EXPANSION OF TOURISM, INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY HIGHLIGHTED

Jaipur, The concluding day of the sixth national convention on “Good Governance and Nation Building” at Hotel Clarks Amer here today was devoted to the themes of expansion of horizons of tourism, innovation and creativity, higher education and ethics and work culture in governance. The speakers highlighted the strategies for speedy development of Rajasthan and the nation at large. In his valedictory address, Rajya Sabha MP and former Director General of Police, Rajasthan, Dr. Gyan Prakash Pilania, said since good governance is a vital issue, transparency, honesty and accountability would go a long way in generating people’s confidence in the system. The values of life, such as justice and liberty, must be strengthened through the good governance practices. The Central Administrative Tribunal Member, Ms. Meenakshi Hooja, and former SEBI Chairman, Mr. D.R. Mehta, also addressed the valedictory session. Ms. Hooja said a regulatory mechanism must be evolved to address the changing needs of governance, while an exemplary leadership would help produce a pleasant work culture. Mr. Mehta called for a human touch in governance and said the share of political class in governance was more than the civil servants at present.

Prof. Ramesh K. Arora, Chairman of the Management Development Academy (MDA), Jaipur, which organized the two-convention, summed up the conclusions and provided an overview of event’s aims and objectives. He said the convention had turned out to be very successful and the participants had come from all over the country.

Addressing the session on “Expanding Horizons of Tourism”, the Mangaging Director of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), Mr. Lalit K. Pawar, said the tourism activities should be expanded without compromising with the environmental and cultural heritage, as tourism is in fact a double-edged sword. The session was chaired by the former Secretary, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, Mr. B.S. Baswan. Mr. Pawar said the tourism was affecting cultural, religious and traditional values which, if ignored, would have serious consequences. He cited the instance of popular tourist destination, Pushkar, where there are at least 45 illegitimate children born out of relations between foreign tourists and local residents. “They are the tourism midnight children,” said Mr. Pawar. On the other hand, Jammu and Kashmir had achieved a record with the arrival of 13 lakh tourists despite the threat perception of terrorism, he said. He also threw light on the Union Government’s policy for promotion of domestic tourism. During the session on “Innovation and Creativity”, the Executive Chairman of Doosra Dashak and former Managing Director of RIICO, Mr. Rajendra Bhanawat said a high power committee set up by the Union Government had stated that about 1,300 Acts of the Government of India can be easily scrapped. If similar exercises were to be taken in states, the number of such avoidable laws would run into thousands. Doing this will only make the life of citizens less miserable, he said.

One major step in giving power to the people that in turn would have helped the government authorities reach the un-reached was the constitutional amendment empowering Panchayati Raj Institutions, said Mr. Bhanawat. There are NGOs which have demonstrated beyond doubt that community-centred approach can do wonders, he added. “We should also look at the question as to why, with growing allocation of the government funds for the poor, the gap between the rich and the poor has increased over the years,” said Mr. Bhanawat. He felt that planning was generally very good but implementation was poor and immeasurable, vague objectives ensure that there is no accountability and no assessment possible. That’s why most people get away without doing anything, he said. Former Additional Chief Secretary, Mr. P.N. Bhandari, presided over the session.

Prof. R. Sreedher of APJ Institute, New Delhi expressed his views during the session on “Media and National Development”, while former SEBI Chairman, Mr. D.R. Mehta was the main speaker in the session on “Compassion and Governance”. The Central Administrative Tribunal Member, Ms. Meenakshi Hooja, expressed her views in the session on “Governance Ethics and Work Culture”. A large number of administrative officers, policy framers, legal luminaries and persons working in the social fields participated in the two-day convention, which was organized by the Management Development Academy (MDA), Jaipur, in collaboration with UNFPA and several other groups. A call was made to the citizens of the country to work for the task of nation-building during the convention. There was an overall satisfaction over the deliberations made and conclusions arrived at by the end of the convention.

-Kalyan Singh Kothari, Media Consultant
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