Uttarakhand is ranked second among Himalayan and hill states and 10th in the all India governance index. Work will have to be undertaken in the mission mode to improve this ranking further, said chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh. He was speaking at the inaugural session of discussions held as part of the IAS Week at the secretariat on Monday.
Referring to the state’s tourism potential, Singh stressed on the need for special focus on cleanliness of main roads and tourist destinations. The government is also according priority to waste disposal and facilitating modern toilets. He remarked that innovative works had been started in agriculture, education and health sectors. District magistrates and chief development officers can play a vital role in this. Innovative projects should be uploaded on the CSR portal while best practices in the districts should also be made available online, said the chief secretary. Secretaries R Meenakshi Sundaram, Nitesh Jha, Sowjanya, Arvind Singh Hyanki along with Nainital district magistrate Savin Bansal and his Rudraprayag counterpart Mangesh Ghildiyal expressed their views on ease of living.
In the second session, additional chief secretary Om Prakash spoke on various aspects of technical education. Special focus needs to be laid at the district administration level for development in the sphere of technical education, he said. Industry principal secretary Manisha Panwar stressed on the need for laying special focus on local traditional crafts for livelihood. Value addition to local products and facilitating a market for the same is among the government’s priorities. Principal secretary Anand Bardhan said that district magistrates should also inspect higher education institutions. District specific skill development programmes should be conducted in the institutions, for which the assistance of the district administration is also needed, he said.
In the final session, the power secretary Radhika Jha said that quality power supply, encouraging green energy and ensuring swift redressal of public grievances are among the government’s priorities. Monitoring at the district level is essential for this purpose.
Referring to measures being taken for doubling the income of farmers, additional chief secretary Om Prakash stressed that both farm-based and non farm-based schemes will have to be implemented effectively.He also pointed to the need for developing markets for the local produce. There is also need to work on risk management to facilitate crop insurance and minimise loss to the farmers. Focus on the micro plan, integrated model village and skill development in agriculture sector is also needed to double income of farmers, he added.
