded as Model Hospitals in

the State, adding one Maternity-cum-Childcare Hospital will beset up in each constituency of theState.

In his address, Dr. Singh, saidthat present Government is stand-ing on the strong foundation laidby former Chief Minister, MuftiMohammad Sayeed. "Peoplehave great expectations from usand we assure you that with fullsupport of the Centre, we will ful-fill all the promises made with thepeople," he added.

Naeem Akhtar, in his speech,gave a brief insight into how thedepartment is rationalizing so thatshortage of staff in far-flung andremote areas is addressed on pri-ority. He said the presentGovernment is committed to putthe Education sector back on railsby putting a permanent end to thetransfer industry that had plaguedthe department.

The RDD Minister gave abrief overview of the ProjectRahat and assured the ChiefMinister of replicating the modelin other districts of the State.

Rana seeks immediate rollback of J&KGovt’s Newspaper Advertisement Policy

2016 India yearns for youth-centricapproach: Dr Jitendra

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh releasing book on PublicAdministration at the Convocation function of the 41st AdvancedProfessional Programme in Public Administration (APPPA)organised by Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA)with the support of Department of Personnel and Training(DoPT) at New Delhi on Friday.

Commercial Taxes Deptt recoversRs 1081667 from defaulters

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 29: In a spe-cial drive to recover arrears fromthe defaulter firms, theCommercial Taxes Department'sRecovery Wing today seized 3industrial units namely M/sShree Sita Ram Industries andM/s Tawi Industrial Enterprisesat Bari Brahmana and M/sExion Industries at Samba.

Arrears to the tune ofRs.1081667 were realized on thespot from M/s Ravi CropsScience, Samba.

The whole operation wascarried out under the activesupervision of Dy.Commissioner, CommercialTaxes, (Recovery), JammuKanta Devi. The operationteam comprises of CommercialTaxes Officers namely SunilGupta and Ramneek Singh,Inspector Darshan SinghLangeh, Sub-inspectorsAvinash Dogra, JoginderKumar, Prashant Jamwal,Surinder Singh Bagal, ImraanSaleem Khateeb, Guards AmritLal and Kuldeep Raj.

Mir calls on Sonia, Rahul

Provincial President NC, Devender Singh Rana alongwithgroup of media persons.