Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took a dig at the Union government for its style of functioning in his speech at Niti Aayog’s Governing Council Meeting, Saturday.
CM Patnaik took part in the meeting through video conferencing.
Reminding some of the demands of the state relating to Railways, Telecom, Banking, reduction in central fund, special focus States in view of frequent disasters, inclusion of important languages in the 8th schedule etc, CM Patnaik said that a mature democracy’s hallmark is that the elected governments should work for its people beyond party lines.
Drawing attention to the need of serious introspection on whether the governments are delivering what they ought to do, CM Patnaik said that every crime is being politicised and every action is being seen from a political angle. Such an atmosphere is one of the biggest threats to the pace of development and peace in the country.
“It’s high time the country gets out of this election mode and allows elected Governments to function. National parties had promised women’s reservation both in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. History will not forgive us if we renege on this commitment. This calls for a serious deliberation and taking it forward,” he added.
Laying emphasis on development of neglected and vulnerable sections, he said, “If the country has to really move forward, regions which are neglected and populations that are vulnerable have to be taken along. Committed and targeted action is needed for that. NITI Aayog has a major role to play in this. Specific sections that need focus like malnutrition, connectivity, sex ratio imbalances etc.”
Referring to the pattern of certain exams, he said, “Lakhs of our young people appear for national level exams every year – the UPSC exam, NEET, JEE etc. A critical look is needed to re-evaluate the examination pattern for these prestigious and highly sought-after exams. Should not we have exams that focus on equality and attracting merit as opposed to exam patterns that are heavily dependent on highly paid coaching classes. This will truly eliminate merit in the long run and deny justice to lakhs of our children who live in rural areas and don’t have physical or economic access to coaching classes. NITI Aayog should look into this very serious issue or else in a few years’ there will be serious distortions.”
“NITI Aayog should develop into a repository of innovations drawn from the country and across the world and help replicate it. Futuristic technologies, new world economy, solutions for climate change, inclusive governance models are some areas that can be focused on,” he observed.
While mentioning the importance of sharing action taken report, he said, “Many critical issues are being raised in the NITI Aayog deliberations and excellent suggestions are also being made. It would be appropriate for NITI Aayog to share an action taken report to everyone concerned. This will make our deliberations more meaningful and action oriented.”
Regarding the inclusion of tribal communities in the ST list, he said, “A number of proposals of different States relating to inclusion of tribal communities in the ST list have been (5) pending from 1978 onwards. Many of them are subsets on phonetic variations of the names of existing ST communities. It is unjust to keep these pending for years without a decision.”
While praising the unified response with which India faced the COVID-19 pandemic, CM Patnaik demanded a similar approach in every sphere.
“COVID-19 was a challenge for the world and India showed with its unified response what is possible. European countries and the United States could not put up a unified front. The same unified response and inclusive approach should be adopted for all major challenges facing the country in the true spirit of cooperative federalism,” he said.
“History will remember us on what our response has been on critical issues affecting our people and the country, raising above political considerations,” he said and ended his speech with ‘Jai Hind’.
PNN