Staff Reporter

Shillong, May 11: Union Minister for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Dr Virendra Kumar yesterday inaugurated a Chintan Shivir in Shillong, Meghalaya that will hold discussions on how the people, together as a society, can follow the path of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.

“Every individual has a room in their house that allows to feel peaceful and relaxed, no matter how tensed she or he is. People can think with clarity, come up with solutions that will help in moving ahead in life while in that room. This Chintan Shivir is a similar space, through which we will try to reach out to the very last person sitting in the last row of the society.

Taking inspiration from Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, we will discuss ways of further welfare and progress of the society,” said Dr Virendra Kumar while addressing the inauguration programme of the Chintan Shivir

The Minister equated the peaceful room of an individual’s house to the bliss that Meghalaya offers to every tourist on their arrival in the state. He said, “The land of Meghalaya with its natural bounty attracts many tourists. The bliss we feel at the moment we reach this state feels like we have come to the most beautiful room of our home.”

“The idea of the Chintan Shivir is to extend our efforts taken in other states to our Northeastern states and union territories. The aim is to inspire to work towards the overall betterment of the society,” informed Dr Kumar while citing the purpose of the two-day programme.

He also stated that in order to be successful, there has to be will power to implement the various initiatives introduced by the central government. Nasha Mukt Bharat, Kaushal Vikas Yojana for youth, senior citizens’ welfare, and well-being of the scheduled castes and tribes of the society are some of the subjects that will be discussed during the programme.

Giving an insight into the efforts of the government, the Minister informed that trademarks have been offered to the producers belonging to the scheduled section of the society, especially in the handloom sector. He cited the instance of Surajkund Mela, an annual event held in Uttar Pradesh, wherein they were provided with trademarks to help own their products. “We are trying to engage them in the Kaushal Vikas Yojana, provide them with easy loans to support their small business, and help them in moving ahead in the production sector,” he said.

He added that the Chintan Shivir will act as an ideal platform to discuss such ideas and aid in the overall development of society. Speaking on the lines of the pre-matric and post-matric scholarships available for the students belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes, the Minister said that the government, through these Shivirs, will try to monitor the actions taken for smooth on time distribution of the same.

Stressing on the need to accelerate the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, Dr Kumar said that intoxication is a huge challenge for society. “Everyone has to join in this endeavour and pay attention to this challenge. Youths are the strength of our country. Social organisations should also work together to get rid of intoxication from society. The central government aims to make every state of this country free from intoxication. In order to achieve this, along with the central government, the state government, gram panchayats, nagar palika, nagar nigam, non-governmental organisations, other social organisations, spiritual gurus, Anganwadi, ASHA workers, everyone has to make an effort.

“There are 500 government rehabilitation centres, through which we facilitate treatment. We have also set up Addiction Treatment Facilities (ATF) at government hospitals to further help youths cope and get better so that in future, they can contribute to the nation building in their own capacities,” he further informed.

Launched on August 15, 2020, Nasha Mukt Bharat aims to rid the youths of society from substance use and the subject has been prioritized by the government across the country. Chintan Shivir will hold discussions on the same in these two days.

Pratima Bhoumik, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in her address said that the Government is working on the idea of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas and thus, all round, holistic and sustainable development across every sector under the Ministry is the top priority of the Central Government. Expressing her positive thoughts for the Chintan Shivir, the Minister said, “During these two days we will have in-depth discussions, with a platform to exchange ideas and discuss projects that had worked in different states and how to best emulate results. The discussion held during these days will help evolve an action plan to implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision 2047.”

Meghalaya Social Welfare Minister of Meghalaya Paul Lyngdoh in his address exclaimed that the Chintan Shivir will provide a platform to celebrate our shared vision, values, and achievements.

While enumerating the various welfare schemes of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Lyngdoh said that the Ministry has introduced critical schemes to ensure every citizen may reach their potential.

The Minister highlighted various policies adopted by the Government of Meghalaya for the effective implementation of Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. He explained the recently passed Mission by the Meghalaya Cabinet namely the Drug Reduction Elimination & Action Mission (DREAM). This Mission is planned with a vision to build a “Drug-free Meghalaya” that leverages culture and communities through a multifaceted coordinated strategy to eliminate the incidence of substance use in the state, he added.

He also said, “The mission is steered through a three-pronged framework to achieve its objectives: social mobilisation, setting up enabling support systems and drug regulation law procedure. The DREAM mission seeks to incorporate the lifecycle approach and build upon the existing Drug Abuse Prevention Policy, 2020”.

