Commencing of the third phase of Back to Village programme across J&K is the perfect way to honour Father of the Nation on his birthday.These were the remarks made by the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha in his message on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.An apostle of peace and social service, Mahatma Gandhi’s contributions to the freedom struggle and promoting the rights and welfare of the oppressed sections of the society have unending imprints on the global history and would continue to inspire the generations to come.Everyone must follow the path of Non-violence, Social justice, Equality, Upliftment of under-privileged sections of the society, Secular traditions and Brotherhood shown by the Father of the Nation for bringing an era of peace and development in the world.Mahatma Gandhi advocated Panchayati Raj, a decentralized form of Government. Following the Gandhian ideas of Gram Swaraj and Panchayati Raj system, the J&K Government is making untiring efforts to reach out to the people and including all the stakeholders in the process of decision-making and public policy formulation to bring a positive social and political change in J&K.Back to Village is a unique and ambitious exercise by the UT Government to reach the doorsteps of the people with responsive, accountable and equitable governance is in its own way promoting values, ideology and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi.The ambitious programme starting from 2nd October is also seen as a unique effort of the Government to strengthen the newly constituted Panchayats, the Lt Governor continued.
This practice is the first such attempt at a concentrated and determined developmental push. The endeavour was as challenging as ambitious - it involved the visit of over 4000 Gazetted officers of J&K to each and every Panchayat so that they can be well-versed with the local issues and developmental needs. It also aims at ensuring that beneficiary oriented schemes actually reach the last person in the queue, he added.It is my advice to every single officer on the ground to work as a changemaker to ensure benefits of governance reach the last man in the queue, so that the desired results which we are aiming at i.e development of villages and strengthening of Panchayats must be achieved, the Lt Governor maintained.This year in addition to other events, it has been decided that Swachhta Pledge ceremonies shall be organized in all offices across the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Accordingly, it is impressed upon all the Administrative Secretaries/Heads of the Department/Deputy Commissioners to organize pledge taking ceremonies in all the offices and institutions under their jurisdiction on the morning of 2nd October, 2020 and also ensure that the officers/officials participate in the Swachhta Pledge taking ceremony, he added.