Director General, J&K IMPARD, Saurabh Bhagat today chaired the joint valedictory session of three short-duration training courses held at IMPARD Main Campus, here.The training courses were simultaneously held on Flood Risk Mitigation, Empowerment of Rural Women through UMEED and e-Governance and Digital India and were coordinated by Dr. G. M. Dar, Dr. B. A. Kumar, and Dr. Rukaya Amin, Associate Professors of IMPARD, respectively.
Addressing the joint valedictory session, Saurabh Bhagat said that Disasters are natural phenomena and floods are the most common disasters and like other disasters they wipe out years of development within a short time.
He said that India is a flood prone country and it is incumbent upon the people and the Government functionaries alike to respond to all disasters and provide immediate relief to the disaster hit populations and rehabilitate them through reconstruction programmes.
The Director General in his address laid stress upon the fact that we need to have behavioural change on community scale to tackle disasters efficiently. He further said that disasters especially in rural areas destroy crops and houses which increase poverty and indebtedness in those areas.
The DG remarked that in order to ensure overall development of rural families the Government has launched National Rural Livelihoods Mission (named UMEED in J&K) which is predicated on ensuring gainful employment to increase the income of the rural poor.
The DG in his address also dwelt upon the e-Governance initiative of the Government of India which is committed to bring about a digital revolution in the country not only in urban areas but also in rural areas.