Various sessions have been planned during the two-day Chintan Shivir where representatives from eight Northeastern states viz Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim and Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Chandigarh, Lakhshadweep, Puducherry, Delhi, Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir will engage in brainstorming sessions to come up with workable interventions for better functioning of the Ministry.

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 14: Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh has reviewed the functioning of her departments – health & agriculture – and asserted the need for regular evaluation of their performances.

“I would like to see that the department evaluate themselves regularly,” Lyngdoh told reporters.

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Stating that there would be a hundred-day plan in both the departments, she said, “I will work with the departments and we will constantly find a way out to be in touch with the head of the state because if that intervention which is lacking is not attended to then I think we will have the sense of defeat and we have to get pass this feeling of hopelessness in our service to the public. I will try my best to be there as well to make sure that I am able to do that.”

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Asserting that governance is not all about those in government, the East Shillong legislator said, “I think we need to give every MLA in the state of Meghalaya equal opportunity to present their versions of what our weaknesses, our challenges and our strengths are.”

“I would like to see that we work together as a team because Meghalaya will only shine if every individual elected to the House is given that opportunity to express how best we can turn around our system,” she added.

Referring to the health and the agriculture sector as two very big departments, the lone woman cabinet minister said, “I am also happy to know that we have now segregated a few missions whether it is with Agriculture or with the health department. Now we need to make sure that the missions we have embarked on actually materialize and start yielding the necessary results.”

“So I hope that we are able to do justice to all of these. I have also seen that technological interventions are a major component both in the health as well as in the agriculture department. They have tried to segregate each of these departments. They have given me the ideas of where are the areas of funding and which are the areas that need to be further improved,” she added.

Giving a quick review of the health department, Lyngdoh said that as a minister she has noticed that if there is anything that needs to work in the state, it has to be a participatory attempt by the government agencies as well as private players and the people and the entire unique system that we have in the state.

“I have made one major observation in the health department. The first thing is that finally we are now at that stage where we believe if health has to be understood we have to first involve grassroot participation. That was good thing I saw where we now are going to be involving the people in implementation of various health schemes in the state of Meghalaya,” she said while asserting that “We will never be able to address the entire problems of infant mortality or maternal mortality rate if we do not have people participating in it.”

She further emphasized the need to evaluate all health schemes being provided to the people and to also be understood by the recipients of such schemes.

“In the health department, we have seen that systems need to be installed. Now we are looking at the last mile approach which is again very good,” she added.

Also stating that the agriculture department has its own set of challenges, Lyngdoh said, “We now need to make sure that marketing is at centre stage in agriculture. That having been understood, we need to take it forward.”

“We now understand that organic farming is to a larger extent practiced in the state of Meghalaya. I have been briefed that we have some challenges there as well because our farmers are not used to this kind of an approach.”

She also commented on the cooperative movements and self-help groups in the agriculture department and said these are all people motivated oriented programmes.

She further stressed the need to make sure that auditing of all the funds in the two departments should be done by the people for the people.

Lyngdoh also stated that bureaucracy in the state has realized that people are important because it was quite distant five years ago.

“This is again going to be good for us and the state of Meghalaya and I am going to ensure that this good model is actually carried out in letter and spirit. This is one thing that I have seen in both the agriculture as well as in the health department,” she underscored.

Speaking about the upcoming Assembly’s budget session which will commence from March 20, Lyngdoh said, “I will again look at all of this once we pass the first Assembly. Budgeting is something which I am exposed to both in the health as well as in the agriculture department. I will not be able to comment much on whether or not the budgeting that we are going to receive will be sufficient to overcome all of these challenges that we have seen in the various departments.

Of course, we are depending to a large extent on central funding. So like every other department in the state of Meghalaya central funding is the dominating source of funds so I will have to look at all of this to see how best we can go ahead and make sure that we start performing both in the health as well as in the agriculture department.”

Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 9: UDP leader and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh today said there is a need for regional parties to rebuild themselves.

 His statement came after the attempt of the regional parties to form an alternative government could not materialize.

 “We need to rebuild and we need to do our proper homework. We failed because whatever unity that was there was so fragile, so there are lessons that we can learn and we have learned,” Lyngdoh told reporters.

 On the former UDP president late Donkupar Roy’s dream to ever come true, the minister however said, “Well there is a saying that between what is said and done, more is said and less is done and I think we have to try to walk the talk, set goals, refocus and reenergize ourselves.”

 The UDP has 11 MLAs in the just-elected 59-member House.