Srinagar – Ruling out the extension of the 73rd amendment of the Indian Constitution to the state, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Wednesday said that only some provisions of the amendment would be incorporated into the states Panchayati Raj Act.
While speaking to media persons on the sidelines of an award giving ceremony at the Kashmir University here today, the Chief Minister said only certain provisions of the central act, relating to the PRIs would be incorporated into the state act in order to strengthen and empower the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
He said certain provisions of the 73rd central amendment will be discussed in the Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) and accordingly incorporated into the states PR act.
On the issue of the postponement of Block Development Council (BDC) elections, the Chief Minister said the step was taken in the backdrop of demands for reservation in favour of SC, ST and Women in the polls.
Had the issue been raised earlier, the notification for the BDC elections would not have been issued. Now since the issue of reservation for SC/ST and women has come up, an ordinance has been sent to the Governor for approval, he said.
Omar said Pakistan should stop ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) as retaliation from the Indian side could lead to an unending exchange of fire between the two sides.
“I request them (Pakistan) to respect the ceasefire. We also have guns and mortars. If we also start firing, where will this stop?” Omar said.
Omar said the intentions of people across the LoC do not seem to be good.
“When the ceasefire was going good, what is the need for violating it?
Is it an attempt to increase infiltration or is part of attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue as was done recently?” he asked.
He said only innocent people suffer due to the violation of ceasefire, “Three innocent persons were targeted without any reason.”
According to army, Pakistani troops had Tuesday resorted to unprovoked firing and shelling in Uri sector killing three persons including two teenagers.
Defending the decision to provide state legislators with Bolero SUVs, the Chief Minister said the step was taken in order to save fuel expenses as these vehicles run on Diesel instead of Petrol.
Describing inculcation of futuristic approach and attitude in youth as the mantra of success and progress, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah Wednesday asked the passed out students from Kashmir University to utilize the joyous occasion of receiving degrees as a platform to soar high and achieve new highs.
In his address to the students of Kashmir University at the special award ceremony of Annual Convocation-2012, Omar Abdullah told them to girdle their loins and face challenges of a new world, they are entering, with capacity and calibre.
The Chief Minister told the passed out boys and girls that they are entering into a world which is full of challenges and complexity advising them not to be daunted or distressed by the uncertainty and unrecognizable challenges. You are on the cusp and verge of entering a world which stands redefined and unrecognizable from what your parents and forebears knew and experienced, he said asking them not to be faze by this situation instead brace themselves to tackle difficulties and challenges.
Success and progress in this world is contingent upon delving into the unknown, culling opportunity from where none apparently exists, exploring new vistas and a certain restlessness and inquisitiveness. In combination with intellectual capabilities which your education has imbued you with, imbibing these qualities and making these as the sine qua non in your life, would equip you with skills to take on this world, he elaborated.
Armed with these qualities and skills, you can then pick and choose from your quivers and armoury the best darts and arrows to throw at the challenges that you will face, the Chief Minister said and added that the world demands initiative and entrepreneurial zest and verve from youth. He said that the days when a university education would command a premium for passed out student in the job markets guaranteeing jobs, are gone.
The nature of the relationship between labour markets, the markets and the absorptive capacity of the State has changed. The commanding heights of the economy held, at one point in time by the State have now given way to a combination of markets and the State. This structural transformation means that the State is no longer the repository of jobs.
It plays an ancillary, supporting and enabling role. This meshes with the nature of the world we live in. The answer to this challenge is individual initiative and entrepreneurial verve. Equipped with knowledge, you, as the future productive members of the society, should come up with what is the currency of this word – ideas. The state will nurture and incubate the best of these, he maintained.
The Chief Minister said, the nature of the ideas and ideational premises that are relevant are the ones that throw into relief the problems of society in the realms of economics, culture, society, politics, business and offer creative and innovative solutions to these.
And knowledge centres of this world are universities, schools of learning and research centres of excellence. Its lingua franca is bits, bytes and zeros. The nesting place of this world is imagination and the crucible of ideas and their force is both the real world and the world of cyberspace, networks and linkages between these.
Asking the students to concentrate on future with pragmatic approach, the Chief Minister told them that future matters for them significantly and their gaze must be fixed on it. Inculcating this futuristic approach and attitude is the mantra of success and progress in this world, he added.
This approach, however, should always and eternally be tempered with prudence, humility and recognition of your duty towards your society and the world. This means using your new skills and knowledge to work toward public good and better the human condition. The nature of the contemporary world makes it eminently possible to expand your horizons and position yourself in a way that enables you to work towards global public good. Your arena should be global. We, after all, live in a networked and interconnected world where problems from remote part of the world get amplified and affect all. The remedy and antidote to this is, to take recourse to a cliché, to think global and act local. This approach will make you cosmopolitan citizens of a cosmopolitan world where the fault lines that divide the world-nationalism, ethnicity, race and religion- no longer should be a factor in your considerations, he added.
This should be the essence and gravamen of your approach to the world.
Your education has now given you the tools to live a life of dignity and sufficiency. This, however, should not be your end goal. The end game that you should have in mind is constant improvement of society and the world. It is this approach that will take you from the mundane and the prosaic to the heights of greatness. I expect nothing short of this from you, he told the students.
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