CEO, NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India), Amitabh Kant, in presence of the Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, had an interaction with the Administrative Secretaries of different Departments, here today.The CEO, who is on a four day visit to Jammu & Kashmir, at the outset of the interactive meeting, congratulated and complimented the administrative secretaries on the amount of work being done in a range of areas in the Union territory. He said that for transformation and to see the palpable change on ground, Good Governance is the key.Adding that, Good Governance, in today’s day and age, is possible, only by use of technology that enables to bring in transparency, geo-tag,and obtain real time data, which in turn,helps us to monitor and evaluate our progress at different levels in a range of sectors.Highlighting the importance of monitoring and evaluation, Amitabh Kant said that at Government of India level, the aim is to move towards an outcome based approach. He added that each sector has a certain number of outcomes which are required to be focussed on, to see whether those outcomes are being achieved. He further added that the monitoring and evaluation team at NITI will help the departments in the Union territory to fix their outcomes, which then can be monitored to measure achievement in a specific area, through an outcome oriented action plan.
Speaking on Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country, the CEO, asked the administration to shortlist 500 schoolsin Kashmir and another 500 in Jammu, for establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL), a state-of-the-art space in schools with a goal to foster curiosity and innovation in young minds.CEO NITI Aayog emphasised that states and countries which will grow and progress in future are those which will totally digitise and go green, adding that both, the ability to go green and to go digital exists in Jammu and Kashmir, more than any other state of India, having a unique ability of creating a brand value out of it. This, he said, will have a huge added advantage in the years to come and, therefore, there is a need to have in place a clear strategy of going both digital and green.Regarding tourism sector, Amitabh Kant said that long term growth needsinvolvement of private players in a transparent and competitive manner. He added that a number of services can be far more effectively managed by the private players.With regard to Aspirational Blocks and Sustainable Development Goals, the CEO said that the NITI may have a bipartite relation with the J&K Government to move forward in the entire gamut of Aspirational Block governance and achieving SDGs.On creation of jobs, Amitabh Kant said that industry sector is the one having a major role in creating jobs. He emphasised focus on Ease of Doing Business which will help bring in private players and that NITI will support the Government through transaction advisors in a range sectors that may need to involve private players, besides, creating an ecosystem for large companies.In his remarks during the interaction, the Chief Secretary briefedthe CEO through various initiatives that the Government has taken and progress achieved so far, the success stories and also areas where the Government of Jammu & Kashmir looks forward NITI to handhold and support.