STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Thursday chaired a meeting to review the progress of Lieutenant Governor’s Sustainable Development Fellowship Programme here.
The Lt Governor observed that the ‘Lieutenant Governor’s Sustainable Development Fellowship (LGSDF)’ programme provides a unique opportunity to talented young professionals to contribute towards strategic planning and implementation of development policies.
He directed the IIT Jammu and Higher Education Department to engage with the fellows on a regular basis to address their concerns, capacity building, encouraging independent ideas, integrated and holistic approach to make the programmes more effective in terms of impact and outcome.
At the outset, the LGSDF fellows briefed the chair in detail about their work and contributions through a series of presentations and also shared their ideas for traffic management and urban development. During the interaction with the fellows from different areas of specialization, the Lt Governor said that the intent of the initiative is to link young talents with governance and public policy and nurture the young professionals to contribute to the greater good of society. Another aspect was to bring the common man at the center of the government’s priorities by bridging the gap of knowledge and wisdom within the new generation, he added. The Lt Governor recalled that last year when this fellowship took shape in the UT, the view was that the administration and its various departments would not merely act as mediators but would prefer independent thinking in formulating development works. ‘Our aim was that the young generation should work on the projects of Jammu and Srinagar Smart Cities, on tourism with global thinking and local perspective, and that the administration as well as common citizens should benefit from it’, he added. Observing that youth have a completely different mindset and vision for urban mobility, smart schools, and other developmental aspects, the Lt Governor said that the 25 new initiatives taken by all the nine LGSDF Fellows and their contribution to policy making in different areas will be absolutely unprejudiced and unbiased. The Lt Governor advised all the mentors and reporting authorities to see the fellowship as an incubation model to find innovative solutions by working on the ideas as per given targets according to the needs of the departments, administration, common citizens, and contribute in the journey of prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir.
Noting that each individual possess a different potential, the Lt Governor said that the fellowship should become a perfect medium of expanding that potential. He called for prioritizing the most urgent of the challenges and finding sustainable solutions. ‘A new invention, innovative idea or science is born when a person gathers the courage to go into the unknown. As such, a few such tasks should be given to them through workshops or through mentors, which will help the administration in achieving the target of Sustainable Development Goals and triggering creativity and ingenuity, the Lt Governor added. Dr Arun Kumar Mehta Chief Secretary; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Sarmad Hafeez, Secretary, Tourism Department; Zubair Ahmad, Administrative Secretary, Culture Department; Rahul Yadav, Commissioner JMC and Athar Aamir Khan, Commissioner SMC attended the meeting, in person & through virtual mode.
Prof. Manoj Singh Gaur, Director IIT, Jammu, along with LGSDF fellows and other senior officials were also present.
