Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to strengthen the local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that this three-day workshop of local bodies’ representatives of Jammu is a step in that direction which will be followed by a similar program for Srinagar and then other parts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the valedictory function of three-day Orientation Programme on Urban Governance for Mayors/ Chairpersons and Municipal Commissioners/Chief Executive Officers from Urban Local Bodies from Jammu & Kashmir at the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) headquarters, New Delhi today, Dr. Jitendra Singh, who is also the Chairman of IIPA, said that the smooth elections to the village councils and the the first-ever elections to District Councils after seven decades, conducted in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are a symbol of commitment of the Government of India, led by Prime Minister Modi, to strengthen the local bodies.

The Union Minister said that there have been efforts to change the political culture since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India in 2014. He said that Prime Minister Modi has given the mantra of ‘Reform, Perform, Transform’ and today transparency in all spheres and at all levels of the governance can be seen.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that honesty and accountability are the key words for the smooth conduct of the duties by people’s representatives. He added that the local bodies’ representatives should be in better coordination with the officials to be able to remove several obstacles easily. He urged the participants to inculcate vision, imagination and innovation.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that efforts are on to conduct a number of programs in Jammu and Kashmir such as start-up based workshops which can open a new horizon for people, especially youth of the valley. Such programs will be based on themes, specific to the local area. Similarly, discussions are on with the M/o Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to organise Rozgar Mela.

Dr Jitendra Singh referred to multiple roles of elected representatives like developing a bottom-up connectivity in city governance, promoting emergence of natural leadership from the grass-root level, community participation and mobilisation of local resources, and operating as intermediary link between city government and community, and state leadership and city. He said, the urban reforms in Jammu are not only important for the city but are also important for other towns in the state.

Dr. Jitendra Singh gave away certificates to 28 participants of the three-day programme and also released a booklet titled, ‘Training Need Assessment for Virtual Training on Urban Governance for Municipal Engineers’, penned by Professor KK Pandey, Faculty, CUS, IIPA and Dr. Sachin Chowdhry.

Senior officials of IIPA including SN Tripathi, DG, IIPA and Amitabh Ranjan, Registrar, IIPA were also present on the occasion.